• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Texas A&M Forest Service
  • Texas A&M Veterinary Medical Diagnostics Laboratory
  • Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service
  • Texas A&M AgriLife Research
  • Texas A&M College of Agrculture and Life Sciences
Texas A&M College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
Department of Soil and Crop Sciences
  • Menu
  • Home
  • About
    • Directions
    • History
    • Mission & Vision
    • Support Soil & Crop Sciences
  • Academics
    • Undergraduate Programs
    • Graduate Programs
    • Distance Education
  • Research
  • Extension
  • People
    • Faculty
      • Faculty Alphabetically
      • Faculty by Locations
      • Faculty by Specialty
      • Adjunct Faculty
      • Emeritus
    • Staff
    • Extension Program Specialist / Research Scientist
    • Graduate Students
  • Jobs
    • Internships andStudent worker positions
    • Jobs – All Degrees
    • Jobs – Bachelor’s Degree
    • Jobs – Master’s Degree
    • Jobs – Ph.D.
    • Faculty Positions within Soil and Crop Sciences-TAMU
    • Support Soil & Crop Sciences
  • Media
    • Aggie Agenda
    • Departmental News
    • Plant Breeding Bulletin
    • Seminar Videos
    • Soil and Crop Sciences Videos
    • Social Media
      • Facebook page
      • Flickr photos
      • Twitter
      • Youtube videos
  • Contact
  • Links

Texas A&M corn breeder is taking Texas Whiskey to Capitol Hill

8May

By: Beth Ann Luedeker
Contact: Dr. Seth Murray – sethmurray@tamu.edu

Seth Murray talking

Dr. Seth Murray explains how the different types of whiskey are created during his seminar on Capitol Hill. (Photo by: Darren Sheets)


Dr. Seth Murray recently conducted a whiskey tasting on Capitol Hill to help educate legislators on the importance of public agriculture research.

Murray’s presentation was part of the Hill Lunch-N-Learn seminar series sponsored by the National Coalition for Food and Agricultural Research (C-FAR).

More than 100 Congressional staff members had the opportunity to taste three Texas whiskeys as Murray, Associate Professor in the Department of Soil and Crop Sciences and Butler Chair for Corn Breeding and Genetics at Texas A&M University, discussed research he and his graduate student, Rob Arnold, are doing into the effect corn variety has on the flavor.

Seth Murray by table with whiskey shots

Dr. Seth Murray is introduced at the National Coalition for Food and Agricultural Research Lunch-n-Learn Seminar. (Photo by Darren Sheets)

Arnold is working toward his Ph.D. in Plant Breeding through Texas A&M’s distance program while working as the head distiller at Firestone & Robertson Distillery in Fort Worth.

Staffers had the opportunity to taste F&R’s commercially available “TX” whiskey, and two samples which had been aged for a year and a half in matched oak barrels. One of the matched samples was made from a TAMU experimental hybrid grown in Burleson County and the other from a commercial corn variety produced in Hill County.

“The staffers liked the whiskey, but more importantly they thought the flavors of the two matched samples were very different,” Murray said. “This is great because it shows that different corns do make a difference.”

shots of whiskey lined up on a table

Staff members on Capitol Hill had the opportunity to compare three types of whiskey, including two matched samples used to demonstrate the different flavor created by different corn varieties. (Photo by Darren Sheets)

Murray also noted that seasoned whiskey drinkers preferred the TAMU corn while the staffers who do not like whiskey preferred that made with commercial corn.

National C-FAR hosts the Lunch-N-Learn presentations to help staffers appreciate the importance of food and agriculture research and to facilitate more informed staff recommendations to members of Congress about food and agriculture research and education funding.

powerpoint slide with pictures of TX whiskey and Seth Murray with whiskey samples

The first slide of Murray’s presentation during the Lunch-n-Learn seminar on Capitol Hill explains his research.

Rice Researcher addresses plant survival during extended flooding

11Apr

Written by: Kay Ledbetter
Contact: Contact: Dr. Endang Septiningsih, 979-845-7527, eseptiningsih@tamu.edu

Rice crops can stress under too much water or water at the wrong time. Developing tolerance to these flooding stresses and improving rice cultivars is the life passion for Dr. Endang “Septi” Septiningsih, a Texas A&M AgriLife Research scientist.

Dr. Septiningsih in her lab

Dr. Endang Septiningsih, a Texas A&M AgriLife Research geneticist in the Texas A&M University soil and crop sciences department, is improving rice cultivars to withstand extended water stress. (Texas A&M AgriLife photo by Beth Luedeker)

Rice growers around the world have had two choices: plant poor-yielding traditional varieties that are moderately tolerant to long periods of submersion in water to withstand the flash floods of the monsoon season, or plant high-yielding submergence-intolerant varieties that tend to suffer severe losses during the monsoons.

Septiningsih, AgriLife Research geneticist in the Texas A&M University soil and crop sciences department in College Station, has spent her entire career concentrating on finding a genetic answer for abiotic stress tolerance in rice.

