2023 LCAAA Poster Competition

2023 LCAAA AM/PIC Poster Contest Abstracts – Extension Education Category


A Community-Engagement Approach to Managing Agricultural Drought

Franks, M.1, Conger, S.L.D.2, Friedland, C.3, Rohli R.4, Divine, A.M.5

1Program Evaluator, LSU AgCenter, Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70803; mfranks@agcenter.lsu.edu
2Extension Irrigation Specialist, LSU AgCenter, Bossier City, LA 71112; sdavis@agcenter.lsu.edu
3 Director, LaHouse Resource Center, LSU AgCenter AgCenter, Baton Rouge, LA 70803; cfriedland@agcenter.lsu.edu
4Professor, Department of Oceanography and Coastal Sciences, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803; rohli@lsu.edu
5Extension Associate, LSU AgCenter, Bossier City, LA 71112; adivine@agcenter.lsu.edu

Most agricultural water use is attributed to irrigation as a form of drought risk mitigation. The mid-South has increased its portion of national irrigation totals from 4.6% to 12.2% since 1985. Thus, the long-term goal of this project is to inspire behavioral change in overall water consumption across increasing drought risk scenarios to enhance regional environmental sustainability. This goal will be accomplished through university-community partnerships and community engagement that helps with solving community problems and enables universities to meet their civic missions. The Carnegie Foundation developed a community engagement classification framework to help universities deepen service practices and strengthen bonds between campus and community. This framework emphasizes creating more reciprocal partnerships within extension programs, allowing key stakeholders to serve as co-creators of knowledge while creating programs, research, and scholarship that better meets the needs of communities. This project’s community engagement was used to capture feedback from stakeholders throughout the development of the irrigation scheduling webtool called Drought Irrigation Response Tool (DIRT). Thus far, two meetings have been held to capture direct feedback about webtool functionality, usability, features, and aesthetics. Pre- and post-meeting reflection captured additional comments and assessed collaboration and integration of community voice using the Carnegie community partnership scale. Results demonstrated that stakeholders (n=11) became significantly more aware of irrigation resources (60% to 86%) and technologies (58% to 82%) provided by the LSU AgCenter. They also rated the LSU AgCenter irrigation program as a more credible resource (87% to 96%), collaborative partner (83% to 90%), and felt involved in impactful decisions (78% to 86%). Additionally, the LSU AgCenter increased overall impact on stakeholders, valued expertise, and knowledge of AgCenter resources and personnel for making irrigation decisions. Stakeholders that participated in both sessions continued to rate the AgCenter more favorably as a credible resource, collaborative partner, and felt more valued as a community expert. Efforts to progress through the collaboration and shared leadership stages of the engagement process will continue once DIRT is released publicly.


Private Landowner Perception and Willingness to Grow Short-Rotation Hybridized Sweetgum in the Western Gulf

Valerie S. West 1, Aspen Lenning 2, Omkar Joshi 3, Rodney Will 3, and Michael Blazier 4

1 Assistant Extension Agent, Louisiana State University Agricultural Center, Benton, LA, USA 71006 (vwest@agcenter.lsu.edu); 2 Graduate Scholar, Department of Natural Resource Ecology and Management, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK, USA 74078; 3 Professor, Department of Natural Resource Ecology and Management, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK, USA 74078; 4 Dean, School of Renewable Natural Resources, University of Arkansas at Monticello, Monticello, AR, USA, 71656

In the forests of the eastern half of the United States, sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua) has long been disregarded as a ‘trash tree’ of little or negative economic value. Fiber markets are transitioning from fine paper to craft paper and biofuels and the value of sweetgum is being given a second look. Breeding programs are combining the native sweetgum with its Asian counterparts, such as the Formosan gum (Liquidambar formosana), yielding promising results for the industry. Will landowners be willing to plant and grow hybrid sweetgum as a short-rotation woody crop? Researchers with Oklahoma State University and Louisiana State University Agricultural Center are studying the growth potential of hybrid sweetgum and attempting to quantify if landowners in the Western Gulf region would be willing to consider these varieties as options for timber production in the future. This synopsis will cover landowner perceptions and their willingness to convert to hybrid sweetgum. A survey of landowners with 75 or more rural acres was distributed to 3,000 individuals in 2021 to ascertain socioeconomic and land use parameters relative to acceptance of hybrid sweetgum production. As a result of the survey, it was determined that 1/3 of the responding landowners were interested hybrid sweetgum production. The majority of these landowners currently manage their lands for pine production and indicated a need for further information on growing, managing, and marketing hybrid sweetgum before fully committing to conversion.


2023 LCAAA AM/PIC Poster Contest Abstracts – Applied Research Category


On-going Fungicide and Growth Regulator Efficacy Research in Louisiana Peanut

Price, T.1, Padgett, B.1, Purvis, M.2, Ezell, D.2, Garner, B., Frasier, R. L., and D. Burns.

1Extension Specialists, LSU AgCenter, Alexandria and Winnsboro, Louisiana.

2Research Associates, LSU AgCenter, Winnsboro, Louisiana.

3Extension Agents, LSU AgCenter, Northeast Louisiana.

