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Summer Edition of Louisiana Ag Magazine
This issue focuses on the accomplishments of the Office of Intellectual Property. In the past three decades, commercialization of agricultural discoveries by university researchers has increased dramatically. The AgCenter is the leader in Louisiana and ranks among the nation’s top universities in generating patents, licenses, startup companies, and royalty income from its inventions. Read about some of the talented scientists and their inventions. 36 pages
This 24-page issue features a variety of articles, including evaluating bermudagrass hybrids, alternative cool-season flowers and breakthroughs in the aerial seeding of coastal grass. You can download the magazine as a PDF. The magazine is also available as an e-book for the iPad, the Nook and the Kindle. For the iPad and Nook, please download the EPUB file under the photo at right. For the Kindle, please download the MOBI file.
This four-page publication features the milestones from 125 years of research at the Louisiana Agricultural Experiment Station.
This is a special issue of Louisiana Agriculture devoted to milestones in research over the past 125 years. In 1887, Congress passed the Hatch Act, which provided federal funds to states with agricultural research stations. Lousiana was able to access this money and begin conducting research that made the agricultural industry sustainable and profitable. The magazine has 32 pages. You can download a PDF version at right.
This issue of Louisiana Agriculture contains articles on aerial seeding of coastal plants, a new wood-plastic product to aid in drilling oil and the horticulture research and extension programs that aid the economic development of the nursery and landscape industry. The magazine is 36 pages. You can download a PDF version at right.
After Richard Cooper earned his bachelor’s degree in biology, he knew he wanted to do research. During his master’s studies at Mississippi State University, he took an intensive class in fish diseases.
There are many reasons why people choose a career, but probably not many because of illness. But for LSU AgCenter professor of food safety and microbiology Marlene Janes, contracting a case of meningitis started her on the path to her current position.
A key step in processing sugar isremoving solid particles from the sugarcane juice because the juice naturally contains dirt particles and plant residue.
In 2012, the LSU AgCenter Office of Intellectual Property celebrates its 25th anniversary. During that time it has become the leader in the commercialization of intellectual property within higher education inLouisiana.
Agricultural research in the United States enjoys a long, rich history. While the need for such applied research was identified by President George Washington in the late 18th century, it wasn’t until nearly 80 years later that states first began to gather resources and fund their own agricultural research efforts.
Steve Harrison was determined to be different from his dad, a wheat breeder in South Carolina. But eventually Harrison found his way into agronomy, studying under his father’s major professor at the University of Georgia while working toward his master’s degree.
Three scientists from three different backgrounds have worked together at the LSU AgCenter on a project aimed at curbing coastal erosion along the U.S. Gulf coast.
Research at the LSU AgCenter includes fiber-reinforced plastic composites, which are widely used for such applications as building components and automobile parts.
The LSU AgCenter wheat research program has evolved over the past two decades into a full-scale breeding and genetics effort with significant economic impact and intellectual property value.
Steve Linscombe, director of the LSU AgCenter Rice Research Station and rice breeder, was surrounded by rice country as a boy in the town of Gueydan.
A Springfield, Ill., native, Don LaBonte headed south immediately after receiving his doctorate from the University of Illinois in 1988 and has had along and productive career breeding sweet potatoes in Louisiana ever since.
When he came to the LSU AgCenter in 1996, Qinglin Wu believed he had found a place that offered strong potential for career development.
Although it is pretty easy to swallow medications in tablet or capsule form, it is not so easy to have them soluble after that. This is an important issue because drugs need to be soluble in the small intestines to be absorbed into the bloodstream and take effect.
Recently completed laboratory and animal handling space at the LSU AgCenter Isolation Facility is available to any researcher who has a need for containment and isolation, said Phil Elzer, assistant vice chancellor for research.
For Fred Enright, working with animals has always beena part of his life. His father was a Louisiana cattle farmer and gave every family member cattle to care for.
A new wound-care product that uses a growth factor to stimulate wound healing is the latest product stemming from protein-expression technology developed by LSU AgCenter researcher Richard Cooper.
Food safety is of paramount public health concern and a focus of research in the Department of Food Science. Food scientists are finding ways to prevent food-related illnesses, which include quick and inexpensive methods for screening and detecting the presence of pathogenic bacteria in food.