Rice and Water

“Rice plants love water during most of their life,” she said. “However, if it is too deep or prolonged, water can kill plants completely submerged and unable to access oxygen. The most critical times are when the seed is germinating or when the plants are trying to grow.”

She said extreme weather due to climate change has made flooding an increasing problem for U.S. and international agriculture. Complete submergence can happen for several weeks during flash floods when the fields cannot be drained fast enough.

As a result, Septiningsih said estimates indicate flooding stress is a critical problem affecting more than about 49.5 million acres of rice worldwide.

“Since rice naturally grows in areas with plenty of water, these areas also tend to be more prone to extreme flash-flood events that can wipe out the crop,” she said. “The most feasible approach to address these types of severe floods is the development of rice cultivars tolerant to submergence that maintain agronomic, yield and quality traits acceptable to farmers.”

Previous Research

aerial view of rice research fields

Dr. Endang Septiningsih led research in the Philippines to provide enhanced tolerance to submergence of the rice during germination. (Texas A&M AgriLife photo by Michael Thomson)

Working both at Texas A&M and previously at the International Rice Research Institute, or IRRI, in the Philippines, Septiningsih led the identification and cloning of a gene, the AG1 gene, which provides enhanced tolerance of prolonged submergence during germination, also known as anaerobic germination.

This novel finding has made a significant impact not only by highlighting the roles of sugar metabolism and signaling in anaerobic germination, but also by providing the foundation for future advances in direct-seeded rice production, she said. These advances can lead to improved food security and stability of subsistence rice farmers around the world.

At IRRI, she investigated various types of flooding stresses in rice, including flooding during germination, complete submergence during the vegetative growth stage or flash flooding, and flooding up to harvest or stagnant flooding.

While there, Septiningsih’s research included characterizing and using the SUB1 gene. This gene greatly enhances survival of rice plants under two weeks of complete submergence.

She explained the SUB1 gene confers tolerance to complete submergence via a “quiescence” strategy. This essentially causes the plant to become dormant while completely under water. As a result, is saves the carbohydrate reserves and uses them upon de-submergence to recover fully.

“Most rice will try to keep growing to reach the water surface and will die after using up all of its energy,” she said.

Septiningsih helped employ marker-assisted backcrossing to develop SUB1 rice cultivars that could withstand complete flooding for up to two weeks. SUB1 cultivars have been released in multiple countries and additional ones have been developed by a number of national partner institutes, she said.

Moving Forward

“My ultimate goal is to enhance the tolerance the current SUB1 rice varieties provide to allow the crop to face more extreme weather events, especially flooding,” she said. “This is increasingly problematic for the U.S. and globally.”

In 2017, Septiningsih was awarded a grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture-National Institute of Food and Agriculture as the lead researcher to investigate the mechanisms of a novel quantitative trait locus, or QTL, for submergence-tolerant rice.

two people standing in flooded rice field

Dr. Rodante Tabien, rice breeder, and Dr. Endang Septiningsih, geneticist, monitor the rice fields at the Texas A&M AgriLife Research center at Beaumont. (Texas A&M AgriLife photo by Dr. Michael Thomson)

The cloning of this QTL will provide the opportunity to gain a better understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying submergence tolerance, she said. It will also allow them to design gene-based or tightly linked markers for more precise genotyping.

In addition to SUB1 cultivars, Septiningsih also developed a number of genetic stocks and flood-tolerant lines that have been impactful for both breeding and genetic studies at national and international research institutions around the world.

“Understanding the mechanisms for how additional genes further enhance submergence tolerance in conjunction with SUB1 is very important,” Septiningsih said. “It will help us develop superior submergence tolerance varieties that thrive and have good yield under prolonged submergence stress,”

Also, she said, knowledge gained may help in the translation of submergence survival strategies to other flood-sensitive crops such as corn and soybeans.

“This work will further help crop yield stability and food security among subsistence farmers around the world,” Septiningsih said.

Tomorrow’s scientists help with today’s discoveries

24Jan

Writer: Kay Ledbetter

Today’s research advances in the world of wheat genetics are getting a big hand from tomorrow’s scientists, according to a Texas A&M AgriLife Research scientist who has had three students publish their research in major journals this past year.

These Texas A&M University students working through their doctoral studies have helped conduct major studies that improved the understanding of unique traits in TAM wheat cultivars released by AgriLife Research’s wheat breeding program, said Dr. Shuyu Liu, AgriLife Research wheat geneticist in Amarillo and committee chair of the three students.

man in laboratory

Dr. Shuyu Liu leads the wheat genetics lab at the Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center in Amarillo. (Texas A&M AgriLife photo by Kay Ledbetter)

“When Texas A&M develops a wheat variety that has outstanding performance, it is critical we are able to determine what makes them superior and locate the genes responsible,” said Dr. Jackie Rudd, AgriLife Research wheat breeder in Amarillo. “Knowing what genes are located where allows us to build new cultivars that combine these characteristics.

“We are able to guide the student research to be an integral part of the wheat breeding process so that the results will directly contribute to future variety development,” Rudd said.

