Madeline Johnston

Madeline Johnston Author

07/22/2025 Added

3 Plays

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Defense

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[00:00:00.000]Thank you for that. Good
[00:00:09.000]morning. I just had a little
[00:00:11.000]preamble in the room.
[00:00:11.760]So welcome, for those of you
[00:00:13.920]online as well, to Madeline
[00:00:16.080]Johnston's master's defense.
[00:00:18.620]I was just letting everyone in
[00:00:20.220]the room know that we had
[00:00:21.440]initially hired Madeline to
[00:00:23.150]help us with
[00:00:23.840]another project in 2023. And we
[00:00:26.490]diverted because that was kind
[00:00:28.350]of slow to get started. And I
[00:00:30.360]just
[00:00:30.760]note that because she's been
[00:00:32.450]really adaptable and really
[00:00:34.280]done a great job, you know, to
[00:00:35.970]pick
[00:00:36.360]up and going and help us learn
[00:00:37.970]more about this alternative
[00:00:39.600]crop. So she pivoted and picked
[00:00:41.480]up
[00:00:41.720]and didn't miss a beat. So she
[00:00:43.720]came to our group after
[00:00:45.120]graduating in 2022 with honors
[00:00:47.840]from Messiah
[00:00:48.340]University in molecular biology.
[00:00:51.120]She actually had worked in
[00:00:53.840]2022 with Justin McMechen in
[00:00:56.300]entomology, doing work in
[00:00:58.060]agriculture. So I know that
[00:01:00.080]helped hone her
[00:01:01.360]interest in it. And we're glad
[00:01:02.990]to have her from the biology
[00:01:04.440]side. And I really just want to
[00:01:06.020]say
[00:01:06.340]I'm so proud of how much she
[00:01:07.680]has grown personally and
[00:01:08.970]professionally since she
[00:01:10.330]started from
[00:01:11.120]overcoming various adversities
[00:01:13.470]and really becoming more
[00:01:15.220]independent. And she is a very
[00:01:17.540]curious mind
[00:01:18.360]that I think is going to serve
[00:01:19.460]her well. I've been interested
[00:01:20.800]to know that she's taught
[00:01:21.750]herself
[00:01:23.840]materials like charcoal drawing
[00:01:25.810]along the way. So she's been
[00:01:27.840]just an excellent student,
[00:01:28.740]really
[00:01:29.600]detail-oriented, observant, and
[00:01:31.640]focused. And I really
[00:01:33.050]appreciate you that she's made
[00:01:34.720]me a better
[00:01:35.300]mentor. So thank you, Madeline,
[00:01:37.380]for the great work. So I'm glad
[00:01:39.220]to turn the mic over to you to
[00:01:41.360]tell us
[00:01:41.780]about your research. All right.
[00:01:43.660]Sounds good. Well, hello,
[00:01:44.760]everyone. Again, I'm Madeline
[00:01:46.040]Johnston. And
[00:01:46.880]today I'd like to share with
[00:01:48.640]you my thesis research. So
[00:01:50.380]specifically, my thesis is
[00:01:52.180]about taking a look
[00:01:53.160]at the environmental effects of
[00:01:54.780]plant-based economic management,
[00:01:56.690]as well as quantifying the
[00:01:57.780]environmental effects of a cranial
[00:02:00.010]grain crop called kernza, or
[00:02:01.890]formerly known as intermediate
[00:02:03.300]wheatgrass. But I'll explain in
[00:02:04.880]just a second. So before I get
[00:02:06.410]started, I just want to share
[00:02:07.920]with
[00:02:08.460]you a brief roadmap of my
[00:02:09.730]presentation. So two chapters
[00:02:11.340]in green and orange. The first
[00:02:13.120]chapter
[00:02:13.380]is specifically taking a look
[00:02:14.780]at different cultivars in
[00:02:16.030]combination with different
[00:02:17.460]management
[00:02:17.640]strategies in order to improve
[00:02:19.090]grain yields and above-ground
[00:02:20.550]biomass. Whereas the second
[00:02:22.010]chapter
[00:02:22.480]is about quantifying kernza's
[00:02:24.300]ability to improve soil
[00:02:25.700]properties and water cycling,
[00:02:27.740]especially in
[00:02:28.660]comparison to a corn-soybean
[00:02:30.110]rotation. So both of my
[00:02:32.680]chapters are specifically as a
[00:02:35.980]result of kernza
[00:02:36.880]cap. So kernza cap is a multi-state
[00:02:39.980]research project funded by the
[00:02:42.570]USDA. And it's comprised
[00:02:44.980]of six different sites. Can you
[00:02:47.350]not hear? No, the camera doesn't
[00:02:49.560]have you. But stand wherever
[00:02:51.790]you want to stand.
[00:02:51.800]So it's comprised of six
[00:02:54.800]different sites. Nebraska is
[00:02:57.160]site number three in five
[00:02:58.760]different states.
[00:02:59.400]And really the goal of kernza
[00:03:01.420]cap is to accomplish several
[00:03:03.440]different things, ranging from
[00:03:05.640]improving
[00:03:06.920]the crop's genetics and cultivar
[00:03:09.160]traits, all the way to things
[00:03:11.190]such as developing basically
[00:03:13.880]the supply and demand of this
[00:03:15.780]crop and integrating it into
[00:03:17.690]different food products.
[00:03:19.640]And
[00:03:21.800]so as a result of my project
[00:03:24.470]being part of kernza cap, we
[00:03:26.200]decided as a group to, in terms
[00:03:29.660]of like
[00:03:30.080]experimental design and
[00:03:31.510]sampling and equipment use, to
[00:03:33.560]make it consistent across all
[00:03:35.010]different sites.
[00:03:36.140]Oh, and specifically my chapter,
[00:03:39.190]my two chapters will be within
[00:03:41.760]the areas of refining the
[00:03:43.640]knowledge
[00:03:43.940]of field management as well as
[00:03:46.130]quantifying kernza's effects.
[00:03:48.440]Okay, so chapter one, in
[00:03:49.950]addition to the effects of
[00:03:51.470]cultivar, we'll be specifically
[00:03:53.240]looking at how row
[00:03:54.560]spacing and legume intercropping
[00:03:56.230]can affect the plant's
[00:03:57.400]performance.
[00:03:58.220]So I want to start out with a
[00:03:59.900]little bit of history of this
[00:04:01.760]plant. So starting in the 1930s,
[00:04:04.200]scientists
[00:04:04.760]from the United States
[00:04:05.990]Department of Agriculture had
[00:04:07.670]traveled over to Eurasia, and
[00:04:11.760]they came across
[00:04:12.860]a cool season perennial grass
[00:04:14.430]called Phytopyrum intermedium,
[00:04:16.220]or intermediate wheatgrass.
[00:04:18.650]Later,
[00:04:19.340]starting in about the 1990s,
[00:04:21.580]research institutions such as
[00:04:23.360]the Woodale Institute and the
[00:04:25.160]Institute
[00:04:25.700]became increasingly interested
[00:04:27.910]in taking perennial grasses and
[00:04:30.010]alternative grain crops,
[00:04:31.810]essentially,
[00:04:32.780]and intensively breeding them
[00:04:34.470]and commercially developing
[00:04:36.110]them into a more sustainable
[00:04:37.820]grain
[00:04:38.360]alternative in today's market.
[00:04:40.320]And so since the 90s, Phytopyrum
[00:04:42.440]intermedium has been one of
[00:04:43.950]those
[00:04:44.060]candidates and has been
[00:04:45.220]intensively bred and later
[00:04:46.550]commercialized under the trade
[00:04:48.200]name Kernza by the
[00:04:49.280]Land Institute. It's
[00:04:50.570]specifically marketed as a dual-use
[00:04:52.590]grain and small, or small grain
[00:04:54.430]and
[00:04:54.560]forage crop. And in terms of
[00:04:56.560]grain, it's utilized in a
[00:04:58.400]number of food products
[00:04:59.980]increasingly, such as beer,
[00:05:02.780]granola, pancakes, bread, pasta,
[00:05:05.970]you name it. Anything,
[00:05:07.720]basically, that you can use
[00:05:09.470]wheat
[00:05:09.980]flour for, they've started to
[00:05:11.340]incorporate Kernza's grain into
[00:05:12.810]it. And it also has advantages
[00:05:17.120]comparatively to annual wheat.
[00:05:18.890]It has a much higher protein
[00:05:20.120]content, much higher fiber, as
[00:05:22.340]well as iron.
