Award Data

The crude oil will be depleted within 40 years, alternative fuels have to be developed to drive our transportation systems, and biodiesel appears to be the most promising fuel of the future. Biodiesel is renewable, non-toxic, and biodegradable, it can be used in existing diesel engines without modifying the engin, and can be blended in at any ratio with petroleum diesel. However, the development o ...

Weeds reduce the productivity of vegetable crops. Noxious weeds like nutsedge can contaminate a field in one and a half years. To remediate the weed cost, $7,000 to $11,000 for plastic, fumigant and hand weeding is necessary in strawberries. In southern California, 10 to 20 percent of the farmland has a high-density infestation of nutsedge. Methyl bromide applied at high levels is partially effect ...

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has identified the need for a practical analytical instrument for the detection of air emissions resulting from animal manure management systems. Based on this very important need, Giner, Inc. proposes to study and evaluate the feasibility of designing and fabricating a simple-to-operate, selective and solid-polymer electrolyte-based, thick-film electro?ch ...

The USDA has established research on renewable energy as a high priority. Cellulosic ethanol from perennial grasses has the potential to become an important component of America's effort to reduce its dependence on foreign oil and alleviate the buildup of greenhouse gases. For energy crops to become viable biofuels, they must become cost-competitive with foreign oil and provide environmental benef ...

[Situation or Problem] Huanglongbing (HLB), or "Citrus Greening" disease, increasingly raises costs to growers and threatens to impact 100% of Florida citrus acreage by 2016. Early detection and control of this disease is essential to the survival and productivity of the Florida citrus industry. [Purpose] To conduct Proof-of-Concept testing of DATASTAR's remote sensing and GIS approach designed to ...

Cogongrass is recognized as one of the most significant invasive species in the U.S. Cogongrass is a growing threat as it continues its rapid spread across the Southeast, reducing forest and pasture productivity, destroying wildlife habitat, impacting rights of ways and presenting an extreme fire hazard. Throughout the World it has gained notoriety as the "Worst Invasive Plant of Non-crop Lands". ...

Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome Virus (PRRSV) costs the swine industry approximately $560M annually through reproductive loss in mature females and respiratory disease in growing pigs. There is a need for new vaccines for PRRSV to battle the strain evolution and heterogeneity of this RNA virus. Currently the only available US commercial product is a Modified Live Virus (MLV) from BI- ...

The channel x blue hybrid catfish has been documented as a superior animal for use by the catfish industry. To produce the hybrid a hormnone is used to help ovulate the eggs so they can be stripped from the female. Once the eggs are stripped from the female they are fertilized with sperm from the blue catfish and hatched in a manner sililar to channel catfish eggs. Carp pituitary has been used suc ...

The growth of agricultural productivity in the past century can be partly attributed to an intense focus on pest management, including the development of fungicides and bactericides. Agricultural history contains many examples of fungi or bacteria causing complete crop loss. The use of fungicides and bactericides can prevent such catastrophic losses and maximize yield, however, these benefits come ...

Situation or Problem: In 2007 an estimated 9.1 billion broiler chickens were produced in the United States. Improvements in vaccination uniformity and reductions in labor necessary for vaccination would greatly benefit the broiler industry. Current methods of field vaccination of broiler chickens in the field include administration via drinking water and spray application. The effectiveness of bot ...