There is nothing more satisfying to a sweet potato grower than a new variety that has a 10 percent yield gain, is easier to grow at no extra cost, and resists damage from drought and flooding.
Gregg Henderson’s interest in insects began when he was a young boy. “I would make ant farms, and along the sidewalks of my suburban New Jersey landscape, I would develop wars between different pavement ant colonies based on their territories,” he said.
Clearfield rice is grown around the world under exclusive license to BASF. Since 2003, it has brought in more than $20 million to the LSU AgCenter.
Termites have been feeding on wood for 200 million years. Thus, the idea that they can be eradicated can be somewhat amusing; however, it should not be that difficult to keep them from eating our most prized material possession – our homes.
Louisiana Agriculture Magazine
Louisiana is losing its coastal wetlands at an alarming rate. Although Louisiana has about 40 percent of the continental United States’ coastal wetlands, it accounts for 90 percent of the nation’s wetland loss.
Food science professor Jack Losso is determined to find medicine in a most unlikely place – waste products from seafood processing plants.
Right now is an exciting time to be engaged in the art of technology transfer and economic development at the LSU AgCenter. Since 2006, the AgCenter has obtained 24 issued patents and has gone from 16 active technology licenses to 67.
Vadim Kochergin is improving the way sugar is processed in Louisiana. The LSU AgCenter professor was trained as a chemical engineer in Moscow, Russia, and has used that knowledge to solve problems for the sugarcane industry.
Zhijun Liu, professor in the LSU AgCenter School of Renewable Natural Resources, could have taken any number of career paths. He grew up in Henan Province, the cradle of Chinese culture and civilization and succeeded academically, while developing natural talents in music.
Louisiana’s abundant fresh, brackish and marine water resources, heavy soils,flat lands, temperate water and semitropical climate ensured that the state would be a leader in aquaculture.
In the mid-1940s, several events occurred highlighting the need for an experiment station in the Florida Parishes of southeastern Louisiana. Farm boys were coming home from World War II, virgin long-leaf pine forests were gone, and cotton and other row crops in the area were on the decline.
Louisiana agriculture research began with the establishment of the Sugar Experiment Station in 1885, two years before the passage of the Hatch Act.
Louisiana has long been known as a Sportsman’sParadise. Its many bayous, swamps and coastal marshes provide excellent fishing and wildlife viewing opportunities. Upland and bottom land forests afford hunters of all ages the chance to harvest small-game animals and allow big-game hunters the prospect of taking a trophy deer.
Many advancements have been made in agricultural research at the Louisiana Agricultural Experiment Station during the 125 years since the passage of the Hatch Act in 1887.
Louisiana Agriculture Magazine
Rice farming on a widespread commercial basis in Louisiana began in the late 19th century, and rice research soon followed.
The soybean has not only been responsible for improving Louisiana farmers’ profit margin as a crop but has also been instrumental in improving soils for the production of other crops.
The sweet potato, which has grown to be Louisiana’s most popular vegetable, had its beginnings as a commercial crop in the early 1900s, when commercial sweet potato districts in the United States were developed along geographic lines to serve local needs.
Many notable scientists contributed to research milestones during 125 years of the Louisiana Agricultural Experiment Station. Here are five.
The Department of Botany, Bacteriology and Plant Pathology was created in 1924 by combining faculty from the College of Arts and Sciences and the Louisiana Agricultural Experiment Station. C.W. Edgerton was named the first head, and the department grew from three to 13 faculty members by 1930.
The prototype of the off-campus research station started in Louisiana even before federal legislation made money available for such facilities. In1885, sugar planters set up a research facility in New Orleans, which was two years before passage of the Hatch Act in 1887.
Commercial horticulture is big business in Louisiana. One big reason is the research conducted by horticultural scientists at the Louisiana Agricultural Experiment Station. Because of this research, Louisianians can grow beautiful landscapes, maintain vegetable gardens and snack on home-produced fruits and nuts.
Louisiana’s dairy industry has experienced a decrease in both number of farms and number of cows in recent years. In 2010, there were145 dairy operations and approximately 16,050 dairy cows in Louisiana. Only 10 years before, there had been 434 dairy farms and 54,640 cows in Louisiana. In 1981, there were 995 dairies and 107,000 cows.