[00:05:23.000]And in terms of its uses forage
[00:05:25.350]for livestock, it would be a
[00:05:27.610]great opportunity for Nebraska,
[00:05:29.360]since Nebraska ranks very high
[00:05:30.910]in terms of cattle production,
[00:05:32.780]and economic impacts to the
[00:05:35.150]state. It's also, again, as I
[00:05:37.500]mentioned, marketed to improve
[00:05:39.140]soil
[00:05:39.380]health and water quality
[00:05:40.410]because of its perennial life
[00:05:41.640]cycle. I'll get more into
[00:05:43.160]detail on that in
[00:05:43.880]the second chapter. So despite
[00:05:45.840]a lot of excitement and recent
[00:05:49.340]developments in this crop,
[00:05:52.820]there's still
[00:05:53.360]many areas that need to be
[00:05:55.250]further developed. So currently,
[00:05:58.130]as of within the past, I'll say
[00:06:00.560]five-ish
[00:06:01.040]years, the current
[00:06:02.780]state of Kernza is that there's
[00:06:04.480]very low grain yields relative
[00:06:06.260]to annual wheat. So about 10 to
[00:06:08.000]20
[00:06:08.240]percent of that. And since it's
[00:06:09.930]a perennial crop, the idea is
[00:06:11.440]to plant it in the ground for
[00:06:12.920]seven
[00:06:13.100]years before tilling and replanting
[00:06:15.460]again. And so as a result of
[00:06:17.250]leaving it in the ground, we've
[00:06:18.920]observed that there have been
[00:06:20.430]successive yield declines each
[00:06:22.060]harvest year since the first.
[00:06:23.780]So
[00:06:24.140]there would be even lower
[00:06:25.560]yields than that, depending on
[00:06:27.440]what year it is and the
[00:06:28.880]different
[00:06:29.060]climate conditions. We also see
[00:06:32.060]a limited number
[00:06:32.780]of commercial cultivars. So
[00:06:34.010]starting in 2019 from the
[00:06:36.040]University of Minnesota,
[00:06:37.310]Minnesota Clearwater
[00:06:38.420]is the first commercial variety.
[00:06:40.330]And since then, in 2022, five
[00:06:42.470]other varieties from the Land
[00:06:43.940]Institute
[00:06:44.300]have been released. You can see
[00:06:45.960]this table here from the Kernza
[00:06:47.290]grower guide. And just listing
[00:06:49.820]some traits about each. But
[00:06:51.960]that's it, comparative to
[00:06:55.590]dozens and dozens of different
[00:06:57.500]cultivars that
[00:06:58.520]you can find with corn,
[00:06:59.630]soybeans, wheat. And in
[00:07:01.430]addition to this,
[00:07:02.780]research is still limited in
[00:07:06.540]its ability to, in its
[00:07:08.960]knowledge of basically
[00:07:10.280]essentially refining the agronomic
[00:07:14.540]management of this crop, simply
[00:07:16.880]because while we do understand
[00:07:18.800]some idea about seeding rates
[00:07:21.160]and planting, we still aren't
[00:07:23.610]fully sure, we don't have a
[00:07:26.660]full awareness of all the
[00:07:28.160]nuances of it. And so, for
[00:07:29.850]example, we're still figuring
[00:07:31.880]out what the
[00:07:32.780]field spacing is, or if intercropping
[00:07:35.130]with legumes is a good idea in
[00:07:36.920]terms of weed suppression or
[00:07:38.240]alternative forage. And
[00:07:42.670]especially this is the case
[00:07:44.090]even if producers are only
[00:07:45.440]interested in
[00:07:45.980]planting a single cultivar. I
[00:07:48.560]forgot to mention, sorry, that
[00:07:50.960]some of the research is limited
[00:07:53.730]as
[00:07:53.960]well in combining multiple
[00:07:55.300]cultivars in the same fields
[00:07:56.680]across different, from
[00:07:57.900]different breeders.
[00:08:00.000]So my research steps in and
[00:08:01.900]basically aims to take a look
[00:08:04.070]at different commercial cultivars
[00:08:05.550]and
[00:08:05.820]experimental cultivars, taking
[00:08:07.660]a look at them in the same
[00:08:08.940]field to just compare how they
[00:08:10.920]do in terms
[00:08:11.400]of grain environments, as well
[00:08:13.480]as to test out different
[00:08:15.020]management practices on those
[00:08:17.100]cultivars.
[00:08:17.700]For example, does one cultivar
[00:08:19.120]respond better to row spacing?
[00:08:20.600]Does another respond better to
[00:08:22.020]legume intercropping? And third,
[00:08:24.060]to have a more holistic idea of
[00:08:25.680]the management across the year,
[00:08:27.220]we wanted to take a look at the
[00:08:29.000]forage production both in the
[00:08:30.820]summer and the fall to see if
[00:08:32.630]managing
[00:08:33.220]grain yields might affect each
[00:08:34.740]differently. So briefly, I'll
[00:08:37.220]just mention in terms of field
[00:08:39.700]design and experimental setup
[00:08:41.780]that in April 2021, the field
[00:08:44.200]was we tilled it, and then in
[00:08:46.240]September,
[00:08:46.840]we planted Kernza in a
[00:08:48.110]randomized complete block
[00:08:49.740]design, so about 14 treatments
[00:08:51.810]per block.
[00:08:52.480]And it's simply a combination
[00:08:54.940]of cultivar,
[00:08:57.220]row spacing and cropping system,
[00:08:59.910]as well as different legumes,
[00:09:01.660]but I'll get into that in
[00:09:02.500]just a second. And then we
[00:09:03.750]collected the data, three
[00:09:05.020]harvest years from 2022 to 2024.
[00:09:07.820]And the
[00:09:08.200]site was located up in Meet,
[00:09:09.980]Nebraska, near the extension
[00:09:14.180]center. So in terms of
[00:09:18.710]treatment factors,
[00:09:19.600]we have Kernza variety, so five
[00:09:21.260]different cultivars, three from
[00:09:23.050]Minnesota, two from Kansas.
[00:09:24.640]And then we decided to combine
[00:09:26.310]that with two
[00:09:26.860]of our row spacings, a wide 30
[00:09:28.480]inch and a narrow 15 inch. You'll
[00:09:30.450]notice that these row spacings
[00:09:32.140]are
[00:09:32.320]actually more common for plants
[00:09:33.620]like corn and soybeans, as
[00:09:34.710]opposed to small grains. We did
[00:09:36.720]this
[00:09:36.820]because of equipment
[00:09:38.000]limitations, but the benefit of
[00:09:39.810]this is that it will show us
[00:09:41.320]more feasibility
[00:09:42.280]in case producers are limited
[00:09:43.480]in terms of equipment. And then
[00:09:45.620]we also decided to combine
[00:09:48.340]cropping systems, so monoculture
[00:09:50.060]stand versus legume intercropping.
[00:09:52.050]And between the legume
[00:09:54.040]and the cropping we thought, we
[00:09:55.500]wanted to test two different
[00:09:56.810]legume types, so alfalfa versus
[00:09:58.780]red
[00:09:59.020]clover to see if one legume is
[00:10:00.600]better at intercropping with
[00:10:02.250]the crop. So here is a more
[00:10:06.280]detailed table of all the
[00:10:07.320]treatments, but for the sake of
[00:10:08.650]this presentation, I'm only
[00:10:10.060]going to focus
[00:10:10.600]on three points. So first, phenotypic
[00:10:12.990]traits. Some of these cultivars
[00:10:14.920]have been bred for things such
[00:10:16.480]as larger seeds, higher percent
[00:10:18.150]free threshing, whereas others
[00:10:19.650]have been bred, relatively
[00:10:21.120]speaking,
[00:10:21.640]for higher level of rhizome
[00:10:22.940]production, drought tolerance.
[00:10:23.680]So we're going to talk a little
[00:10:23.680]bit more about those.
[00:10:23.680]Since two of these are from
[00:10:26.320]Kansas, which were bred in a
[00:10:28.480]more semi-arid environment, we
[00:10:30.250]would
[00:10:30.400]think that, at least in theory,
[00:10:31.800]they would have a better chance
[00:10:33.100]of growing here as opposed to
[00:10:34.420]the varieties from Minnesota,
[00:10:35.640]where the climate is far more
[00:10:36.720]wet. I also want to point out
[00:10:42.220]that
[00:10:42.640]while other cultivars had been
[00:10:44.490]planted in monoculture stands
[00:10:46.340]with both spacings,
[00:10:47.680]we only tested two cultivars
[00:10:49.540]with the intercropping. And in
[00:10:51.700]terms of row spacing,
[00:10:53.020]we planted it in the wider 30-inch
[00:10:54.940]in order to accommodate the legumes
[00:10:56.870]in the inter-row space.
[00:10:58.180]We also, because of decisions
[00:11:01.410]with the Kernsett CAP team and
[00:11:04.210]continuing from prior
[00:11:05.800]literature, we
[00:11:06.940]decided to plant both narrow
[00:11:08.970]and random 30 seeds per meter
[00:11:11.330]so that there would be
[00:11:14.080]different, essentially
[00:11:14.380]planting densities per unit
[00:11:15.880]area between the row spacings.
