Award Data

NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY: Agricultural spray equipment operators typically cannot monitor all nozzles along the boom. Clogged or malfunctioning nozzles produce undesirable spraying results. This project is designed to lead directly to a useful product, namely, a single-nozzle monitoring unit for agricultural spray applications. The monitoring capabilities of the system will allow more efficient, reli ...

NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY: Agricultural spray equipment operators typically cannot monitor all nozzles along the boom. Clogged or malfunctioning nozzles produce undesirable spraying results. This project is designed to lead directly to a useful product, namely, a single-nozzle monitoring unit for agricultural spray applications. The monitoring capabilities of the system will allow more efficient, reli ...

NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY: Over application of nitrogen fertilizer on agricultural and commecial landscapes has resulted in contamination of ground and surface waters. This project proposes to develop a new sensor technolgy that will help reduce the amount of N applied to crops and turf by determining the amount of N needed by the plant via the plants reflectance characteristics.

NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY: Over application of nitrogen fertilizer on agricultural and commecial landscapes has resulted in contamination of ground and surface waters. This project proposes to develop a new sensor technolgy that will help reduce the amount of N applied to crops and turf by determining the amount of N needed by the plant via the plants reflectance characteristics.

NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY: As crop growers begin to use GPS technology to manage the variability in their fields, they are seeking ways to assess the variability of physical and chemical properties more accurately and cost-effectively. In the most common approach, soil samples are acquired on a 2.5 acre grid pattern. Soil properties often have greater spatial variability than is identified with this a ...

NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY: As crop growers begin to use GPS technology to manage the variability in their fields, they are seeking ways to assess the variability of physical and chemical properties more accurately and cost-effectively. In the most common approach, soil samples are acquired on a 2.5 acre grid pattern. Soil properties often have greater spatial variability than is identified with this a ...

NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY: General methods to produce uniform capsules with well-defined and controllable shell thickness and diameter, especially at the nano- and micro-scale, are in great demand for controlled and timed release of drugs, agrochemicals, nutraceuticals, and probiotics. The proposed technique should in principle allow encapsulation of all such types of valuable agents, e.g., agrochemic ...

NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY: Most livestock manure storage structures are open-air earthen and formed structures or under-slat structures for liquid manure storage. This manure storage system allows for seasonal manure application on harvested or small growing crops, but has the disadvantage of exposing odors or gaseous emissions to production workers, neighbors, and the environment. Previous research h ...

NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY: Chicory is an excellent source of inulin, a fructose polymer with important nutrition and health characteristics. Currently, chicory is grown primarily in Europe. In 2001, U.S. Chicory constructed a drying facility in Scottsbluff, NE and processed 950 acres of chicory, the first commercial operation in North America. Although dried chicory is suitable for pet foods, purified ...