In the spring 2001 issue of Louisiana Agriculture, R. Larry Rogers, then LSU AgCenter vice chancellor, noted that “agriculture is more urban than you think.” Today, urban dwellers represent the majority of people living in our state. As a professor in the Department of Entomology and with expertise on insects that enjoy living in our homes as much as we do, my mission is to educate by providing results of original research and through teaching and outreach programs.
Cattle research in Louisiana has a long and storied past, and it’s only fitting since some of the first Brahman cattle brought to the United States ended up in Louisiana.
In addition to celebrating 125 years of agricultural research since the Hatch Act of 1887, the LSU AgCenter is celebrating 50 years of the Department of Food Science, the only such department of its kind in higher education in Louisiana. In 1962, under the administration of LSU President Troy Middleton and College of Agriculture Dean Norman Efferson, the Department of Food Science and Technology was established.
Few crops have the storied history of cotton. Grown in Louisiana for hundreds of years, this crop has been a vital part of the state’s economy. In the early 1700s, cotton cultivated in the state was used mainly for home spinning and weaving. It wasn’t until the invention of the cotton gin later that century that cotton became a cash crop in Louisiana.
Agriculture in Louisiana is an intricate tapestry whose richness is rivaled by few other states. Our broad array of agricultural enterprises ranges from the traditional to the regionally unique – from soybeans and corn to rice and sugarcane, from beef and dairy to alligators and turtles, and from catfish to crawfish and oysters.
In 1795, Etienne de Boré and Antoine Morin were able to granulate sugar from sugarcane on de Boré’s plantation in New Orleans – and the Louisiana sugar boom began.
In 1886, Rep. William H. Hatch of Missouri introduced a bill into Congress that would send federal money to each state for agricultural research at an experiment station. This bill became law in 1887 and is known as the Hatch Act.
Because invasive, non-native plants and animals can cause havoc, Louisiana Agricultural Experiment Station scientists conduct research programs to bring these problems under control. Two that present particular challenges – especially in urban areas – are red imported fire ants and Formosan subterranean termites.
The landscape of north central Louisiana where the Hill Farm Research Station is located is nicknamed “pine hills country.” However, when the station was established in 1947, the region looked considerably different.
The Louisiana Agricultural Experiment Station, established in 1887, has been directly involved in research to support development of herbicides and weed management technologies since 1926.
In addition to celebrating 125 years of agricultural research since the Hatch Act of 1887, the LSU AgCenter is celebrating 50 years of the Department of Food Science, the only such department of its kind in higher education in Louisiana.
Louisiana has not always had the plantations of southern pines. This isespecially true for the hills of north central Louisiana.
Lawrence Datnoff, head of the Department of Plant Pathology and Crop Physiology, was presented the International Service Award from the American Phytopathological Society on Aug. 5 at the annual meeting in Providence, R.I.
Many issues affect the management, profitability and sustainability of beef, dairy and poultry operations in Louisiana. Extension and research faculty need to be aware of these issues and work to help producers improve production practices. To determine the important issues, surveys were administered at group meetings with beef, dairy and poultry producers across the state.
To increase profits, LSU AgCenter weed scientist Jim Griffin encourages sugarcane farmers to grow soybeans in their fallow fields.
The fascination with heirloom tomatoes has some backyard growers willing to give up the qualities that brought improvement to hybrid varieties in exchange for old-fashioned flavor.
Louisiana farmers are constantly seeking to improve profitability and reduce business risk. To accomplish this,they often use futures markets, crop and livestock diversification, insurance, value-added agricultural enterprises, and other farm business management strategies.
ALEXANDRIA, La. – A herbicide-resistantweed in soybeans and cotton has causedwhat an LSU AgCenter weed scientist callsan epidemic in Louisiana.
With rising levels and increased volatility in commodity prices, agricultural producers have begun to question if traditional marketing strategies can still be used to manage risk in the farm operation.
These articles were published in the summer 2012 issue of Louisiana Agriculture Magazine.
Under revisions to the Louisiana Master Farmer Program, a producer’s farm conservation plan may now be developed through the LSU AgCenter.