[00:11:17.520]Data collection. So we
[00:11:21.100]essentially went
[00:11:21.820]out in late July and quadrat
[00:11:23.360]harvested PVC quadrats,
[00:11:24.840]represented the area of the
[00:11:26.380]plot, and then using
[00:11:27.880]electric clippers, we harvested
[00:11:29.700]the seed heads and biomass,
[00:11:31.290]weed biomass as well, and legumes
[00:11:33.160]into
[00:11:33.520]different bags. We then dried
[00:11:35.160]it, first weighed it, dried it,
[00:11:36.930]weighed it again, and then threshed
[00:11:39.040]the grain at specialized, or at
[00:11:40.580]the Land Institute using
[00:11:41.790]specialized equipment.
[00:11:44.380]And then later about Halloween,
[00:11:46.730]so October 31st, we then did a
[00:11:49.670]second harvest just for forage,
[00:11:51.880]specifically only taking a look
[00:11:53.800]at the legume intercrops
[00:11:55.280]treatments for Kernsett biomass
[00:11:57.340]and
[00:11:57.520]legume biomass. And what was
[00:11:59.950]the data in SAS as a repeated
[00:12:03.240]measures ANOVA analysis, and
[00:12:06.340]followed that
[00:12:06.880]up with corrected contrast
[00:12:08.450]statements. Some of the data
[00:12:10.220]was long transformed, and then
[00:12:12.220]in terms of
[00:12:12.700]variance structures, that was
[00:12:14.540]chosen based on the best fit
[00:12:16.080]criteria on AICC.
[00:12:17.320]A brief note about the climate
[00:12:19.580]before I specifically talk
[00:12:21.680]about yields. I want to mention
[00:12:24.400]that the establishment year
[00:12:25.950]when we first planted it had
[00:12:27.430]normal precipitation, to no
[00:12:29.320]drought.
[00:12:29.620]Unfortunately, starting in 2022,
[00:12:31.910]we had below normal
[00:12:32.860]precipitation for several
[00:12:34.300]hundred millimeters,
[00:12:35.020]followed by significant drought
[00:12:36.880]in 2023. Interestingly enough,
[00:12:39.360]in the third harvest year 2024,
[00:12:41.880]we
[00:12:42.220]pretty much had a return to
[00:12:43.570]normal precipitation with,
[00:12:45.220]simply speaking, no drought.
[00:12:46.960]So I want to point out here, it's
[00:12:48.900]just a screenshot of June 27th,
[00:12:51.370]2023, which is an example of
[00:12:53.830]what
[00:12:53.920]the drought conditions looked
[00:12:55.180]like in 2023 during seed head
[00:12:56.720]development and grain filling.
[00:12:58.390]And
[00:12:58.900]throughout that year, the
[00:13:00.280]drought conditions ranged from
[00:13:01.900]about D2 to D4 at their worst,
[00:13:03.700]which is severe to exceptional
[00:13:04.960]drought according to the U.S.
[00:13:06.250]Drought Monitor.
[00:13:09.640]All right, so first I'll step
[00:13:11.100]you through two different grain
[00:13:12.580]panels, and then I'll explain
[00:13:13.780]the
[00:13:13.960]results. So first here in panel
[00:13:16.240]A, this is showing the average
[00:13:18.310]kernza grain yields per
[00:13:20.740]treatments,
[00:13:21.280]with specifically looking only
[00:13:22.770]at the monoculture treatments.
[00:13:25.240]Whereas here in panel B, we're
[00:13:26.860]now
[00:13:27.100]showing the average grain
[00:13:28.600]yields, specifically looking at
[00:13:30.570]those from the intercrop
[00:13:32.140]treatments.
[00:13:33.460]You'll notice on the x-axis
[00:13:35.760]that the grain is represented
[00:13:38.320]in kilograms per hectare,
[00:13:39.520]ranging from about 200 to 1,200
[00:13:41.750]across all three years. On the
[00:13:44.380]x-axis, you'll see there
[00:13:45.700]are abbreviations basically
[00:13:47.460]showing both the cultivar name
[00:13:49.270]as well as the management
[00:13:50.460]paired
[00:13:50.800]with it. So if you look at
[00:13:52.580]panel A on the x-axis, you'll
[00:13:54.640]see CWTR in 1603. That's the
[00:13:57.280]cultivar name,
[00:13:58.180]so Clearwater, 1603. And then N
[00:14:01.750]stands for essentially narrow
[00:14:03.420]spacing. W stands for wide
[00:14:05.200]spacing. Then if you look at
[00:14:07.130]the x-axis for panel B, we'll
[00:14:09.040]see cultivar TLI 703 and 704
[00:14:12.110]paired with
[00:14:12.820]A for alfalfa and C for clover.
[00:14:14.590]So the grain yields, this was
[00:14:16.270]over three different years. You'll
[00:14:18.700]see 2022 in the lightest shade
[00:14:20.560]of green and 2024 in the
[00:14:22.100]darkest shade of green. And so
[00:14:24.580]in terms of
[00:14:25.240]results, we'll see that overall
[00:14:26.070]across the three years, we'll
[00:14:26.720]see that there's about a third
[00:14:27.350]of
[00:14:27.500]the grain that has been used.
[00:14:27.500]And then we'll see that there's
[00:14:27.500]about a third of the grain that
[00:14:27.640]has
[00:14:27.640]been used. And then we'll see
[00:14:27.670]that there's about a third of
[00:14:27.710]the grain that has been used.
[00:14:27.880]And then
[00:14:27.880]we'll see that there's about a
[00:14:27.880]third of the grain that has
[00:14:27.880]been used. And then we'll see
[00:14:27.880]that there's
[00:14:27.900]three years the first year had
[00:14:29.760]the highest yields followed by
[00:14:31.650]noticeable yield declines in
[00:14:33.550]years two
[00:14:33.980]and three especially due to
[00:14:35.370]drought conditions in 2023 the
[00:14:37.430]drought year grain yields were
[00:14:38.990]closer to
[00:14:39.580]200 kilograms per hectare as
[00:14:41.730]opposed to 1200. statistically
[00:14:44.390]speaking we found that the nail
[00:14:46.300]much higher than the rider was
[00:14:48.280]in terms of grain yields we
[00:14:50.250]also noticed that the monoculture
[00:14:52.220]stands
[00:14:52.620]produced much higher yields
[00:14:53.850]comparatively to the inner crop
[00:14:55.230]stands and that that makes
[00:14:56.350]sense since
[00:14:56.940]because in the monoculture
[00:14:58.630]stands there's twice the number
[00:15:00.610]of kerns of rows
[00:15:01.660]interestingly enough there were
[00:15:03.940]no significant differences
[00:15:05.900]between cultivars however i
[00:15:07.900]just want
[00:15:08.300]to point out here that in these
[00:15:10.460]highlighted boxes that's cultivar
[00:15:12.970]TLI 704 interestingly
[00:15:14.620]enough we see that in this
[00:15:15.680]graph observationally let me
[00:15:16.990]see if i can get a pointer i
[00:15:18.260]can't see it
[00:15:19.500]oh well so here in this graph
[00:15:21.490]we can see that with TLI 704
[00:15:23.970]the dark shade green versus the
[00:15:25.980]light that we noticed that 2024's
[00:15:29.030]yields are equivalent to or
[00:15:30.980]higher than that if it was in
[00:15:32.700]the first year on like all the
[00:15:34.310]cultivars that we've seen which
[00:15:36.140]is interesting so perhaps this
[00:15:38.220]particular cultivar has an
[00:15:39.630]advantage in maintaining grain
[00:15:41.300]yields over time so the
[00:15:42.540]implications of this
[00:15:43.500]is that um kernza's grain is
[00:15:46.330]affected by management and
[00:15:47.860]drought not so much by cultivar
[00:15:50.380]and if you're interested in
[00:15:51.830]prioritizing grain yields it's
[00:15:53.530]best to plant in monoculture
[00:15:55.520]rows with
[00:15:55.900]narrow spaces alternatively if
[00:15:57.640]you're more interested in a
[00:15:59.120]more diverse source of forage
[00:16:00.780]perhaps plant TLI 704 and intercropped
[00:16:03.850]with alfalfa because alfalfa
[00:16:05.860]had the the highest
[00:16:07.100]of the two legumes briefly i'll
[00:16:09.610]start start talking about the
[00:16:11.520]kernza biomass
[00:16:12.620]so this page or this screen
[00:16:14.770]slide here is of the summer
[00:16:16.980]biomass and panel a and panel b
[00:16:20.220]it's the same story the first
[00:16:21.440]is monoculture the second is
[00:16:22.660]intercropped and we saw no
[00:16:25.580]significant
[00:16:26.140]differences between cultivars
[00:16:28.160]we also saw no significant
[00:16:29.850]differences across years
[00:16:31.670]interestingly
[00:16:32.140]then drought did not affect the
[00:16:34.090]kernza biomass despite its
[00:16:35.820]significant impact on the grain
[00:16:37.840]yields
[00:16:38.380]and when we take a look at
[00:16:42.620]crop management practices the
[00:16:44.170]only factor to affect it was
[00:16:45.580]the fact that we planted
[00:16:47.340]in monoculture versus intercropped
[00:16:49.290]monoculture stands had much
[00:16:50.500]higher yields
[00:16:51.340]um let's see yes and so the
[00:16:53.900]implications of all this is
[00:16:56.820]because it was relatively unaffected
[00:17:00.140]by
[00:17:00.300]management and especially unaffected
[00:17:02.340]by drought that the data seems
[00:17:03.780]to suggest that it's beneficial
[00:17:05.580]to prioritize managing for
[00:17:07.130]grain yields as opposed to forage
[00:17:08.980]since forage is relatively unaffected
