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For more than five years LSU AgCenter researchers have looked for ways to deliver lethal bait to feral hogs to control the population of the invasive species.
AgCenter animal scientist Glen Gentry and other researchers at the AgCenter Bob R. Jones Idlewild Research Station are working on a sodium nitrite bait that is showing promise but still needs more work, Gentry said.
For five years, LSU AgCenter scientists have been evaluating the effectiveness of silicon fertilization in strengthening plants against disease and other stresses that damage plant structure.
Two wheat cultivars susceptible to scab disease were planted at the LSU AgCenter Central Research Station in Baton Rouge and fertilized with three silicon-based fertilizers — wollastonite, which is a more soluble source for soil applications, and two different foliar solution sprays.
Now that soybeans with Enlist technology have been commercialized, LSU AgCenter weed scientists are able to fully evaluate the product.
AgCenter weed scientists Daniel Stephenson and Donnie Miller studied Enlist soybeans before they hit the market, but now they are expanding their research of the Enlist system, which withstands the 2,4-D herbicide that can combat glyphosate-resistant Palmer amaranth.
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Scientists researching soybean planting dates and fertility rates for southwest Louisiana are pinpointing the optimal time to plant.
The planting dates in the study are divided into six time frames beginning in late March and extending into the late spring and early summer, said LSU AgCenter agronomist and rice specialist Dustin Harrell.
Three AgCenter economists are examining ways Louisiana farmers can manage risk and improve their profitability.
Nauveen Adusumilli is taking an in-depth view of Natural Resources Conservation Service cost-sharing programs for conservation tillage and cover crops.
Harvest weed seed control techniques might sound old-fashioned, but some scientists think they could become an important part of the future of American agriculture.
These techniques, which involve preventing weeds by mulching, pulverizing or burning weed seeds during harvest, are currently being used along with other integrated weed management tactics, such as herbicides, in other countries.
Precision agriculture tools could allow farmers to pinpoint crop varieties to specific locations in their fields.
Luciano Shiratsuchi, a precision agriculture specialist with the LSU AgCenter, is studying the relationship between plant and soil spatial variability and crop varieties.
Sebe Brown, an LSU AgCenter entomologist, has several ongoing projects to study the best ways to treat corn and soybeans against insect pests.
Brown is evaluating seed treatments for above- and below-ground insect pests at the Dean Lee Research and Extension Center in Alexandria. Neonicotinoid compounds are being reviewed for the below-ground pests including wireworms, corn rootworm and sugarcane beetle.
A great deal of time and money are spent by researchers and seed companies to develop new soybean varieties and corn hybrids.
LSU AgCenter researchers plant and study these new seeds across the state to see exactly how these new developments work for Louisiana producers.
Dan Fromme, LSU AgCenter corn specialist, conducts hybrid trials throughout the state to compare yields.
Corn and grain sorghum producers in Louisiana encounter similar challenges when trying to manage foliar diseases that threaten crop yields and quality.
AgCenter plant pathologist Trey Price is conducting a series of ongoing research projects to develop management strategies, including fungicide efficacy studies.
Cover crops have become an important tool for maintaining soil health and controlling winter weeds for Louisiana farmers. AgCenter researchers are exploring ways to obtain the best results from using cover crops.
Brenda Tubaña, Jack E. and Henrietta Jones Endowed Professor in the School of Plant, Environmental and Soil Sciences, is evaluating how winter cover crops can benefit soil quality and nutrient cycling. Her regimen with soybeans includes planting a cover crop after harvest, then following with a herbicide burndown four to six weeks before planting and finally planting a cover crop after harvest.
LSU AgCenter plant pathologists are screening crop varieties to see if any of them have traits that deter the guava root-knot nematode, an aggressive pest that recently has become a major concern in other states.
Nematodes are microscopic worms that stunt plants’ growth, make them wilt and turn yellow, and cause galls on the roots. Those symptoms interfere with water and nutrient uptake, limiting plant development and yield potential.
LSU AgCenter researchers exploring new approaches for managing Cercospora leaf blight are learning more about what triggers toxin production, when mitigation efforts are most successful, how the fungus is spread in the field and how to speed screening for resistance in soybeans.
The search for a soybean variety resistant to Cercospora leaf blight (CLB) has proven to be incredibly difficult for LSU AgCenter researchers.
A major pest of soybeans, particularly in the southern U.S., it can cause significant yield loss and reduce seed quality. The seed disease purple seed stain is caused by the same pathogen responsible for CLB.
A study by an LSU AgCenter entomologist is questioning whether products sprayed to control redbanded stink bugs also kill natural enemies of soybean loopers.
Controlling loopers has become difficult because they are resistant to pyrethroids, acephate and neonicotinoids, which are sprayed to control redbanded stink bugs, said entomologist Jeff Davis. One product, bifenthrin, provided only 50% control of loopers, he said.
The LSU AgCenter wheat and oat breeding programs are making more variety crosses and evaluating more breeding lines per year than ever before.
Improved breeding techniques, such as the use of molecular markers and genomic selection, have helped breeders work more efficiently, said LSU AgCenter wheat and oat breeder Steve Harrison.
The LSU AgCenter and the LSU College of Agriculture