Significant advancement in coastal engineering, such as the beneficial use of dredged materials, can help increase the speed and size of new marsh construction. Consequently, improving seed versatility, production and application is crucial in establishing efficient revegetation.
In recent years the role of genetics has become increasingly important for the management of a wide variety of wildlife species. Every individual has several thousand genes with different functions as well as sections of DNA with no known function, which are known as neutral markers. By measuring genetic diversity at several of these genes or markers, scientists can determine whether a species has the potential to adapt to change and persist over the long term.
Many issues can affect the management, profitability and sustainability of beef, dairy and poultry operations. To determine the important issues, surveys were administered at group meetings with beef, dairy and poultry producers across Louisiana. These are the tables of the results.
Four figures evaluating Bermudagrass hybrids - Alicia, Jiggs and Tifton 85. Figures show average dry matter, average daily gains, average lignin concentration and average total digestible nutrients concentration of the three hybrids.
The agricultural sector in Louisiana differs in several ways from the rest of the United States and even the rest of the Delta region.
Three new scientists have joined the LSU AgCenter, and two scientists have taken on new responsibilities.
Grafting tomato plants is an old cultural technique not common in North America until late in the last century except in home gardens and by small organic tomato growers in the southeastern United States.
The LSU AgCenter Hammond Research Station evaluates approximately 300-350 cool-season bedding plants in landscape settings each year from October through May.
These four figures accompany the article on "Evaluation of Three Bermudagrass Hybrids for Grazing and Hay Production in South Louisiana" written by Guillermo Scaglia.
Figures 1-4
Definitions of the key terms used in forage nutrition.
Phil Elzer has been named assistant vice chancellor of the LSU AgCenter and assistant director of the Louisiana Agricultural Experiment Station.
The LSU AgCenter has announced a field day featuring energy cane and sweet sorghum on Oct. 2 at the U.S. Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Station Sugarcane Research Farm near Houma, La.
Bermudagrass is an important warm-season, perennial,sod-forming forage grass grown across the southeastern United States.
The Plant Diagnostic Center on the LSU AgCenter’s Baton Rouge campus is a one-stop shop for all plant health problems.
TALLULAH, La.–Technology has changed 4-H Club Day in Madison Parish. Instead of a standard 50-minute meeting, reading minutes and preparing for the next contest or event, 4-H Club Day for 4-H members in this northeast Louisiana town is conducted with a mobile technology lab.
When you mention agriculture to people, they usually don’t think of flowers and turf. But the landscape and nursery industry is a vital part of the agricultural economy both in Louisiana and the nation as a whole.
Louisiana rice farmers agreed to continue paying a nickel for every 100 pounds of rice for research and 3 cents per hundred pounds for promotion for the next five years.
The Hammond Research Station serves as a center for horticulture research and extension and provides research-based information to landscape architects, landscape maintenance professionals, arborists, producers and retailers.
The introduction into Louisiana of new plants produced in other regions provides an opportunity not only for the introduction of new diseases, but also new hosts for pathogens already in Louisiana.
Plentiful, good quality water was one of the major attractions of southwest Louisiana more than 100 years ago when farmers who moved there to try growing rice. Later, when deep wells were drilled, it became evident the region had abundant groundwater, too.
These articles appear in the winter 2012 issue of Louisiana Agriculture magazine.
Many shrubs and groundcovers used in the southern landscape require routine pruning or shearing to keep their shape neat and compact. Pruning is a significant expenditure of time and a major labor cost for the landscape service industry.
The LSU Board of Supervisors approved the merger of the Department of Veterinary Science into the School of Animal Sciences at its meeting Feb. 3, 2012.
Scientists at the Hammond Research Station evaluate ornamental plants for landscape performance under south Louisiana growing conditions. This information is then provided to nursery and landscape professionals as well as home gardeners to use in selecting plants.
Automated, solar-powered boats have been used to reduce bird predation on catfish ponds and to track water quality in natural water bodies and drinking water reservoirs.
Biocontainers provide the ornamental plant industry with an opportunity to improve the level of adoption of sustainable products and practices. However, many factors must be considered before using these containers for ornamental production and transplanting into the landscape.
Thrips are insects belonging to the order Thysanoptera, meaning fringe-winged insects. One common name is thunderflies because large numbers migrate before thunderstorms.