[00:17:12.220]similarly fall kernza biomass
[00:17:13.810]had followed pretty much the
[00:17:15.270]same trend
[00:17:15.900]it's it but in this case no
[00:17:17.710]management affected it as
[00:17:20.260]opposed to summer where cropping
[00:17:23.340]system
[00:17:23.580]did seem to have some sort of
[00:17:25.070]effect so again the
[00:17:26.230]implications of this is that it's
[00:17:27.900]best it's
[00:17:28.620]seemingly to prioritize summer
[00:17:30.720]grain as opposed to trying to
[00:17:32.590]manage also for the fall
[00:17:34.080]biomass since
[00:17:34.940]biomass produces equally either
[00:17:37.740]way similarly with summer legume
[00:17:40.440]biomass
[00:17:42.220]we also collected this data and
[00:17:44.740]in this case we actually did
[00:17:46.440]see cultivar differences we
[00:17:48.190]also saw
[00:17:48.860]differences between legumes so
[00:17:50.400]i'll start out with cultivar
[00:17:51.760]differences and the graph here
[00:17:53.980]you'll
[00:17:54.220]notice that toi 704 produced
[00:17:56.950]significantly higher grainy or
[00:17:59.410]sorry liking biomass yields in
[00:18:01.860]the summer
[00:18:02.780]as opposed to toi 703 and
[00:18:05.140]especially when it was planted
[00:18:07.360]with alfalfa so i'll briefly
[00:18:09.500]mention that
[00:18:10.380]the red clover did not reestablish
[00:18:12.490]well after the first harvest
[00:18:14.260]year and so it essentially
[00:18:16.620]acted
[00:18:17.020]functionally speaking like a
[00:18:19.770]wide row man culture which is
[00:18:22.300]possible which also contributes
[00:18:24.890]to why
[00:18:25.740]the red clover didn't do so
[00:18:27.140]well in terms of legume biomass
[00:18:28.980]so all to say
[00:18:29.980]the implications of this is
[00:18:31.680]that toi 704 produced the most
[00:18:33.980]legume biomass
[00:18:34.940]especially when intercropped
[00:18:36.630]with alfalfa so in terms of forage
[00:18:38.430]management this seems to be the
[00:18:40.220]best combination similarly with
[00:18:44.050]fall legume the same trend
[00:18:47.020]interestingly though the
[00:18:49.860]difference
[00:18:50.300]here is that in 2023 the
[00:18:52.320]drought year the alfalfa
[00:18:53.870]regardless of cultivar was
[00:18:55.590]significantly higher
[00:18:57.100]than it in any other year
[00:18:58.800]whether first or last perhaps
[00:19:00.940]this is because maybe with the
[00:19:03.070]drought
[00:19:03.740]stress that the kernza had less
[00:19:05.160]of an encroaching effect it
[00:19:06.510]didn't grow back as well in the
[00:19:07.790]fall
[00:19:08.060]but all to say again
[00:19:10.060]toi 704 seems to stand out
[00:19:12.860]especially when intercropped
[00:19:14.060]with alfalfa
[00:19:14.780]and then finally to help
[00:19:18.180]quantify our results into a
[00:19:22.140]more holistic context we also
[00:19:24.140]took a
[00:19:24.460]look at weed and interestingly
[00:19:26.420]enough there were no
[00:19:27.670]statistical differences between
[00:19:29.580]treatments
[00:19:30.060]although observationally we can
[00:19:31.820]see that there in the first
[00:19:33.190]year there was significantly
[00:19:34.620]higher
[00:19:34.940]weed bias in both the monoculture
[00:19:36.910]wide as well as the intercropped
[00:19:38.830]red clover which
[00:19:39.900]functionally kind of acted the
[00:19:41.130]same although in each
[00:19:43.030]successive harvest year we can
[00:19:45.100]see that the
[00:19:45.500]weed biomass significantly
[00:19:47.220]declined to near zero we
[00:19:48.340]checked out through the fields
[00:19:50.620]there were so
[00:19:51.100]few weeds in general that we
[00:19:52.260]didn't have to spray and so we
[00:19:54.600]can say implications wise that
[00:19:59.420]management
[00:19:59.820]did seem to have some sort of
[00:20:01.080]influence that is the wider the
[00:20:02.500]space the more light
[00:20:03.500]penetration
[00:20:04.300]slightly higher weed presence
[00:20:05.990]however it was not significant
[00:20:07.570]so takeaways
[00:20:09.740]overall grain yields and legume
[00:20:11.670]biomass variably decreased over
[00:20:13.860]time there were pretty much no
[00:20:15.660]differences between cultivars
[00:20:17.660]except in some cases with toi
[00:20:19.350]704 which is in terms of grain
[00:20:21.420]and legume
[00:20:21.820]biomass we also saw that the
[00:20:23.990]monoculture stands produced the
[00:20:26.640]highest grain biomass as well
[00:20:28.780]yeah highest grain yields of
[00:20:30.330]the ground biomass as well as
[00:20:31.870]with the fewest weeds
[00:20:33.100]and then similarly the alfalfa
[00:20:35.100]produced uh the most legume
[00:20:36.860]biomass especially since the
[00:20:38.800]red clover
[00:20:39.580]didn't re-establish well so
[00:20:42.200]recommendations based on our
[00:20:43.490]study if you're interested in
[00:20:45.500]producing the
[00:20:46.220]most grain you can choose
[00:20:47.700]pretty much any cultivar and
[00:20:48.980]plant it in monoculture stands
[00:20:50.760]scenarios if
[00:20:51.980]you're instead interested in
[00:20:53.510]forage biomass especially a
[00:20:54.800]diverse mix planting toi 704
[00:20:56.620]with
[00:20:56.860]alfalfa seems to be the best
[00:20:58.520]option and in general when you're
[00:21:00.570]taking management across the
[00:21:02.460]year it
[00:21:02.860]would be best to prioritize
[00:21:04.470]summer yields since management
[00:21:06.370]didn't really affect much the
[00:21:08.100]forage
[00:21:08.540]biomass in the year
[00:21:09.420]in summer or fall so in terms
[00:21:11.570]of future research i would
[00:21:13.010]suggest that if we repeat the
[00:21:14.780]experiments
[00:21:15.420]it would be done during more
[00:21:16.630]consistently wet years so we're
[00:21:18.000]not confounding the effects of
[00:21:19.420]stand age with drought and to
[00:21:21.440]replant with red clover each
[00:21:23.280]year or perhaps test different
[00:21:25.500]legume
[00:21:25.900]varieties so now we're going to
[00:21:28.300]switch gears and take a look at
[00:21:30.610]chapter two specifically
[00:21:32.860]quantifying kernza's effects on
[00:21:34.880]soil health and water cycling
[00:21:36.700]especially in comparison to a
[00:21:39.260]soil
[00:21:39.260]or corn soybean rotation so i
[00:21:40.740]briefly mentioned in the first
[00:21:43.250]chapter that kernza has been
[00:21:45.460]marketed to
[00:21:46.540]provide ecosystem services
[00:21:48.120]increase crop biodiversity and
[00:21:49.900]otherwise be beneficial
[00:21:51.340]to the environment and that's
[00:21:54.020]uh as a result of the need for
[00:21:56.640]agricultural sustainability
[00:21:58.700]just
[00:21:58.860]because if we take a look here
[00:22:00.540]i'm just going to give some
[00:22:02.090]statistics to sort of help
[00:22:03.760]quantify why
[00:22:04.700]kernza has been um of interest
[00:22:08.000]so
[00:22:09.100]kernza has been um of interest
[00:22:10.690]because it's a very important
[00:22:12.020]resource in terms of
[00:22:13.420]soil quality and it's a very
[00:22:14.800]important resource in terms of
[00:22:16.430]soil quality in terms of soil
[00:22:17.630]quality
[00:22:17.740]and it's a very important
[00:22:19.160]resource in terms of soil
[00:22:20.520]quality and it's a very
[00:22:21.770]important resource
[00:22:21.900]in terms of soil quality and it's
[00:22:23.300]a very important resource in
[00:22:24.640]terms of soil quality and it's
[00:22:26.030]a very
[00:22:26.380]important resource in terms of
[00:22:27.610]soil quality and it's a very
[00:22:28.410]important resource in terms of
[00:22:29.490]soil
[00:22:29.740]quality and it's a very
[00:22:30.390]important resource in terms of
[00:22:31.300]soil quality and it's a very
[00:22:32.780]important
[00:22:33.340]resource in terms of soil
[00:22:34.850]quality and it's a very
[00:22:36.200]important resource in terms of
[00:22:38.080]soil quality and it's
[00:22:38.940]soil compaction and reduced
[00:22:40.750]water infiltration. If we
[00:22:42.910]further zoom into the
[00:22:44.000]Midwestern United States, we
[00:22:45.820]see that the historic median
[00:22:47.500]soil erosion rate since
[00:22:48.840]the 1870s has been estimated to
[00:22:51.520]be nearly double what we
[00:22:53.030]consider to be tolerable soil
[00:22:55.030]erosion rates. We mentioned
[00:22:57.010]that current erosion rates are
[00:22:58.860]lower than this, but not
[00:23:00.420]necessarily enough to be good
[00:23:02.710]rates. And then when we further
[00:23:05.760]zoom into the state of Nebraska,
[00:23:07.320]we can see that there is a
[00:23:08.340]significant documented history
[00:23:10.180]of groundwater contamination by
[00:23:12.380]agriculturally
[00:23:13.200]sourced nitrates since the 1970s.