Their studies not only help the researcher’s current projects, but the students are getting valuable training for their next steps in research once they graduate, Liu said. They learn to fully manage a project – planning, designing, working together with a team, summarizing data, statistical analysis and writing skills.

Additionally, each student can bring a new perspective to the research, and with that, the collaborating scientists can learn from the students, he said.

In the past year, Liu’s lab and student researchers have received major exposure in three key crop science journals. All three students’ journal papers dealt with TAM 112 and TAM 111, two popular cultivars in Texas and the rest of the hard-red winter wheat regions, Liu said.

While working with Liu’s program, Silvano Ocheya Assanga had his work “Mapping of quantitative trait loci for grain yield and its components in a U.S. popular winter wheat TAM 111 using 90K SNPs” published in PLoS One.

young man in wheat field

Silvano Ocheya Assanga (Texas A&M AgriLife photo)

This study used wheat progenies derived from a TAM 111 cross to identify major groups of genes that impact yield. The major components of yield are kernel weight, kernels per head and head per square meter.

That article can be found at https://tinyurl.com/PLoSOneTAM111.

Smit Dhakal had his study “Mapping and KASP marker development for wheat curl mite resistance in TAM 112 wheat using linkage and association analysis” published in Molecular Breeding. This study was about mapping wheat curl mite resistance and the development of high throughput single nucleotide polymorphisms, or SNPs, for marker-assisted breeding of this gene.

The journal article can be found at: https://tinyurl.com/MolBreedingTAM112.

young man looking into microscope

Smit Dhakal (Texas A&M AgriLife photo)

“The source of this resistance gene is from goatgrass, which contributed the D genome to bread wheat,” Liu said. “This was bred into TAM 112 through the synthetic wheat cultivar Largo that was released in 1982.”

Yan Yang’s paper, “Developing KASP Markers on a Major Stripe Rust Resistance QTL in a Popular Wheat TAM 111 Using 90K Array and Genotyping-by-Sequencing SNPs” is scheduled to be published in Crop Science.

“Yan’s study identified a group of genes in TAM 111 that showed resistance to stripe rust, a disease that can be very devastating in wheat,” Liu said.

TAM 111 was one of the few resistant varieties to stripe rust up until about 2012, when a new race of stripe rust began to be prevalent, he said. Although TAM 111 does not effectively provide resistance in some years, the resistance offered by TAM 111 is still effective in combination with other resistance genes.

smiling young lady by brick wall

Yan Yang (Texas A&M AgriLife photo)

These AgriLife Research projects are the effort of a multidisciplinary team, including wheat breeding programs led by Rudd and Dr. Amir Ibrahim in College Station, physiology programs by Dr. Qingwu Xue in Amarillo and Dr. Dirk Hays in College Station, and the Genomic and Bioinformatic Service Center led by Dr. Charlie Johnson in College Station.

Liu said equally important to the student training and research is funding. The funding sources of these research projects were a Monsanto Beachell-Borlaug Scholarship to Assanga and Yang, a Tom Slick Graduate Research Fellowship to Yang and Dhakal, and contributions from AgriLife Research, the Texas Wheat Producers Board and the USDA-NIFA International Wheat Yield Partnership.

Wenwei Xu named AgriLife Research Director’s Scientist of the Year

22Jan

Writer: Kay Ledbetter

The Texas A&M AgriLife Research Director’s Research Scientist of the Year award was presented to Dr. Wenwei Xu, a Texas A&M AgriLife Research corn plant breeder in Lubbock and professor in Texas A&M University’s department of soil and crop sciences.
Wenwei Xu

Dr. Wenwei Xu received the inaugural AgriLife Research Scientist of the Year award from Dr. Patrick Stover, acting director of AgriLife Research.


The Research Director’s awards were presented on Jan. 8 at a ceremony on the Texas A&M campus. The awards recognize and reward the achievements of individuals and teams with outstanding work to support the research mission.

Xu’s work has helped reduce aflatoxin contamination in corn and improved corn production under drought-prone conditions, according to his nomination.

Using tropical germplasm and wild species, Xu developed inbred lines and germplasm with improved drought and heat tolerance, insect resistance and mycotoxin resistance.

He released nine maize inbred lines to the public and licensed several others to seed companies, and his high-yielding and disease-resistant silage corn hybrid began commercial production in Turkey in 2018.

All in all, the corn germplasm developed by Xu had a significant economic impact not only in Texas, but also nationally and internationally, his nomination stated.

Corn production is limited by the availability of irrigation water. By researching corn genetics related to drought and optimum irrigation scheduling, Xu and his collaborators have sustained crop production and extended the life of the Ogallala Aquifer, the nomination continued.

Xu also initiated the Texas State Silage Corn Performance Tests in the High Plains. The results of these tests have helped seed companies bring the best-adapted hybrids into the region, according to the nomination.

In addition, Xu obtained over $10 million in extramural grants, published 42 papers in refereed journals, and given 43 invited presentations at regional, national, and international professional meetings.

