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Research Nebraska focuses on results and outcomes of University of Nebraska Agricultural Research Division research. This "In the Works" feature gives readers a glimpse at newer projects in the research pipeline. Most are in the early stages. They're being launched with an eye to the future and aim to provide new knowledge, discoveries or technologies for Nebraska's people, communities, businesses and natural resources.

Eying spring wheat's potential
Nebraskans plant wheat in the fall and harvest it in July. IANR researchers based at the Panhandle Research and Extension Center are exploring the potential for spring-seeded wheat, which is planted in spring and harvested in the fall. They don't want to replace winter wheat but rather offer western Nebraska farmers an alternative crop that supplements the popular wheat-fallow-wheat cropping system. No existing spring wheat varieties are well-suited to Nebraska so researchers are evaluating promising lines that might be useful in breeding spring-seeded varieties that perform well in Nebraska. They're also identifying the best management practices for spring wheat. There's much to learn, but this research eventually could yield a well-established alternative to winter wheat that offers producers new cropping and marketing options.

Checking filter strips
Vegetative filter strips are widely promoted as a way to protect surface water quality by capturing contaminants in field runoff before they reach streams or lakes. Filter strips are promising but their effectiveness hasn't been assessed under diverse natural field conditions in Nebraska because such assessments are expensive and labor-intensive. IANR biological systems engineers, stream scientists and statisticians are working with a USDA National Agroforestry Center ecologist at NU to develop a simple technique for estimating filter strip effectiveness in the field. They've designed three measuring devices and are refining the most promising ones for field testing. The goal is to combine a simple runoff measurement device with statistical sampling procedures in a system that quantifies runoff and accounts for naturally uneven field runoff patterns. Their work should result in a simple system that researchers, natural resources agencies and others can use to evaluate filter strips' effectiveness under real world conditions.

Searching for biocontrols
Fusarium, a soilborne, disease-causing fungus, strikes sugar beets, dry edible beans and many other crops, but there are few viable Fusarium disease control options. A plant pathologist at the Panhandle Research and Extension Center is looking to the very soil where Fusarium dwells to find the organism's natural enemies. Studies in Florida showed that certain strains of soil-dwelling fungal parasites, or mycoparasites, helped reduce Fusarium diseases. The IANR scientist wants to identify native Nebraska mycoparasites that attack Fusarium strains found here and evaluate their Fusarium-fighting power in the lab. He is looking for promising candidates that could offer a biological control option for Fusarium strains that attack beets and beans. It's important to find native Nebraska strains because mycoparasites from the Sunshine State aren't likely to be effective against Cornhusker state Fusarium.

– Vicki Miller
 

Turf-type buffalograss cuts lawn maintenance

Those lazy days of summer may become even lazier for folks who plant a new turf buffalograss.

Legacy, an improved buffalograss developed and released by the University of Nebraska, only needs mowing every two to three weeks and uses half the water and far less fertilizer or chemicals than other turfgrasses.

Legacy is the latest turf-type buffalograss released in ongoing Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources research to provide environmentally friendly turfgrasses and maintenance options, said Turf Scientist Terry Riordan.

"Anyone who lives where water is in short supply or in a severe drought would benefit from this," Riordan said.

Legacy has a better color, looks a little more like bluegrass and is better adapted to grow in the northern United States than past IANR turf-type buffalograss releases.

Todd Valley Farms near Mead grows the new cultivar under a university agreement.

Legacy became publicly available this year as sod or plugs.

The United States Golf Association helps fund NU's turfgrass research.

– Sandi Alswager

 

  

IANR Turf Scientist Terry Riordan (left) and Wayne Thorson of Todd Valley Farms examine Legacy, a new turf-type buffalograss.

Food science laboratory tests for bromate

Companies worldwide count on a University of Nebraska laboratory for accurate, objective tests that help them meet government safety standards for a baking ingredient.

Food Scientist Vicki Schlegel runs the only university lab that tests commercial food samples for potassium bromate, an ingredient used since 1914 to improve bread's texture and volume.

Baked properly, bromate converts into an inert substance in the finished product and leaves no measurable residues, NU Food Scientist Steve Taylor said. Concern about bromate's potential health risks prompted the Food and Drug Administration to require listing bromate as an ingredient and California to require labeling if products have bromate residue. Some foreign countries ban its use.

Residues aren't measurable after baking and aren't likely to be a health threat, Taylor said. The FDA has set bromate residue standards of 20 parts per billion in baked foods.

A test detecting such low levels wasn't available until a Japanese company developed one in 1997. Schlegel began testing in November 1999 and conducts up to 20 tests monthly for food companies, which pay for the tests. She can measure below 10 parts per billion, and hopes to improve it to detect the World Health Organization-recommended 5 or fewer parts per billion.

The test shows whether a food processor has reduced bromate residue to acceptable amounts, Schlegel said. If not, the company must try another route – baking with less bromate, adding an oxidizing agent or adjusting baking time and oven temperatures, she said.

"I am providing a service and I can meet their needs," Schlegel said.

She is modifying the test to detect bromate in other products, such as cake mixes.

– Molly Klocksin

 

 

The low-down on crops from the sky

A remote-control airplane provides a bird's eye view of crop test plots at NU's South Central Research and Extension Center near Clay Center.

This is the third season researchers have used the model airplane to gather information on test plots faster and perhaps less expensively than aerial photography, said Richard Ferguson, an Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources soil scientist.

The plane offers added flexibility in checking plots for things such as crop growth, soil variability and crop stresses associated with treatments or environmental factors such as wind damage, he said.

"It is a compromise between cost and flexibility. Aerial photos from a full-size plane require scheduling a pilot, and they may not always be available," Ferguson said. "The model airplane is another tool."

The plane carries video and still cameras. A transmitter sends video images to a monitor on the ground. The person watching the monitor chooses an image from the video and trips the plane's still camera shutter.

The plane affords closer pictures at lower altitudes with better resolution and flexibility than conventional aerial photography, but "the system is still evolving," Ferguson said.

One drawback is that model airplanes eventually crash. It takes lots of practice and assistance from Grand Island's model airplane club. Some center staff can fly the plane, but they usually rely on the club's expertise, he said.

"We found it to be a useful tool," Ferguson said, but it won't replace other information gathering methods.

– Sandi Alswager

 

This remote-controlled airplane checks crops.