[00:23:15.950]About 2% of the state is
[00:23:17.550]contaminated well
[00:23:18.400]above the legal limit of 10
[00:23:19.810]milligrams per liter, which if
[00:23:21.950]you consume water
[00:23:22.920]like this will see health
[00:23:24.120]effects, especially in infants
[00:23:25.710]such as blue baby
[00:23:26.460]syndrome and even death.
[00:23:28.400]Although there are websites out
[00:23:30.220]there that argue that levels
[00:23:31.580]below this limit can also have
[00:23:32.840]an effect. Briefly, I'll show
[00:23:35.340]you, here's a map of the state
[00:23:36.940]of Nebraska.
[00:23:37.740]there's a study done by the nebraskan
[00:23:39.560]department of environments and
[00:23:41.160]energy they published the
[00:23:42.540]results in november 2024 and
[00:23:44.870]this here is just showing a map
[00:23:46.740]of all of the different samples
[00:23:48.700]that they receive from domestic
[00:23:50.400]wells and it's just showing the
[00:23:52.030]distribution of the kind of
[00:23:53.500]contamination that we see
[00:23:55.060]currently in the state and then
[00:23:57.020]here's simply a map of the
[00:23:58.390]modeling done
[00:23:59.340]that helps us to predict what
[00:24:01.040]the full picture looks like
[00:24:02.670]beyond just the samples that we
[00:24:04.620]received and as you can see
[00:24:06.250]much the state is showing
[00:24:07.810]levels well above the 10
[00:24:09.610]milligram range
[00:24:10.700]so kernza has been marketed to
[00:24:13.340]promote soil health and water
[00:24:15.980]quality specifically because
[00:24:17.660]of its perennial life cycle so
[00:24:19.420]you can see here kernza in
[00:24:20.890]comparison to annual wheat
[00:24:22.620]the roots are much much deeper
[00:24:24.150]much thicker they reach about
[00:24:25.670]10 feet into the ground or
[00:24:27.340]three
[00:24:27.580]meters and they produce a lot
[00:24:29.740]more particular organic matter
[00:24:32.170]more residues into the ground
[00:24:34.620]kernza also has a much
[00:24:35.740]substantially higher above
[00:24:37.280]ground biomass which can
[00:24:38.640]produce again
[00:24:39.660]more in contributions of plant
[00:24:41.540]residues and because kernza is
[00:24:43.420]a perennial it's planted for
[00:24:45.020]multiple years so ideally you
[00:24:46.600]would have more time between
[00:24:48.110]when you disturb the soil with
[00:24:49.680]tillage
[00:24:50.220]which would mean that the kernza
[00:24:52.160]can have much longer time to
[00:24:53.810]contribute residues and you'd
[00:24:55.770]have
[00:24:55.900]a much higher chance of time
[00:24:57.970]simply to build soil aggregates
[00:25:00.530]more microbial biomass and have
[00:25:02.690]a
[00:25:02.780]greater chance at sequestering
[00:25:04.690]soil carbon as a result also of
[00:25:06.460]these very deep roots we can
[00:25:08.220]see
[00:25:08.460]that at least in theory there's
[00:25:10.610]a much higher efficiency in the
[00:25:12.810]uptake and use of water and
[00:25:14.700]nitrates and when we take a
[00:25:16.440]look at the literature we're
[00:25:18.470]also seeing increasingly quantified
[00:25:21.260]benefits
[00:25:22.060]so kernza versus annual wheat
[00:25:23.750]we're seeing statistically
[00:25:25.370]higher violence and root
[00:25:26.780]turnover
[00:25:27.500]we're seeing higher particular
[00:25:28.940]organic matter and soil organic
[00:25:30.390]carbon and interestingly higher
[00:25:31.980]carbon to nitrogen ratio when
[00:25:33.430]we're taking a look at the
[00:25:34.670]roots in stover we see a
[00:25:35.900]similar story in
[00:25:37.100]comparison to a corn soybean
[00:25:39.130]rotation especially when we're
[00:25:41.560]coming to comparing the biomass
[00:25:43.950]but
[00:25:43.980]what's different here is that
[00:25:45.470]we're also starting to see
[00:25:46.800]things such as act
[00:25:47.700]statistically increased
[00:25:49.100]soil aggregation so the large
[00:25:50.670]macro aggregates in particular
[00:25:52.350]as well as a much higher
[00:25:53.530]presence of
[00:25:54.220]microbial biomass and excitingly
[00:25:56.140]actually seeing reduced nitrates
[00:25:58.060]concentrations in the soil
[00:25:59.580]water
[00:26:01.180]however come to the literature's
[00:26:04.180]consensus on other carbon and
[00:26:06.860]nitrogen fractions within the
[00:26:08.380]soil there's mixed results
[00:26:09.620]whether we're looking at
[00:26:10.770]different cropping systems
[00:26:12.140]we're also seeing you know
[00:26:14.060]depending which cropping system
[00:26:16.090]you look at we're seeing
[00:26:17.740]fewer differences in terms of
[00:26:19.790]soil moisture and soil nitrate
[00:26:21.920]and interestingly there's no
[00:26:24.220]studies
[00:26:24.860]yet published on soil water
[00:26:26.470]infiltration in when we're
[00:26:28.080]comparing kernza to the other
[00:26:29.830]two cropping
[00:26:30.620]systems and also points out
[00:26:32.160]that when we're taking a look
[00:26:33.650]at kernza versus a corn soybean
[00:26:35.420]rotation
[00:26:36.140]there's very few papers so
[00:26:38.100]which kind of helps explain why
[00:26:40.530]we're seeing a very mixed
[00:26:42.380]consensus
[00:26:43.180]simply because there's so few
[00:26:45.470]data which is one of the
[00:26:47.200]reasons why my study uh one of
[00:26:49.180]the things
[00:26:49.420]we're looking for uh to
[00:26:51.110]research in my study however
[00:26:53.180]before we jump into researching
[00:26:55.680]the
[00:26:55.740]differences between the two cropping
[00:26:57.560]systems we also have to take
[00:26:58.870]into consideration how we're
[00:27:00.460]managing it so briefly i'll
[00:27:02.530]mention the literature finds
[00:27:04.780]that the use of inorganic
[00:27:06.700]versus organic
[00:27:07.660]fertilizers makes a very big
[00:27:09.100]difference in terms of your
[00:27:10.490]soil health and water quality
[00:27:12.160]so i'll
[00:27:12.460]briefly mention that the inorganic
[00:27:14.200]fertilizer such as your is
[00:27:15.480]known to decrease soil organic
[00:27:17.100]matter
[00:27:17.820]increase your bulk density and
[00:27:19.690]acidity and reduce results in
[00:27:21.470]nitrate leaching whereas the
[00:27:23.590]organic
[00:27:23.980]assuming you're applying it in
[00:27:26.210]reasonable quantities um that
[00:27:28.440]it's shown to do the exact
[00:27:30.300]opposite and actually improve
[00:27:31.950]your soil properties and reduce
[00:27:33.630]nitrate leaching however we
[00:27:36.450]also have to
[00:27:36.860]take into consideration the
[00:27:38.480]timing of the fertilizer as you
[00:27:40.180]know crops don't demand the
[00:27:41.660]same amount of nutrients
[00:27:42.610]equally throughout the year we
[00:27:43.790]have to time it with when they
[00:27:44.940]need it
[00:27:45.420]during their developmental
[00:27:47.110]growth cycle and so if we do
[00:27:48.650]time it properly we can be able
[00:27:50.440]to further
[00:27:51.100]reduce the negative impacts of
[00:27:53.320]the inorganic fertilizers on
[00:27:55.450]the soil and water but before
[00:27:57.600]we
[00:27:57.980]can make certain conclusions
[00:28:00.140]we also need to make sure that
[00:28:00.550]we're not negatively affecting
[00:28:01.010]granules after all of our
[00:28:01.360]research we need
[00:28:01.900]to make sure that we're not
[00:28:02.930]negatively affecting granules
[00:28:04.240]with whatever conclusion we
[00:28:05.580]come to we
[00:28:06.060]need to have some sort of
[00:28:07.660]compromise to figure out um to
[00:28:09.640]be able to balance kerns's
[00:28:11.370]effect with
[00:28:12.380]its already low grain yields
[00:28:13.500]and make sure that we're at
[00:28:14.500]least maintaining them
[00:28:15.500]so my experiment comes in and