Bagavathiannan receives early career research award

22Jan

By: Kay Ledbetter

The Texas A&M AgriLife Vice Chancellor’s Awards in Excellence – Early Career Research honor was presented to Dr. Muthu Bagavathiannan at a ceremony Jan. 7 on the Texas A&M University campus in College Station.

The awards, established in 1980, recognize the commitment and outstanding contributions of faculty and staff across Texas A&M AgriLife, and represent the highest level of achievement for the organization.

Muthu Bagavathiannan

Dr. Muthu Bagavathiannan received the 2018 Vice Chancellor’s Award in Excellence – Early Career Research.


Bagavathiannan joined the Texas A&M department of soil and crop sciences as a tenure-track weed science faculty in 2014 with a Texas A&M AgriLife Research appointment. He has since established a rigorous research group that is gaining national and international recognition in weed science research, his nomination stated.

“Muthu’s research focuses primarily on understanding herbicide-resistance evolution in weeds and developing integrated weed management solutions for various cropping systems,” said Dr. David Baltensperger, head of the department of soil and crop sciences.

As a principal investigator or co-investigator, he received, through a diverse range of funding sources, more than $15 million in grant funds, of which $3.3 million went directly into his research program. In particular, he has secured five U.S. Department of Agriculture grants as the principal investigator and another five USDA grants as the co-principal investigator.

“Muthu engages with producer groups, agribusiness industry and other funding sources to provide additional support to his program,” Baltensperger said. “He has quickly built an aggressive research program by attracting talent from national and international arenas.”

Bagavathiannan supervises four doctoral students and two master’s students and is serving on one doctoral and master student committee. He mentored 11 international scholars/interns and 10 undergraduate student researchers. He also mentors two postdoctoral researchers and two research assistants.

“Muthu has been active in multi-disciplinary research collaborations with renowned local, regional, national and international research groups,” Baltensperger said. “His collaborations have been highly fruitful and resulted in successful grant applications and publications.”

Bagavathiannan is also an active member of the TAMU-Unmanned Aerial Systems, or UAS, project where his program has made excellent progress in using UAS for weed management applications. He has provided significant leadership to the weed research and development activities within Texas.

He has authored or co-authored 26 peer-reviewed journal manuscripts, eight book chapters and four extension bulletins since 2014. Two of his lead publications have been selected as featured articles by the journals Weed Science and Weed Technology.

“Muthu has also been very effective in translating his research findings into classroom teaching,” Baltensperger said. “His recent student evaluations were higher than the departmental average at both undergraduate and graduate levels.”

He developed a new course to train the students with practical job skills in applied weed science and agronomy and prepare them for the Southern Weed Judging Contest. A total of 26 graduate students and 10 undergraduate students were trained as part of this activity.

He chaired the Weed-Crop Interactions and Allelopathy sessions at the 2016 International Weed Science Congress held at Prague, Czech Republic, and served as a co-organizer of a Workshop on Weeds and Invasive Species held at Alberta, Canada in June 2016.

Bagavathiannan co-chaired the Weed Biology and Ecology section of the 2016 WSSA annual meeting in Puerto Rico, and chaired the 2017 meeting in Tucson, Arizona. He also chaired the Weed Science and Growth Regulation session of the 2016 Rice Technical Working Group meeting in Galveston.

Recently, he was invited to speak at the Brazilian National Weed Science Congress at Rio De Janeiro and the Indian Society of Weed Science Congress at Jabalpur, India.

He was selected as a recipient of the Outstanding Reviewer Award by WSSA and also received an Outstanding Reviewer Status by the Crop Protection Journal, published by Elsevier.

Coffee Education Symposium held at Texas A&M

17Dec

Writer: Beth Ann Luedeker

Coffee researchers, roasters and others with an interest in coffee gathered at the Scotts turfgrass facility on the Texas A&M University campus to discuss opportunities for coffee research.

“Coffee is not one of our top crops, but millions of pounds are roasted and consumed in Texas each year,” said Dr. Leo Lombardini, Horticulture Professor and Director of the Texas A&M Coffee Center. “In the Houston area alone, there are about 100 small roasters and 15 large roasters.”

seated people listening to man talk

Researchers and members of the coffee industry gathered at the Scotts facility in College Station for the first Coffee Education Symposium. (Soil and Crop Sciences Photo by Beth Ann Luedeker)

Coffee is an important commodity for the United States. It has a $225.2 billion economic impact in the U.S. and provides more than 1.6 million jobs, he explained.

There is more than an economic impact, however. Since coffee is ground for a single use, there is a significant environmental impact to address.

“Coffee grounds are a large waste issue. Thousands of tons of used grounds are sent to landfills annually,” said Amanda Birnbaum, a doctoral student in Horticultural Sciences.

Companies like GeoJava, a cold-brew coffee company, are working with researchers to find ways the spent grounds can be of beneficial use.

Soil and Crop Sciences Associate Professor Ben Wherley is one such of the researchers. He had his team have joined forces with GeoJava to research possible uses for spent grounds in turfgrass systems.

