Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station, University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture
Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences

A newsletter for faculty, staff and students

May-June 2005 • Vol. 31, No. 3

People and Events

Departments, Centers, Branch Stations, other units and individuals may submit items to Cassandra Cox, AGCS, AGRI 110 (ccrumle@uark.edu). Eligible items include invited presentations, awards, foreign trips, election to leadership positions, new faculty and staff, retirements, etc. Include jpg photos @72 dpi.

Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness

The U of A chapter of Minorities in Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Related Sciences (MANRRS) sent eight members to the MANRRS Career Fair and Training Conference in Pittsburgh March 31-April 3. Three AEAB students came home with awards for their research activities.

Kennedy Kalundu presented his paper titled “The Economic Impact of Regional Free Trade Agreement (FTA) on the Beef Sector in Southern African Development Community (SADC).” He placed second in the Oral Research competition. Eric Wailes served as research advisor. Valerien Pede presented a paper titled “Net Returns Risk of Rice, Soybean, and Cotton: A Simulation of Three Major Arkansas Crops.” He placed third in the Oral Research competition. Roderick Lusk discussed his research on “Community Economic Development” in the discussion contest. He placed third in the Research Discussion contest. Daniel Rainey served as research advisor.

Four other students presented their research at the conference. Keith King presented a paper titled “Assessment of Screening Techniques to Determine Resistance to Sclerotinia Stem Rot in Brassica Species.” Robert Bacon (CSES) served as research advisor. Amacho Adaji presented a paper titled “Economic Impact of Public Investment: An Analysis of Appalachian and Delta Regional Commissions.” Dr. Rainey served as research advisor. Allison Christian presented a poster titled “Basic Knowledge of Mad Cow Disease.” Lindsey Leverett (MS – AEED) presented a poster on “Normal Ultrasound Appearance of the Feline Pancreas.” In addition, two of the students were completing their duties as national officers in the graduate student section of the association. Keith King (MS – CSES) served as national graduate vice-president for region III and Paularie Crane (MS - AEED) served as national graduate parliamentarian.

Animal Science

Zelpha Johnson was awarded the National Pork Board Award for Innovation at the Southern Section meeting of the American Society of Animal Science on February 7. This award is presented to an author of a scientific abstract demonstrating outstanding innovation that benefits the pork industry. The title of Dr. Johnson's abstract was "Relationship between performance test traits and age at first farrowing in four breeds of swine." She was presented a plaque and a cash award of $500.

Biological and Agricultural Engineering

Mahendra Kavdia and Prabhakar Deonikar presented the two papers at the Annual Meeting of Experimental Biology in San Diego on April 2-6: “Role of Red Blood Cell Oxygenation in Metabolism of Nitric Oxide” and “Computational Model for Analysis of Oxidative Stress on the Nitric Oxide Transport in the Microcirculation.” 

Scott Osborn was elected by ASAE members to serve as the Biological Engineering representative to the Nominating Committee.

Indrajeet Chaubey presented a paper titled “Influence of hydrologic response unit (HRU) distribution on SWAT model flow and sediment predictions” at the Conference on Watershed Management to Meet Water Quality Standards and Emerging TMDL in Atlanta March 8. Dr. Chaubey also gave an invited presentation titled “Decision Support System for Beaver Lake” at the Northwest Arkansas Water Quality Symposium organized by the Northwest District of the Arkansas Water Works and Water Environment Association March 22.

Richa Srivastava, a master’s graduate student working with Dr. Chaubey received the Ivanhoe Foundation Fellowship. The award is in the amount of $5,000.

In February, Dennis Gardisser traveled to Washington, DC, to take part in the 2005 Board Meetings of NAAA.  While he serves on the board of directors, he also serves on various committees including:  SAFE Committee, PAASS Program Development Committee, Research and Technology Committee and Safety and Federal Aviation Regulations. Dr. Gardisser was also an invited speaker at the Tri-State Agricultural Aviation Conference, which included the states of Minnesota, South Dakota and North Dakota.  He gave a presentation on "Engineering Technology Updates for Ag Aviation." Dr. Gardisser presented "Aerial Application Techniques and Updates" at meetings held in Stoneville, Miss., February 21, and in Clarksdale, Miss., February 22.

Gary Huitink and Wayne Smith joined representatives from Mississippi, Missouri and Tennessee March 3-4 to set up a display at the Mid South Gin and Farm Show.  Those in attendance received primarily agricultural safety information. It was an excellent opportunity to note hazards and emphasize how to improve working conditions with ginners and farmers from the entire region. 

Inoka Wijesekera won 1st place at the2005 Gamma Sigma Delta Student Oral/Poster Presentation Competition in the Master's category.

Crop, Soil, and Environmental Sciences

Nilda Burgos gave an invited presentation titled “The Importance and Management of Red Rice in the U.S.” in Liberia, Costa Rica, March 11. During the trip, sponsored by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Dr. Burgos visited rice fields in Guanacaste, Costa Rica to look at weedy rice species there. Dr. Burgos was also invited to present “The importance and management of red rice in the U.S.” on March 14, and “The biology and ecology of weedy rice in the U.S.” on March 15 in Matagalpa, Nicaragua at the Workshop on Weedy Rice for Central America, also sponsored by the FAO.

Daniel Stephensen (PhD, ‘04 under Dick Oliver) accepted the position of Research Assistant Professor at the Northeast Research and Extension Center at Keiser. Daniel will be developing an integrated research program for agronomic crops with emphasis on cotton.

Brian Ottis (PhD, ‘05 under Ron Talbert) has taken a job with the University of Missouri as agronomist for Rice Production Systems. Brian is headquartered at the Delta Research Center in Portageville.