[00:28:18.190]essentially the goal of it is
[00:28:20.780]to test the effects of
[00:28:22.920]fertilizer source
[00:28:24.220]so urea poultry manure as well
[00:28:25.990]as fertilizer timing spring and
[00:28:27.840]fall on kerns's granules and
[00:28:29.980]it's relatively to investigate
[00:28:31.780]the effects of kerns and
[00:28:33.100]fertilizer on soil water
[00:28:34.860]especially in
[00:28:35.660]comparison to a corn soybean
[00:28:37.560]rotation partially because
[00:28:39.510]there's so few papers published
[00:28:41.370]on it and
[00:28:41.980]it's a major cropping cropping
[00:28:44.750]system choice in nebraska so
[00:28:46.960]the experimental setup and
[00:28:49.980]is very very similar to that of
[00:28:51.410]the first chapter randomized
[00:28:52.870]complete block design
[00:28:54.060]kerns is planted in september
[00:28:55.690]following this usually the
[00:28:57.190]experiment was much larger 10
[00:28:59.080]treatments
[00:28:59.820]per block but for the sake of
[00:29:02.140]my thesis and coherency between
[00:29:04.650]all the different data
[00:29:06.460]collected i reduced it down to
[00:29:07.860]three treatments i'll explain
[00:29:09.380]what they are in a minute in
[00:29:11.550]terms
[00:29:11.980]of timeline i'll briefly
[00:29:13.330]mention that we did baseline
[00:29:14.920]soil sampling before we planted
[00:29:16.700]and
[00:29:16.780]before we applied any fertilizers
[00:29:18.560]and then later in each
[00:29:19.670]successive harvest year in june
[00:29:21.500]we did
[00:29:22.060]additional soil sampling to
[00:29:23.360]track changes so here's the
[00:29:25.280]table of treatment information
[00:29:27.100]i'll briefly point out here
[00:29:28.110]that there are simply three
[00:29:29.130]treatments
[00:29:29.660]one of which is the corn
[00:29:31.100]soybean rotation the other two
[00:29:32.570]is kernza and what differentiates
[00:29:34.480]the
[00:29:34.620]kernza treatments is one of
[00:29:36.380]them is fertilized in spring
[00:29:38.300]the other one is poultry manure
[00:29:40.710]fertilized
[00:29:41.260]in fall the corn soybean
[00:29:43.210]rotation is also fertilized
[00:29:45.090]with urea the three of which
[00:29:47.420]have
[00:29:47.660]been fertilized at the same
[00:29:49.080]rate of 180 kilograms per hectare
[00:29:51.260]so data collection very similar
[00:29:53.980]we quadrat harvest we collect
[00:29:56.500]all of these seed heads and
[00:29:58.700]biomass
[00:29:59.500]when they dry it when they
[00:30:01.020]flush it using specialized
[00:30:02.690]equipment and specifically here
[00:30:04.860]with soil sampling i mentioned
[00:30:07.120]that we did a baseline followed
[00:30:09.380]by successive sampling in later
[00:30:11.660]years we took is down to 0 20
[00:30:13.700]centimeters and we took that to
[00:30:15.550]anal labs for analysis of
[00:30:16.960]different
[00:30:17.740]soil properties we also did a
[00:30:19.190]field incubation for nitrate
[00:30:20.690]mineralization you can see the
[00:30:22.380]photograph
[00:30:22.860]here in the top right so we
[00:30:24.300]took these white pvc tubes and
[00:30:25.960]we tamped two of them into the
[00:30:27.520]ground
[00:30:28.140]per plot one of them is the
[00:30:29.340]soil incubation and the other
[00:30:29.340]one is the nitrogen mineralization
[00:30:29.340]and
[00:30:29.340]the other one is a day zero
[00:30:30.810]tube the other one is a day 28
[00:30:32.700]tube and on the respective days
[00:30:34.530]we pulled
[00:30:35.180]out the the core we sieved it
[00:30:37.030]we extract it in kcl and then
[00:30:38.900]sends those cores off to
[00:30:40.530]external lab for
[00:30:41.820]a color metric analysis of nitrate
[00:30:43.870]and ammonium and once we
[00:30:45.270]receive the numbers back we
[00:30:47.110]simply
[00:30:47.420]follow this formula to
[00:30:48.690]calculate the rate it's
[00:30:50.010]essentially day 28 minus day
[00:30:51.790]zero divided by the
[00:30:52.940]number of days incubating the
[00:30:54.660]field which was about 28. we
[00:30:56.590]also are interested in taking a
[00:30:58.340]look at water
[00:30:59.180]dynamics between the two crops
[00:31:00.840]as well as between fertilizer
[00:31:02.300]treatments so one of the things
[00:31:03.870]we did
[00:31:04.300]is we did a weekly sampling of
[00:31:06.280]soil moisture at different
[00:31:08.190]depths fixed throughout the
[00:31:10.200]soil profile
[00:31:11.100]including volumetric water
[00:31:13.830]content and this was analyzed
[00:31:16.680]as a repeated measures analysis
[00:31:19.110]in sas
[00:31:19.580]in three months intervals
[00:31:21.600]simply because the size of the
[00:31:23.910]data set
[00:31:24.620]so in addition to volumetric
[00:31:25.830]water content which is
[00:31:26.820]expressed in percentage that's
[00:31:28.210]the raw data from
[00:31:29.020]the probe so calculated the
[00:31:30.550]total soil water storage and
[00:31:32.150]set basically expressed as in
[00:31:33.900]centimeters which is the total
[00:31:35.660]amount of value storage
[00:31:37.010]essentially in the plots across
[00:31:38.840]all depths
[00:31:39.420]we also took a look at water
[00:31:41.840]infiltration so this was
[00:31:44.150]essentially two large steel
[00:31:46.860]wings with big
[00:31:47.820]jugs of water and we conducted
[00:31:49.740]a time lapse measuring the
[00:31:51.430]height of the rod of the jug
[00:31:53.260]at set time points over the
[00:31:54.950]course of an hour we also
[00:31:56.470]collected soil cores at the
[00:31:58.240]start of
[00:31:58.860]of the time lapse to get an
[00:32:00.330]idea of at least gravimetrically
[00:32:02.380]how much starting moisture
[00:32:03.880]there
[00:32:04.060]was to see if there were
[00:32:05.400]differences already between
[00:32:07.160]treatments the data was fit to
[00:32:08.950]the
[00:32:09.260]horton model of infiltration um
[00:32:11.390]essentially so the first
[00:32:13.060]formula here is just
[00:32:14.410]calculating the weight
[00:32:15.980]that's millimeters per hour the
[00:32:17.780]second formula is calculating
[00:32:18.900]the total amount of water
[00:32:20.060]accumulated
[00:32:20.700]in millimeters that's the time
[00:32:23.050]lapse and this was analyzed in
[00:32:25.550]a nova it's in our studio it's
[00:32:27.840]different to nova's
[00:32:28.700]and this is the time lapse that
[00:32:28.820]we're going to look at and this
[00:32:28.950]is the time lapse that we're
[00:32:29.050]going to look at
[00:32:29.260]at each time point essentially
[00:32:31.320]the rate and accumulation in
[00:32:32.860]response to treatments in
[00:32:33.900]baseline soil moisture and
[00:32:36.370]again i'll briefly just mention
[00:32:38.380]that especially in 22 and 2023
[00:32:41.660]we had below normal
[00:32:42.580]precipitation and drought
[00:32:43.920]conditions followed by normal
[00:32:46.300]precipitation
[00:32:47.180]in the fourth year or third
[00:32:48.560]year excuse me so i'll briefly
[00:32:51.500]mention here granules
[00:32:53.820]so interestingly enough we didn't
[00:32:55.860]have any effects between
[00:32:57.380]fertilizer source
[00:32:58.540]or timing the only thing that
[00:33:00.120]seemed to affect the granules
[00:33:01.770]was drought conditions
[00:33:03.180]and kernza aging over time so
[00:33:05.210]the implications of this seems
[00:33:07.410]to be that there's no yield
[00:33:09.340]penalty
[00:33:09.820]when applying manure versus urea
[00:33:11.580]there seems to be a flexibility
[00:33:13.210]in the timing of the
[00:33:14.340]application
[00:33:15.020]fall versus spring but
[00:33:16.760]regardless of which fertilizer
[00:33:18.550]treatment used it did not
[00:33:20.160]prevent the
[00:33:20.860]grain yield decline kernza