Ben Wherley talking

Dr. Ben Wherley discusses coffee grounds research at TAMU. (SCSC Photo by Beth Ann Luedeker)

“Most sports fields are sand based, so spent coffee grounds can be used as a root zone amendment,” Wherley told the participants at the symposium. “We are seeing a layer of spent coffee grounds forming in thatch, and expect to see them contributing to increased water holding capacity in the future.”

Greenhouse tests indicate that the spent grounds help retain moisture, and they are now testing that in the research plots in College Station, he said.

Wherley said he has also had some success using grounds as a preemergent herbicide.

group of people looking at grass maked with grid

Participants at the symposium braved the cold rain to view research plots and hear Garrett Flores, a Master’s student in Wherley’s program, discuss his research. (SCSC photo by Beth Ann Luedeker)

“We are just scratching the surface of research,” he said. “Do we need to compost the grounds first? Do fresh grounds work better? How effective will they be as a pre-emergent? Those are questions we want to answer.”

During the conference researchers are also discussed their work on the sensory aspect of coffee, the constraints for smallholder coffee farmers, improving coffee quality through soil health remediation, and more.

student with hand on grass surface

Master’s student Garrett Flores pointed out some of the coffee grounds being used as a soil amendment in his research plots.(SCSC Photos by Beth Ann Luedeker)

Students participate in research Down Under

17Dec

Writer: Beth Ann Luedeker

Educators know that hands-on experience is a critical part of learning, and Texas A&M University offers many opportunities for students to study abroad, conduct research and participate in internships.

This past summer two doctoral students under the supervision of Dr. Cristine Morgan had the opportunity to do all that in Australia.

two people in park with Sydney, Australia, skyline in background

Dianna and Cody Bagnall in Sydney, Australia

Dianna Bagnall, a soil science major, and Cody Bagnall, a biological and agricultural engineering student, participated in the “Australia-Americas Ph.D. Internship”, a program run through the Australian Academy of Science.

During the program, about 40 Ph.D. students from the sciences and engineering spend nine weeks conducting research with a mentor from the Academy.

“We were fortunate that Dr. Morgan already had collaborations with Dr. Alex McBratney at the University of Sydney,” Dianna said. “He was the one who made us aware of the program and invited us to participate.”

Diana bagnall in soil pit

Dianna Bagnall looks at the soil in Australia.

Dianna worked with McBratney during the program, continuing some research she had already begun dealing with 3-D scanning of soil structure.

“I had a collected soil scanning data here in the U.S. in the spring and we did the data analysis there, to better understand the data we had collected,” she said.

Dianna and McBratney also took soil scans in Australia for comparison. The soil scanner was then donated to the University of Sydney.

She is working on a preliminary paper she hopes to publish soon.

Cody was working with Dr. Ian Young, an environmental biophysicist, looking at root-soil interaction.

He was there to learn the techniques those scientists are using for root imaging and image processing.

“My research for my Ph.D. is focused on root imaging using low-field MRI. Once you get the images, how you process them and how you analyze them is fairly similar, so this summer was very useful for me,” Cody said.

The Bagnalls also had some time to explore the area near Sydney and to talk to local farmers.

group of students

Doctoral students who participated in the Australia-Americas Ph.D. Internship came from throughout the Americas.

Soil and Crop Sciences students seek to impact global food security

16Nov

By: Beth Ann Luedeker
Contact: Karina Morales, kymorales11@tamu.edu

Tackling global agriculture/food security issues is one of the primary goals of an advanced agriculture education.

Karina Morales, a soil and crop sciences doctoral student under Dr. Michael Thompson, may have the opportunity to make an noticeable impact as she works toward her degree.

At the U.S. Borluag Summer Institute for Global Food Security, Morales and her team, “Team Bangladesh”, had the winning proposal in the mock USAID grant funding project. This earned the students a trip to the World Food Prize and the opportunity to pursue grant funding for their project.

“We chose to advance a project which is currently being done on a small scale, floating vegetable gardens which allow food production during the monsoon season, when all ag lands are under water,” Morales explained. “This is beneficial to the farmers not only for food availabiltiy, but the increased availability will help diversify their diets and promote a more healthful diet. It will also provide another income source to better livelihood of the farmer.”

The premise of the project is to create vegetable gardens built upon water hyacinth, a weed which grows in abundance in Bangladesh, she said. These gardens will float when the lands become flooded.

To build the garden, water hyacinth and other water weeds are gathered onto a wire framework and compacted into rafts. Vegetable plant seedlings are later planted in the organic matter.

man in boat by floating gardens

Floating vegetable gardens in Bangladesh.

According to Morales, vegetables are being raised in this manner on about 1,000 acres, but there are nearly 4.5 million additional acres which could potentially be used.

“Our team proposed a partnership between a local university and local NGO (non-governmental organization) to provide the needed materials. The farmer would only need to provide labor, and since they are typically not able to work during the flood season, they have time to put in the labor,” Morales said. “It may also be an opportunity to empower the women, since many of the men go into the cities during the monsoon season to find work.”

Most of the farmers in Bangladesh are subsistence farmers cultivating an acre or less, and 89 percent grow rice during the drier season. Morales and her team believes that being able to grow a crop during the wet season would be of great benefit to the farmers on many levels.

