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| Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station, University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences VISION eXtra is e-mailed weekly to faculty and staff of Bumpers College and the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station, Division of Agriculture. This service is primarily for timely announcement of news and events for the AAES and Bumpers College. Submit items to hmedders@uark.edu. You may also wish to submit items to headline@uark.edu for posting on "UA Daily Headlines" for campus-wide distribution. |
May 27, 2008 |
1. Master Gardeners to tour Horticulture Gardens Friday
2. Summer and Fall Dedications and Field Days
3. Rice Processing Program hosts industry sponsors
4. SWREC hosts horticulture field day, June 5
5. Plant diagnostic booth at Farmers Market
6. Loewer honored by alma mater
7. Rockefeller Institute to host tomato workshop, June 28
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1. Master Gardeners to tour Horticulture Gardens Friday
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| Garden manager Christine "Tina" Buxton and helper Cody Howard, a senior from Springdale, pose in the Horticulture Display Gardens with one of several Arkansas native plants, Penstemon murrayanus, which was provided by Jon Lindstrom. |
About 150 people attending the Master Gardener state conference in Springdale will tour the Horticulture Display Gardens next to the Agriculture Building and the H.R. Rosen Alternative Pest Control Center on Friday, May 30.
Tours will be conducted in six shifts during the day, if anyone wants to tag along. The Rosen Center garden is on the highest point of University Heights, which is the name of "The Hill" over which the campus sprawls.
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2. Summer and fall dedications and field days
Field days and other events at Division of Agriculture locations this summer will include the dedication of three new buildings. The following is a list of events featuring crops, livestock, forestry, wildlife and turfgrass.
June 5. Horticulture Field Day at Southwest Research and Extension Center, Hope. >>Read more...
June 12. Leland Tollett Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory Dedication. Arkansas Agricultural Research and Extension Center, Deane Street, Fayetteville. >>Read more...
June 21. Forestry Field Day at Savoy Research Unit west of Fayetteville.
June 24. Field Day and Building Dedication at Fruit Research Station, Clarksville.
July 10. Crops Field Day at the Lon Mann Cotton Research Station, Marianna.
July 24. Rohwer Research Station Field Day and Building Dedication.
August 6. Turfgrass Field Day at the Arkansas Agricultural Research and Extension Center, Hwy. 112, Fayetteville. Details at: turf.uark.edu/education/field.html
August 13. Crops Field Day at the Rice Research and Extension Center, Stuttgart.
(Date to be announced). Southern Pea Field Day at the Vegetable Substation, Alma.
September 18. Forestry and Wildlife Field Day at the Southwest Research and Extension Center, Hope.
October 18. Forestry and Wildlife Field Day at the Pine Tree Branch Station, Colt.
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3. Rice Processing Program hosts industry sponsors
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| Graduate student Annie Graves demonstrates use of near infrared spectroscopy to control milling during the 2008 University of Arkansas Rice Processing Program Industry Alliance meeting May 21. |
Some 40 representatives of rice processing and food companies met with researchers from the University of Arkansas System's Division of Agriculture to hear reports about rice processing research May 21 in the Food Science Building at the Arkansas Agricultural Research and Extension Center.
The annual Industry Alliance Meeting of the U of A Rice Processing Program gives rice processing companies an opportunity to hear about ongoing research and to offer feedback on issues important to the industry. Participants also toured food science labs and a pilot plant where rice research is conducted.
"It's a way for us to make sure our research is reaching those who are supporting our program and is relevant to their needs," said Terry Siebenmorgen, university professor of food science and UARPP director.
A few of the presented topics in the areas of pre-harvest properties, drying, milling and quality assessment included:
-- Estimating the economic value of rice as a function of harvest moisture content. Research led by Siebenmorgen has shown that the moisture content of rice kernels at harvest affects head rice yield, or the percentage of intact kernels left after milling. Division scientists in collaboration with industry scientists have developed estimates of optimal harvest moisture content to achieve the best value for milled rice.
-- Research by Jean-François Meullenet to provide rice quality data on existing and upcoming rice varieties. The data, which also is used by breeders to assess breeding lines, includes kernel size and color, cooking properties, milling quality, chemical composition, cooked rice texture and other properties important to food processors. An online database is being developed to make the information readily available.
-- Meullenet is developing and refining methods for using near infrared light analysis that can rapidly collect rice quality data that now requires time-consuming "wet lab" techniques. Rapid analysis will permit analysis of larger sample collections from many rice varieties to provide more accurate data.
-- Two projects by graduate student George Ondier and undergraduate Ashley Wiedower look at the feasibility of using low temperature, low relative humidity desiccant driers as a power-saving alternative to heated driers.