[00:33:23.110]biomass interestingly enough
[00:33:24.690]nothing was significant no
[00:33:26.480]difference between years
[00:33:28.380]treatment
[00:33:28.380]nor the interaction however
[00:33:29.870]interestingly enough you can
[00:33:31.410]see the fall manure seems to
[00:33:33.040]maintain
[00:33:34.060]the kernza biomass yields
[00:33:35.730]slightly better than that of
[00:33:37.290]the urea and if these trends
[00:33:38.620]were to
[00:33:38.940]continue over significant
[00:33:40.270]periods of times perhaps we
[00:33:41.580]could argue that the manure
[00:33:43.020]could better
[00:33:43.420]maintain biomass yields versus
[00:33:45.100]urea but this would have to be
[00:33:46.570]tested so overall fertilizer
[00:33:48.300]source and
[00:33:48.700]timing did not have an effect
[00:33:50.620]there's also flexibility in
[00:33:52.960]terms of timing of the
[00:33:54.780]application
[00:33:56.300]and beneficially drought did
[00:33:57.980]not affect the timing of the
[00:33:58.220]application
[00:33:58.220]so we're going to look at the
[00:33:59.920]soil organic matter and we're
[00:34:01.370]going to look at the soil
[00:34:02.060]organic matter
[00:34:02.220]and we're going to look at the
[00:34:03.270]soil organic matter and we're
[00:34:04.510]going to look at the soil
[00:34:05.070]organic matter
[00:34:05.260]interestingly enough the only
[00:34:06.840]differences we found was
[00:34:08.090]between years specifically 2023
[00:34:10.700]the
[00:34:10.860]drought year was much lower in
[00:34:12.660]soil organic matters than the
[00:34:14.360]bio years and then it rebounded
[00:34:16.220]in 2024
[00:34:17.580]so it seems that the soil
[00:34:19.080]organic matter seems to be
[00:34:20.320]sensitive to precipitation to
[00:34:21.980]drought conditions as opposed
[00:34:24.470]to fertilizer treatment or cropping
[00:34:27.600]system so manure
[00:34:28.060]didn't improve soil organic
[00:34:29.330]matter neither did kernza and
[00:34:31.190]fertilizer timing didn't really
[00:34:33.020]have
[00:34:33.180]much of an effect soil ph this
[00:34:35.570]had a slightly different story
[00:34:38.020]so we actually do see some
[00:34:40.140]treatment differences
[00:34:41.510]specifically in blue the poultry
[00:34:43.190]new thing is kernza this was
[00:34:46.130]much more
[00:34:46.460]basic across all three all four
[00:34:48.480]years uh comparatively to the urea
[00:34:50.720]fertilized kernza
[00:34:52.060]and the urea fertilized corn
[00:34:53.990]soybean rotation in terms of
[00:34:56.240]differences between years for
[00:34:57.900]each
[00:34:57.900]20-24 was significant most
[00:35:00.160]likely because of the blue
[00:35:01.760]blocks the poultry manure
[00:35:03.420]fertilized kernza
[00:35:04.300]being much more basic um and
[00:35:05.920]perhaps also because we see a
[00:35:07.620]return to normal precipitation
[00:35:09.540]levels
[00:35:10.060]but also interestingly enough
[00:35:12.700]uh that the ph of the inorganic
[00:35:15.210]kernza of the urea fertilized
[00:35:16.700]kernza
[00:35:17.260]was seemingly uh sensitive to
[00:35:19.190]precipitation so you'll see
[00:35:21.040]here that the urea from this
[00:35:23.340]kernza seems to be identical to
[00:35:24.970]that in ph of the corn soybean
[00:35:26.470]rotation this year it was
[00:35:27.740]soiling whereas in 2024 with
[00:35:29.840]the increase of precipitation
[00:35:31.530]the urea fertilizer actually
[00:35:33.340]seems to be more equivalent in
[00:35:35.030]ph to that of the poultry
[00:35:36.380]fertilized kernza so overall
[00:35:39.300]manure does
[00:35:40.140]increase the ph the basicity
[00:35:41.760]however drought can add
[00:35:43.120]significant variability as to
[00:35:44.910]how all
[00:35:45.260]these different factors have an
[00:35:47.170]effect when we take a look at
[00:35:48.960]the nitrogen mineralization
[00:35:50.610]rate
[00:35:51.020]there really weren't any
[00:35:52.630]differences between use
[00:35:54.190]treatments cropping systems and
[00:35:57.230]so
[00:35:57.580]uh but we also see the most
[00:35:59.100]variation in 2023 especially
[00:36:01.580]through your fertilized kernza
[00:36:03.100]comparatively to other
[00:36:05.690]treatments and so we can say
[00:36:07.270]that according to our data that
[00:36:09.740]the fertilizer
[00:36:10.620]source timing cropping system
[00:36:12.130]they really didn't change the
[00:36:13.570]rate at which the plant
[00:36:14.780]available
[00:36:15.100]nitrogen was made however i
[00:36:17.040]will point out that we only
[00:36:18.900]analyzed this we took the
[00:36:20.670]sample once a
[00:36:21.580]year in june when we had a
[00:36:23.020]single replication per plot as
[00:36:24.810]opposed to multiple replications
[00:36:26.840]per plot
[00:36:27.420]and so to really capture the
[00:36:29.140]spatial and temporal
[00:36:30.410]variability in future studies
[00:36:32.380]it's i would highly
[00:36:34.300]advise that future studies
[00:36:35.980]would increase the sampling
[00:36:37.690]throughout the year to see if
[00:36:39.500]there
[00:36:39.660]were actually treatment
[00:36:40.880]differences as well as to take
[00:36:42.310]multiple samples per plot
[00:36:43.660]okay so the next three slides
[00:36:47.140]will be taking a look at the
[00:36:49.390]soil moisture at fixed depths
[00:36:52.460]uh throughout the uh the soil
[00:36:54.060]profile the first two of these
[00:36:55.720]will be taking a look at the
[00:36:57.260]volumetric water content so
[00:36:58.800]percent moisture at each depth
[00:37:00.570]um to the depth excuse me and
[00:37:03.470]then
[00:37:03.660]the third slide we'll be taking
[00:37:05.270]a look at how much water is
[00:37:06.520]stored across the soil profile
[00:37:08.220]so for the first slide here we'll
[00:37:09.870]be taking a look at the soil
[00:37:11.220]surface of 10 centimeters and
[00:37:13.180]overall
[00:37:13.740]we see that um so we have sorry
[00:37:16.190]we have six panels so the first
[00:37:18.760]three panels is uh 2023 the
[00:37:22.020]next three
[00:37:22.380]panels is 2024. i just broke
[00:37:24.110]these up into three month
[00:37:25.150]intervals just because of the
[00:37:26.500]sheer size of
[00:37:27.100]the data set and just for ease
[00:37:29.080]of visualization and so overall
[00:37:31.200]we can see that the corn
[00:37:32.690]soybean
[00:37:33.260]rotation at set time points
[00:37:35.210]such as uh spring of 2023 and
[00:37:37.840]spring of 2024 we can see that
[00:37:40.620]the corn
[00:37:40.940]soybean rotation seems to have
[00:37:42.680]slightly more moisture than
[00:37:44.300]that of the current treatments
[00:37:46.060]however statistically speaking
[00:37:47.500]at 10 centimeters there are no
[00:37:48.970]differences
[00:37:49.580]then when we take a look at one
[00:37:52.220]meter depth the very lowest
[00:37:54.790]meter of the
[00:37:56.940]uh the soil moisture probe we
[00:37:58.870]see that there are visually
[00:38:00.720]greater differences between
[00:38:02.220]treatments
[00:38:02.860]especially when we look at
[00:38:04.360]summer 2023 and spring and fall
[00:38:06.380]of 2024 however despite
[00:38:09.580]visually greater
[00:38:10.460]differences between cropping
[00:38:11.970]systems again statistically
[00:38:13.450]speaking we don't see any
[00:38:14.700]differences
[00:38:15.260]likely because of the high
[00:38:17.150]variability of the data set
[00:38:19.180]and so now when we take a look
[00:38:21.580]at the amounts of storage
[00:38:23.930]across the soil profile we can
[00:38:26.380]see
[00:38:26.780]that uh it's a similar story
[00:38:28.410]again at certain time points
[00:38:30.110]perhaps corn soybean rotation
[00:38:31.900]observationally has more water
[00:38:34.020]however statistically speaking
