Award Data

The proposed phase II project focuses on an economically and environmentally important project, which is to develop and document efficacy of wheat seed treatments that will increase yields and enable a reduction in nitrogen fertilizer use in this crop. Nitrogen fertilizer not taken up by crops is readily leached into waterways as nitrates and nitrates that enhance algal blooms that, when they deco ...

Forest insect pests cause significant economic and ecological damage every year. Dramatically increased pest activity in recent years suggests that changing climate conditions will inflate the uncertainty associated with pest risk assessments. Advances in forest pest risk analysis methodology are needed to allow managers to better explore the consequences and value of alternative management scenar ...

Foreign petroleum constitutes more than 60% of the oil used in the United States, and although significant strides are being taken to ensure future independence for fuel needs, the 10% of petroleum imports that are used as feedstock to produce materials are typically ignored. High density petrol-foams such as Divinycell or H1, are commonly used in products from vehicle panels to wind turbine blade ...

The nations food supply is particularly vulnerable to a bioterrorist attack. Bacillus anthracis, the causative agent of anthrax, is a Category A pathogen that is considered a high priority biological weapon. Gastrointestinal anthrax is caused by the ingestion of B. anthracis contaminated foods or liquids. B. anthracis spores, which are the infectious form of the disease, are extremely resistant to ...

Greenhouse farming is an absolute necessity to revive and create local agriculture businesses in northern "climatically challenged" regions with short growing seasons. Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) has made significant strides in greenhouse farming technology. State of the art CEA farming utilizes direct control of lighting, temperature and carbon dioxide in a hydroponics environment.Pr ...

BVDV is a highly contagious disease that affects ruminant livestock. The virus is spread among cattle, is found in most parts of the world and is considered a high priority by the USDA. BVDV affects nutrition, milk production, respiratory and reproduction functions of cattle. BVD can suppress the immune system thus increasing susceptibility to pneumonia, diarrhea (scours), and reproductive failure ...

The citrus leafminer (CLM), Phyllocnistis citrella, Stainton (Lepidoptera: Gracillariidae), is an important pest of citrus originally found in Florida in 1993 and in Texas in 1994. Feeding by the larval stage results in serious damage to leaves and predisposes trees to citrus canker. Female CLM release their pheromone to attract males for mating. Attract and Kill (A&K) is the practice of deploying ...

RT Solutions, LLC (RTS) has built a unique process-controlled "state-of-the-art" earthworm composting facility that process and transforms large volumes of dairy manures into a user friendly and unique plant production product with established horticultural consumers. This environmentally friendly technology known as vermicomposting uses earthworms in an engineered system to consistently produce a ...

Aflatoxin was discovered in groundnut meal which killed over 10,000 turkeys in England. Poultry are extremely sensitive to aflatoxin B1 with turkeys being more sensitive than chickens. Later research discovered that poultry are the most susceptible food animal species to the toxic effects of aflatoxin. Based on epidemiological data and knowledge of liver biochemistry it is suggested that humans fa ...

Detection of chemical and biological warfare agents in a real-world setting is an increasingly urgent problem. Many of the current state-of-the-art sensors are aqueous based and require large biomolecules, such as antibodies, to achieve binding of the target molecule and subsequent reporting of the binding event. These technical hurdles are a drawback when considering deployment of these technol ...