The majority of “Team Bangladesh” is interested in pursuing grant funding for this project, she said. “We will be working toward that goal over the next few months.”

The Borlaug Summer Institute is a two-week program at Purdue University for graduate students which provides an working knowlege of global food security and an introduction to interdisciplinary problem solving. The program includes lectures, case studies, small group discussions and field trips.

According to Morales, most of the students participating this year were studying the hard sciences (plant breeding, soil science, food science, etc.) but there were also business students, anthropologists and others.

“It was very eye opening to see the problem of food security from different perspectives and to realize it will not be just one discipline which will solve the problem,” Morales said.

She admitted that it can be easy for scientists to overlook the importance of the anthropologists and other disciplines.

Karina Morales and Tadessa Teferra

TAMU Soil and Crop Sciences students Karina Morales and Tadessa Teferra at the Borlaug Summer Institute at Purdue.

“But, if you don’t understand the culture of the people, it can be really difficult to convince them to adopt new technologies or varieties,” she said. “The improvements you want to help them implement may not match their values, beliefs or lifestyles.”

Two Texas A&M University soil and crop sciences students attended the program this year. Morales and Tedessa Teferra, who is pursuing his Ph.D. in Food Science under Dr. Joseph Awika, both hope to make an impact on global food security during their careers.

National team to use $5.7 million USDA award to address annual bluegrass epidemic in turfgrass

7Nov

Writer: Kay Ledbetter, 806-677-5608, skledbetter@ag.tamu.edu
Photos: Beth Ann Luedeker, baluedeker@tamu.edu

COLLEGE STATION – The most widely grown irrigated crop in the U.S. – turfgrass – is being threatened, and Texas A&M AgriLife is leading a project to find solutions.

Annual bluegrass, known as Poa annua, is the most troublesome weed of turf systems, according to a recent Weed Science Society of America survey, and this weed has grown to epidemic proportions, causing severe economic losses.

Texas A&M AgriLife is joining scientists across the nation to address the threat with a project, Research and Extension to Address Herbicide-Resistance Epidemic in Annual Bluegrass in Managed Turf Systems.

A team of 16 scientists across 15 universities will be involved in the four-year, $5.7 million project to limit the impact of annual bluegrass, the most troublesome weed of athletic, golf, lawn and sod turf, said Dr. Muthu Bagavathiannan, lead investigator/weed scientist with Texas A&M AgriLife Research in the Soil and Crop Sciences Department, College Station.

twelve people

Members of the research team include: (l to r) Shawn Askew, Scott McElroy, Muthu Bagavathiannan, Daniel Hathcoat, Clint Mattock, James Brosnan, Becky Grubbs, Matthew Elmore, David Ervin, George Frisvold, Jay McCurdy and Bryan Unruh. Not pictured: Travis Gannon, John Kaminski, Alec Kowalewski, Bert McCarty, Patrick McCullough and Aaron Patton.

Funding is from a Specialty Crops Research Initiative Coordinated Agricultural Project grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture-National Institute of Food and Agriculture.

“The national-scale herbicide-resistance epidemic in annual bluegrass in managed turfgrass systems is in need of critical research and extension attention,” Bagavathiannan said.

The team’s multifaceted approach will be to characterize the distribution of herbicide-resistant populations, seek weaknesses in the weed’s seed biology and growth characteristics, and develop alternatives to herbicides to supplement current control measures, with a robust extension and education program, he said.

Known popularly as the “Green Industry” or the “Environmental Horticulture Industry,” turfgrass is about a $100 billion specialty crop industry in the U.S., with about 50 million acres of managed turf operations nationwide, according to co-investigator Dr. Becky Grubbs, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service turfgrass specialist, College Station.

With high genetic diversity and rapid adaptation to climates and management, this species is found in all U.S. hardiness zones, said Dr. Alec Kowalewski, associate professor at Oregon State University. Even small infestations can quickly spread throughout a turf field.

Annual bluegrass, marked by its distinct light green color with white flower heads, is not tolerated in managed turf systems because of a severe negative impact on turf quality, said Dr. Bert McCarty, Clemson University professor.

Poor tolerance of annual bluegrass to moisture and heat stress as well as stand density loss due to disease and nematode infections severely affect the recreational quality of the turf, said Dr. James Brosnan, University of Tennessee associate professor.

man on one knee inspecting turfgrass

Dr. Muthu Bagavathiannan, Texas A&M AgriLife Research weed scientist, looks for annual bluegrass seedlings at the Scotts-Miracle Gro Center for Lawn and Garden Research at Texas A&M University in College Station.

The rapid rise and movement of herbicide-resistant Poa annua from one location to another might be linked to contaminated turfgrass seed being planted or Poa-infested sod installed unbeknownst to turf managers, said Dr. Aaron Patton, Purdue University professor.

Understanding resistance mechanisms may provide insight for developing suitable management practices, said Dr. Scott McElroy, Auburn University professor. If the genetic relationships can be determined between resistant populations, suitable management practices could be identified and implemented to prevent their spread.