-- Siebenmorgen leads studies of rice kernel composition, harvesting and drying that can lead to fissuring, which causes cracking of rice kernels during milling. These studies provide the foundation for a project to develop drying techniques that can reduce fissuring during drying.
The research projects presented during the meeting receive funding support from rice cooperatives and companies and the Arkansas Rice Research and Promotion Board, which is funded by rice farmers through a check-off program.
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4. SWREC hosts horticulture field day -- June 5
The Division of Agriculture will hold a horticulture field day June 5 at the Southwest Research and Extension Center near Hope.
The afternoon field day will feature field tours of research projects, a barbecue dinner and a "walk-in" plant disease clinic for home, garden and lawn plants.
The field tour topics include:
-- blackberry and peach breeding update,
-- fertilizer recommendations for southern orchards,
-- how to pick up right plants for southern Arkansas yards,
-- manage tomato nematode with biofumigation crops, and
-- lawn and turf weed management.
An indoor session on vegetable garden disease management will follow the field tours. A complimentary dinner will be at 6:20 p.m. and the plant disease clinic will follow it. Participants are invited to bring their problems plants in for diagnosis.
Visitors who plan to attend the dinner are asked to RSVP by May 27 by calling 870-777-9702, extension 109, or by e-mail to qchen@uaex.edu.
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5. Plant diagnostic booth at Farmers Market 1st and 3rd Saturdays
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| Plant pathology graduate students, from left, Keiddy Esperanza Urrea-Romero, Maria Isabel Villarroel-Zeballos, and Jinita Sthapit staff a diagnostic booth at the Fayetteville Farmers Market on the 1st and 3rd Saturdays. |
The Plant Pathology Graduate Students Association is staffing a Plant Diagnostic Booth the first and third Saturday of each month at the Fayetteville Farmers Market on the downtown square. The public is invited to bring samples of plants for diagnosis of problems. The booth will next be staffed on June 7 and 21.
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6. Loewer honored by alma mater
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Otto Loewer |
Otto Loewer, director of the university's Economic Development Institute and professor of biological and agricultural engineering, was named to the Louisiana State University College of Engineering's Hall of Distinction.
Loewer came to the University of Arkansas from the University of Florida in 1985 to serve as the biological and agricultural engineering department head until 1992. He left for a position at the University of Kentucky and returned in 1996 to serve as dean of the College of Engineering until 2002.
In 2002, Loewer founded the Economic Development Institute, which extends university programs in partnership with others having similar interests. He was a co-developer of the Crossroads Coalition in eastern Arkansas, which is emerging as a new national model for broad-based economic, community education and leadership development in rural communities. He currently serves as the primary adviser for the coalition, which serves a 10-county region.
Loewer is a native of Wynne. He has B.S. and M.S. degrees in agricultural engineering from LSU, an M.S. in agricultural economics from Michigan State and a Ph.D. in agricultural engineering from Purdue.
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7. Rockefeller Institute to host tomato workshop - June 28
Boasting 20 varieties of tomatoes in its vegetable garden, the Winthrop Rockefeller Institute will host a "From the Seed to the Plate" workshop atop Petit Jean Mountain from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, June 28.
Throughout the day, Division of Agriculture horticulturalists David Hensley, horticulture department head, and Janet Carson, extension horticulturalist, will provide tours of the Winthrop Rockefeller Institute's vegetable garden. Faculty members Teddy Morelock and Steve Vann will present workshop sessions.
The workshop will include sessions on growing tomatoes and ways to serve them.
"In our garden, we grow heirloom tomato varieties, most of which are not available at your local grocery store," said Sandy Davies, who coordinates the tomato workshop.
Tomato tasting will be from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Rockefeller Institute's Teaching Barn. The tasting fee is $5.
Two alternative sessions focusing on growing tomatoes will take place in the morning at 10 and in the afternoon at 2 at the Teaching Barn. The cost to attend the tomato growing session is $15.
Chef Rick Tankersley of Sysco Food Services will be the presenter in the tomato culinary demonstration at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Tankersley will have a variety of recipes - from tomato fritters to tomato pine nut soup. This session will be held in the state-of-the-art Culinary Classroom. The cost is $25.
Exhibits and vendors at the tomato workshop include Petit Jean Honey, Petit Jean Foothills Nursery, Bloomin' Baskets, Heritage Seeds, a tomato salsa sale featuring recipes from Rockefeller Institute executive chef Heather Welch, and a Petit Jean Extension Homemakers Tomato Cookbook sale.
To register for the tomato workshop online, visit www.uawri.org and click on "Register Now" from the "Educational Programs" menu. To register by phone, call (501) 727-5435.
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See other upcoming events online at Calendar of Events.
Submit Calendar items to dedmark@uark.edu.
AAES and Bumpers College Web sites:
http://aaes.uark.edu/
http://bumperscollege.uark.edu/