At the request of growers and with funding from the National Peanut Board, we have been investigating fungicide application timing and efficacy as well as growth regulator effects in peanut in Louisiana. On-farm efforts at five locations during 2021 and 2022 included comparisons of two applications of tebuconazole (7.2 fl oz/A) against one application of Elatus (9.5 oz/A) for Southern stem rot (white mold) management. Two applications of the growth regulator, Kudos (5.4 oz/A), also were compared to non-treated plots. Treatments were applied after canopy lap and at first sign of white mold. Treatments were as follows: tebuconazole (7.2 fl oz/A) applied twice, Elatus (9.5 oz/A) applied once, Elatus applied once plus Kudos (5.4 fl oz/A) applied twice, and Kudos applied twice. Significantly lower disease incidence was observed in fungicide-treated and Kudos-only treated plots compared to the non-treated control. Plots treated with Kudos had significantly higher row definition compared to the non-treated and Elatus only. Plots with no treatment yielded the lowest, and plots that were treated trended higher yields. Small plot fungicide and growth regulator efficacy trials were initiated in Winnsboro and St. Joseph, LA during the 2021 and 2022 growing seasons. Eleven labeled fungicides were applied to GA-06 plots at both locations. Stem rot incidence and severity was low and highly variable at both locations; therefore, results were inconclusive. Five rates of Kudos ranging from 1.8 to 9.0 fl oz/A were applied twice to GA-06 at both locations. In St. Joseph, row definition significantly increased with growth regulator rate, and in Winnsboro data trended the same. Unfortunately, harvest was impossible at both locations because of equipment issues. On-farm and small plot research continues during the 2023 season with equipment upgrades during the off-season.


Parameters to Increase LiDAR Mounted UAV Efficiency on Agricultural Field Elevation Measurements

P. Lanza1, L. Santos2, T. Gentimis3, Y. Yang3, S. L. D. Conger4, J. Beasley2

1Cornell University, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, 1010 Bradfield Hall, 14853, USA, 2Louisiana State University, School of Plant, Environmental and Soil Sciences, 137 Miller Hall, 70803, USA, 3Louisiana State University, Experimental Statistics , 161 Martin D Woodin Hall, 70803, USA, 4Louisiana State University, Red River Research Station, 262 Research Station Dr, 71112, USA; leticiabernabe.s@gmail.com

Agricultural lands in Louisiana are subject to high rainfall (>200 cm yr-1 or 79 in yr-1) but poor drainage due to heavy textured soils and minimal changes in topography. Failure to properly measure field elevations can negatively affect contouring or drainage installation. A promising method to measure field elevation could be the use of a light detection and ranging (LiDAR) sensor mounted to an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). However, there are no established procedures for using LiDAR-UAV currently. The objective of this project was to evaluate different flight heights with varying survey areas for efficiency and resolution. Treatments were flight altitudes of 40 m (130 ft), 50 m (165 ft), and 60 m (197 ft). The maps were created using QGIS at 0.3 m by 0.3 m horizontal and 0.05 m vertical resolutions. Each altitude was flown over two multi-hectare agricultural fields in Louisiana. High-resolution elevation maps were created from data collected using a Phoenix LiDAR AL3-32 payload, comprising a Velodyne HDL-32 LiDAR sensor and a KVH 1750 internal measurement unit (IMU), mounted to a DJI Matrice 600 Pro UAV. There was no difference between the elevation maps created from the three heights when analyzed using correlation and regression analyses. Increasing the UAV altitude resulted in lower survey area but faster flight times. Flights at 60 m reduced survey area 17.5 to 27.5% and flight times 59.1 to 75.7 s 1000 m-2 compared to data captured at 40 m. Elevation data among the three flight altitudes did not result in significant improvements in development of high-resolution maps. The use of LiDAR-UAV can be performed more efficiently and effectively at higher altitudes to aid producers in developing drainage strategies for large-hectare fields. Next steps for this project include comparisons of elevation maps created from 60 m with up to 120 m, which represents the maximum flight height for drones in United States airspace.


Two Year Statewide On-farm Evaluation of Soybean Yield, Protein, and Oil Content.

Moseley, D.1

1Assistant Professor – Soybean Specialist, Louisiana State University, Dean Lee Research and Extension Center, Alexandria, Louisiana 71302

Louisiana soybean farmers plant approximately 1 million acres of soybean annually. With a state-wide average yield of 50 bu/A, Louisiana farmers produce approximately 50 million bushels of soybean every year. At $12/bushel, the Louisiana soybean crop can be worth approximately $600 million in revenue. State-wide variety testing by the LSU AgCenter is important to provide unbiased data to assist farmers in selecting the highest yielding and most stable variety. Soybean seed can also be sold to value-added markets such as meal and oil industries. The objective of this research was to compare the yield, protein, and oil content in varieties in the 2021 and 2022 soybean core-block trials. In 2021, 26 varieties were divided into three maturity group sections (3.8-4.4; 4.5-4.9; and 5.0-5.6) and planted by LSU AgCenter Parish Agents on producer’s farms across 10 trials in six parishes. In 2022, 31 varieties were also divided into the same three maturity group sections and planted across 23 trials in 12 parishes. The experimental design was a single strip plot per location and variety. At harvest, yield and a 200-gram seed sample were collected for each location and variety combination. The samples were analyzed for protein and oil content using a Foss Infratec 1241 on a 13% moisture basis. The yield, protein content, and oil content were analyzed using analysis of variance to determine if there were significant differences, and the means were separated using Student’s t test. Across years and locations, there were significant differences in yield, protein content, and oil content between varieties. The difference between the highest value and lowest value was 23 bu/A, 4.5%, and 2.4% for yield, protein content, and oil content, respectively. Selecting varieties with the highest yield potential is one of the most important decisions a farmer can make. Furthermore, selecting a variety with high protein or oil content can provide an economical benefit in value-added markets.

6/19/2023 5:09:49 PM
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