A common South Korean golf course practice is to clean golf shoes with compressed air after finishing a golf round. This simple practice could reduce the spread of herbicide-resistant populations across golf courses, and in turn reduce the amount of herbicide applied there and to other turfgrass areas, said Dr. Patrick McCullough, University of Georgia professor.

Dr. Travis Gannon, North Carolina State University associate professor, said the potential of non-target-site resistance (NTSR) mechanisms is a growing concern because such mechanisms may confer resistance to unrelated herbicide groups. “We are excited about the opportunity to investigate NTSR among Poa populations across the national scale.”

Virginia Tech professor Dr. Shawn Askew said because the biology and ecology of Poa has not been adequately studied, the project will investigate seed persistence in the soil seedbank, seedling-emergence patterns and phenological development to identify best management strategies.

“Stakeholders have told us a major limitation with resistance management is the lack of effective non-chemical tactics,” said Dr. Matt Elmore, Rutgers University assistant professor.

Research needs to evaluate cultural tactics such as grass species and variety selection, mowing regimes – height and frequency, grass-clipping removal at mowing, as well as irrigation and nutrient management, said Dr. Bryan Unruh, University of Florida professor. Fraze mowing, which removes the top inch of soil along with weed seeds, is another approach to be evaluated, Brosnan added.

“Socioeconomic factors, such as technology expectations and prices, play a major role in the adoption of best management practices,” said Dr. David Ervin, Portland State University professor. The project will conduct focus groups and a national survey to understand the behavior of turf managers and the factors influencing decision-making by them.

Twelve people seated around a table talking

Members of the research team met in College Station to initiate the annual bluegrass research effort.

Weed-resistance management may be expensive in the short-run, but it can pay off in the long-run, said Dr. George Frisvold, University of Arizona professor. Understanding the long-term economic implications of management practices and being proactive are imperative.

All findings from the project will be disseminated through an extensive outreach program, including field days, small-group trainings, webinars and bulletins in all the states for stakeholder interaction, said Dr. Jay McCurdy, Mississippi State University assistant professor.

The project also includes disseminating the research findings through classroom education and student training to reach the next generation of turf managers, said John Kaminski, Pennsylvania State University professor.

According to the International Survey of Herbicide Resistant Weeds, annual bluegrass ranks third among all herbicide-resistant weed species globally, with resistance to at least nine different herbicide modes of action.

One stakeholder, pointing out the seriousness of the problem, said, “We just completed our putting green renovation costing $3 million, driven largely by the fact Poa annua was the prominent grass, which created chronic ‘life support’ attention.” Another said, “Finding solutions to this problem could save homeowners, public entities, golf courses and sports complexes millions of dollars.”

With a strong clientele network in place, the team has been able to identify the needs of the industry and other stakeholders as we move forward with the research, Bagavathiannan said. And while the project will directly benefit sod farms, golf courses, athletic fields and residential turf systems, it also will improve social and environmental benefits to the general public.

For more information, please contact any member of the team:

  • Muthu Bagavathiannan, Texas A&M University, muthu@tamu.edu
  • Shawn Askew, Virginia Tech University, saskew@vt.edu
  • Jim Brosnan, University of Tennessee, jbrosnan@utk.edu
  • Matthew Elmore, Rutgers University, matthew.elmore@rutgers.edu
  • David Ervin, Portland State University, ervin@pdx.edu
  • George Frisvold, University of Arizona, frisvold@ag.arizona.edu
  • Travis Gannon, North Carolina State University, travis_gannon@ncsu.edu
  • Becky Grubbs, Texas A&M University, bgrubbs@tamu.edu
  • John Kaminski, Pennsylvania State University, kaminski@psu.edu
  • Alec Kowalewski, Oregon State University, alec.kowalewski@oregonstate.edu
  • Bert McCarty, Clemson University, bmccrty@clemson.edu
  • Patrick McCullough, University of Georgia, pmccull@uga.edu
  • Jay McCurdy, Mississippi State University, jdm269@msstate.edu
  • Scott McElroy, Auburn University, jsm0010@auburn.edu
  • Aaron Patton, Purdue University, ajpatton@purdue.edu
  • Brian Unruh, University of Florida, jbu@ufl.edu

Texas A&M leads $5.7 million research project to attack annual bluegrass

30Oct

Writer: Kay Ledbetter, 806-677-5608, skledbetter@ag.tamu.edu
Contact: Dr. Muthu Bagavathiannan, 979-845-5375, muthu@tamu.edu

The most widely grown irrigated crop in the U.S. – turfgrass – is being threatened by annual bluegrass, and Texas A&M AgriLife is leading a project to find solutions.

Texas A&M AgriLife is joining scientists across the nation to address the threat through a project called Research and Extension to Address Herbicide-Resistance Epidemic in Annual Bluegrass in Managed Turf Systems.