Eric Walker (PhD, ‘04 under Dick Oliver) is a Research Agronomist with USDA ARS in Jackson, Tennessee. His work is aimed at improving soybean management systems to optimize disease control and increase soybean profitability.

Derrick Oosterhuis gave an invited presentation at the 2005 California Cotton Technology Meeting in Monterrey on February 16. The presentation was titled, “Plant growth and yield response to foliar applications of Imidacloprid.”

Entomology

Fiona Goggin’s laboratory presented two posters at the Southeastern branch meeting of the Entomological Society of America March 6-9 in Tunica: “A Deficiency in Jasmonate Synthesis in Tomato Enhances Aphid Resistance," by Linging Jia, Stephanie Hebert, Clayton Coffman, and Fiona L. Goggin; and the winner of the Ph.D. poster competition at this conference, "Plant Responses to Aphids versus Caterpillars in Tomato," by Stephanie Hebert and Fiona L. Goggin.

A photograph submitted by the Curator of the Entomology Department's Arthropod Museum, Jeffrey Barnes, was awarded First Place in the photomicroscopy category at the 2005 Photo Salon of the Southeastern Branch of the Entomological Society of America held in Tunica in March. The photograph depicts a bristly Odd Beetle larva, Thylodrias contractus, found infesting the zoology collections of the University Museum.

Human Environmental Sciences

Mary Warnock was voted "Chair Elect" of the Arkansas Family and Consumer Sciences affiliate at the state convention held in March 2005.

Eva Sutton, a senior in Human Development and Family Sciences, was awarded a State Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) grant in 2005 as well as a Carroll Walls Research Stipend from DBCAFLS. She received a plaque from Chancellor John White recognizing her accomplishments at the State and National Award Reception held April 25. Her faculty mentor, William Bailey, received a plaque designating him “Outstanding Mentor” from Dr. White. Her study is entitled the “Effects of Teaching a Family Relations Course on Attitudes toward Marriage and the Family.” She plans to present the final results of her study at the National Council on Family Relations Annual Conference to be held in Phoenix this Fall.

Plant Pathology

Outstanding Graduate Scholar Awards were presented to Jeremey H. Taylor (M.S.) and Maria Luciana Rosso (Ph.D.) Taylor received his undergraduate degree in pest management at the UofA, and his current research involves working with green bean producers in Northwest Arkansas and Southwest Missouri on characterizing the importance of pathogens associated with bean pod rot in this region. Rosso is a third-year Plant Science doctoral student studying the effect of resistance to Pythium spp. on soybean seedling disease and the inheritance of this resistance. She has also presented her work at regional, national, and international meetings.

Ken Korth presented an invited seminar at the University of Nebraska Center for Biotechnology on March 2.  The seminar was entitled "Signals moving in both directions: Molecular studies of plant-insect interactions in the model legume Medicago truncatula".

Terry Kirkpatrick was invited to conduct a workshop, “Asian Soybean Rust in the U.S.:  2005 and Beyond,” as a part of the annual Mosaic AgCollege sponsored by the Mosaic Fertilizer Co.  The workshop was conducted on February 9 in Tampa. Dr. Kirkpatrick, along with John Mueller (Clemson University), Gary Lawrence (Mississippi State University), and Kathy Lawrence (Auburn University), also organized and taught a three-day workshop on practical nematology at the Clemson University Edisto Research and Education Center near Barnwell, S.C. February 15-17. Forty scientists and technical sales representative from Syngenta Crop Protection attended the workshop. In addition, Dr. Kirkpatrick was invited to give an overview/update on the status of Asian soybean rust in Arkansas for the Winter Meeting of the Arkansas Farm Bureau in Little Rock on January 19, and has been invited to serve as a grant application reviewer on the USDA-CSREES Methyl Bromide Transitions Review Panel in Washington, D.C. May 23-26.

Southeast Research and Extension Center

Southeast Research and Extension Center department faculty attended the Beltwide Cotton Conferences in New Orleans Jan 4-7.  J. Scott McConnell presented an invited paper entitled “Nitrogen Management for Yield and Quality”; Jeremy K. Greene gave an invited paper in the opening session entitled “Managing Today’s Insect Threat – Stink Bugs” and presented two other papers entitled “Management Considerations for Stink Bugs – 2004” and “Efficacy of Selected Insecticides for Control of Tarnished Plant Bug, Lygus lineolaris, in Southeast Arkansas – 2004”; Charles Capps, Jr. presented a paper entitled “Control Options for Thrips in Southeast Arkansas – 2004”; and Monica B. Kelley presented a paper entitled “Glyphosate Resistant Horseweed: A Growing Problem in Arkansas Cotton”.

J. Scott McConnell gave an invited presentation entitled “Erosion and Sediment Loss From Cotton Fields in Conventional and Conservation Tillage” at the National No-Till Conference in Houston January 12-14.

Jeremy K. Greene gave an invited presentation entitled “Cotton Transgenic Traits for Insect Control and Strategies for Managing Tarnished Plant Bug” at the Arkansas Farm Bureau Cotton Division Meeting in North Little Rock January 19.

Kenneth L. Smith attended the Southern Weed Society Annual Meeting in Charlotte, N.C., January 24-26 and gave an invited presentation entitled “Management Challenges Associated With GR Horseweed Control in Cotton and Soybeans.”

Clifford M. Coker Jr. traveled to Brazil from March 12-19 as part of an educational tour to observe effects of soybean rust and to visit research trials in the area.

Joyce Wilbanks, accountant, was selected to receive the Division of Agriculture Experiment Station Classified Professional Support Award for 2005.