Man on one knee inspecting turfgrass

Dr. Muthu Bagavathiannan, Texas A&M AgriLife Research weed scientist, looks for annual bluegrass seedlings at the Scotts-Miracle Gro Center for Lawn and Garden Research at Texas A&M University in College Station. (Texas A&M photo by Beth Luedeker)

A team of 16 university scientists will be involved in the four-year, $5.7 million project to limit the impact of annual bluegrass, the most troublesome weed of athletic, golf, lawn and sod turf, said Dr. Muthu Bagavathiannan, lead investigator and weed scientist with Texas A&M AgriLife Research in the Texas A&M soil and crop sciences department, College Station.

Funding is from a Specialty Crops Research Initiative Coordinated Agricultural Project grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture-National Institute of Food and Agriculture.

Annual bluegrass, known as Poa, is the most troublesome turf weed, according to a recent Weed Science Society of America survey. This weed has grown to epidemic proportions, causing severe economic losses.

“The national-scale herbicide-resistance epidemic of annual bluegrass in managed turfgrass systems warrants critical attention by research and extension scientists,” Bagavathiannan said.

Known popularly as the “Green Industry” or the “Environmental Horticulture Industry,” turfgrass is about a $100 billion specialty crop industry in the U.S., with about 50 million acres of managed turf operations nationwide, said co-investigator Dr. Becky Grubbs, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service turfgrass specialist, College Station.

With high genetic diversity and rapid adaptation to climates and management, this species is found in all U.S. hardiness zones, Grubbs said. Even small infestations can quickly spread throughout a turf field.

annual bluegrass

Annual bluegrass is considered as a troublesome weed affecting golf courses, athletic fields, sod farms and residential lawns. (Texas A&M AgriLife)

Annual bluegrass has a distinctly light green color with white flower heads, she said. Its presence is not tolerated in managed turf systems because of a severe negative impact on turf quality. It has poor tolerance to moisture and heat stress and stand density loss commonly occurs due to disease and nematode infections, severely affecting the recreational quality of the turf.

The team’s multifaceted approach will focus on understanding the current distribution of resistance, resistance mechanisms, rapid diagnostic methods, seed persistence and seedling emergence, phenological development, non-chemical management options and socio-economic considerations to adoption of best management practices, Bagavathiannan said.

“A decision-support tool will be developed to guide the selection of suitable management programs based on herbicide mode of action diversity and integration of non-chemical options,” he said. “We anticipate this tool will create awareness among the clients about the importance of diversified management and help select best management practices that fit their operations.”

According to the International Survey of Herbicide Resistant Weeds, annual bluegrass ranks third among all herbicide-resistant weed species globally, with resistance to at least nine different herbicide modes of action.

“Currently, very few effective herbicide options are available for the management of annual bluegrass in turf systems, and very few, if any, novel herbicide modes of action are in the development pipeline,” Bagavathiannan said.

“The inability to control annual bluegrass using existing economical and environmentally benign herbicides means that less favorable alternatives are having to be used to manage the problem,” he said.

Twelve people standing in front of building

Some of the team addressing herbicide-resistance in annual bluegrass gathered recently at the Scotts-Miracle Gro Center for Lawn and Garden Research at Texas A&M University. (Texas A&M photo by Beth Luedeker)

Stakeholders have identified the lack of effective non-chemical tactics as a problem. In response, the project will evaluate cultural practices such as grass species and variety selection, mowing regimes – height and frequency, grass-clipping removal at mowing, as well as irrigation and nutrient management. Fraze mowing – removing the top inch of soil along with the weed seeds – is a novel approach that will be evaluated.

Co-investigators on this project are:
– Dr. Shawn Askew, Virginia Tech.
– Dr. James Brosnan, University of Tennessee.
– Dr. Matt Elmore, Rutgers University.
– Dr. David Ervin, Portland State University.
– Dr. George Frisvold, University of Arizona.
– Dr. Travis Gannon, North Carolina State University.
– Dr. John Kaminski, Pennsylvania State University.
– Dr. Alec Kowalewski, Oregon State University.
– Dr. Bert McCarty, Clemson University.
– Dr. Patrick McCullough, University of Georgia.
– Dr. Jay McCurdy, University of Mississippi.
– Dr. Scott McElroy, Auburn University.
– Dr. Aaron Patton, Purdue University.
– Dr. Bryan Unruh, University of Florida.

The project will directly benefit sod production farms, golf courses, athletic fields and residential turf systems in cost saving and improved profitability, Bagavathiannan said. As important, though, is it will help improve social and environmental benefits to the general public.

The team already has a strong network with the clientele being served with this project, so that has helped the group identify the needs, he said, and “will keep us on track as we move forward with our research.”

  • « Go to Previous Page
  • Go to page 1
  • Go to page 2
  • Go to page 3
  • Go to page 4
  • Go to Next Page »
  • Compact with Texans
  • Privacy and Security
  • Accessibility Policy
  • State Link Policy
  • Statewide Search
  • Veterans Benefits
  • Military Families
  • Risk, Fraud & Misconduct Hotline
  • Texas Homeland Security
  • Texas Veterans Portal
  • Equal Opportunity
  • Open Records/Public Information
Texas A&M University System Member