[00:38:35.530]again there were no
[00:38:36.380]significant differences and so
[00:38:38.420]the implications of this is
[00:38:40.120]that uh kernza has the
[00:38:41.470]potential or
[00:38:42.300]the capacity to be able to
[00:38:44.130]reduce uh water loss and
[00:38:45.880]possibly as well nitrate leaching
[00:38:48.540]but this needs to be tested
[00:38:50.660]further in future studies okay
[00:38:53.220]and so the last data of this
[00:38:55.100]presentation
[00:38:57.020]i'll be focusing on soil water
[00:38:58.740]infiltration so remember that
[00:39:00.980]we collected soil cores
[00:39:02.780]at the beginning of the infiltration
[00:39:04.350]time lapse in order to
[00:39:05.240]calculate gravimetric moisture
[00:39:06.660]content
[00:39:07.100]and interestingly when we
[00:39:08.790]analyzed it we did find
[00:39:10.280]significant differences
[00:39:11.980]between the starting moisture
[00:39:13.800]of the treatments specifically
[00:39:15.690]in blue the poultry fertilized
[00:39:17.510]manure
[00:39:17.980]kernza it had a much uh it had
[00:39:20.530]a much higher starting soil
[00:39:23.110]moisture than the urea fertilized
[00:39:26.460]kernza um and interestingly
[00:39:29.240]enough when we think back on
[00:39:31.160]the soil data we noticed that
[00:39:33.820]there was
[00:39:34.060]a slightly higher soil organic
[00:39:36.030]moisture to begin with with the
[00:39:38.000]manure fertilized kernza
[00:39:39.740]when we then did the ANOVA
[00:39:41.840]analyses basically just
[00:39:43.950]analyzing between treatments at
[00:39:46.770]different
[00:39:47.740]time points we found that in
[00:39:49.940]the case of both the infiltration
[00:39:52.170]rate and the total accumulation
[00:39:55.340]despite visually the
[00:39:56.390]differences that we're seeing
[00:39:57.910]there were no significant
[00:39:59.260]differences
[00:40:00.060]and be just simply because of
[00:40:01.500]the high variability of the
[00:40:02.880]data set as well as perhaps the
[00:40:04.520]difference
[00:40:05.020]in the starting moistures when
[00:40:07.060]that that's taken into account
[00:40:08.510]so the implications of this is
[00:40:10.350]that
[00:40:10.620]kernza the fertilized kernza
[00:40:13.370]tended to have slightly more
[00:40:15.660]soil moisture in general and
[00:40:17.900]perhaps
[00:40:18.380]perhaps a better soil water
[00:40:21.690]infiltration demonstrating this
[00:40:24.790]potential
[00:40:25.180]uh for benefits so overall we
[00:40:29.200]take a look at this data we can
[00:40:31.330]see that it's largely
[00:40:33.180]differences
[00:40:33.660]seen were largely the results
[00:40:35.090]of fertilizer source and
[00:40:36.300]drought instead of fertilizer
[00:40:37.790]timing or cropping
[00:40:38.860]system so recommendations based
[00:40:41.990]on our findings in the
[00:40:43.990]literature that um the data
[00:40:46.560]seems to suggest
[00:40:47.900]that it would be best to plant
[00:40:49.800]kernza with manure as a source
[00:40:51.770]of fertilizer simply because of
[00:40:53.930]its properties such
[00:40:55.020]as being least acidic and the
[00:40:56.300]most likely to promote soil
[00:40:57.640]aggregation and water infiltration
[00:40:59.260]in terms of future research i
[00:41:01.050]would recommend that the
[00:41:02.620]experiment be conducted over
[00:41:04.230]longer
[00:41:04.540]periods of time to really tease
[00:41:05.950]out the differences between
[00:41:07.250]kernza's effect versus
[00:41:08.380]management
[00:41:08.860]and to increase the spatial and
[00:41:10.600]temporal sampling intensity of
[00:41:12.410]the nitrogen mineralization
[00:41:14.140]so generally in conclusion
[00:41:16.380]across both studies we can see
[00:41:18.860]that over in terms of like our
[00:41:20.780]understanding of refining field
[00:41:23.030]management we can see that
[00:41:24.860]cultivar has less of an effect
[00:41:26.730]um interestingly we see that um
[00:41:29.970]row spacing and cropping system
[00:41:32.620]and for so i apologize sorry
[00:41:34.390]let me back up so with row
[00:41:35.880]spacing we see that essentially
[00:41:38.140]that the
[00:41:38.620]nail nail seem to have higher
[00:41:40.900]yields monoculture stands have
[00:41:43.500]higher yields as well and there
[00:41:45.660]seems
[00:41:46.060]to be a flexibility in the
[00:41:47.330]fertilizer timing in this
[00:41:48.790]management in terms of
[00:41:50.460]marketing kernza's
[00:41:51.740]uh potential for sustainable
[00:41:53.450]agriculture our data doesn't
[00:41:55.150]seem to be suggesting anything
[00:41:56.860]conclusive
[00:41:57.740]however when we take other
[00:41:59.160]studies work um it seems to be
[00:42:00.710]more conclusive
[00:42:01.660]and encouraging in terms of
[00:42:04.060]adoption by nebraskan producers
[00:42:07.020]um especially when it comes to
[00:42:08.800]cattle
[00:42:09.180]production um it's the data was
[00:42:10.810]encouraging because droughts
[00:42:12.470]didn't seem to affect it
[00:42:13.820]even when granules were
[00:42:15.700]impacted the forage production
[00:42:17.800]was not and so i just want to
[00:42:21.580]um thank the kernza cap uh for
[00:42:23.980]their funding and support and
[00:42:26.330]their conceptualization of
[00:42:28.620]protocols
[00:42:29.500]i want to thank roberta baschini
[00:42:31.470]for her work in the first two
[00:42:33.130]years of this experiment
[00:42:34.780]and uh data analysis i also
[00:42:36.730]want to thank the lab for uh
[00:42:38.710]just helping to collect samples
[00:42:40.620]and
[00:42:40.780]processing it as well as uh
[00:42:42.200]team support and morale
[00:42:43.490]especially when it got
[00:42:44.710]challenging and hard
[00:42:46.300]and all of your friendship uh
[00:42:47.900]it really means a lot and
[00:42:48.950]thanks to especially any amount
[00:42:51.420]that
[00:42:51.420]the visiting scholars so gustavo
[00:42:53.750]mateos uh gabriel uh gabriel
[00:42:57.100]lovely and edward all of your
[00:42:59.500]guys's
[00:42:59.900]help for uh collecting the
[00:43:01.680]field samples and processing it
[00:43:03.880]and helping to organize the
[00:43:05.750]data
[00:43:06.220]it was very very helpful i
[00:43:07.610]couldn't have done it without
[00:43:09.310]the uh your guys's your guys's
[00:43:11.590]help
[00:43:11.820]and then i'd like to give
[00:43:13.270]special thanks to tommy garusha
[00:43:15.340]our research tech for helping
[00:43:17.430]us to plants and mow influence
[00:43:19.650]i wouldn't have been able to
[00:43:21.260]get any of the work done if he
[00:43:23.460]hadn't helped with his special
[00:43:25.410]with his uh his knowledge and
[00:43:28.060]experience and i also want to
[00:43:29.860]thank tyler ledrick for his
[00:43:31.470]help as a statistics consultant
[00:43:33.500]in order to really help and
[00:43:34.940]work through the complex stats
[00:43:36.700]questions of this experiment
[00:43:38.860]and i also want to thank
[00:43:40.480]friends and family as well for
[00:43:42.540]their
[00:43:43.100]encouragement and support
[00:43:45.540]through all of this process so
[00:43:48.530]here's my references
[00:43:51.100]and i'll just mention here's
[00:43:52.430]just the photograph it's
[00:43:53.520]supposed to be me to sunrise
[00:43:54.780]the camera didn't
[00:43:55.980]take it looks like sunset but
[00:43:57.520]jokingly it's kind of my second
[00:43:59.010]office with how much i've spent
[00:44:00.580]my uh
[00:44:00.940]time there so uh any questions
[00:44:04.150]so i'm going to go ahead and i'm
[00:44:05.640]going to go ahead and i'm going
[00:44:07.140]to
[00:44:07.340]time there. So, any questions?
[00:44:09.520]Martha, thanks for joining.
[00:44:24.460]Madeleine, nicely done. Very
[00:44:27.140]nice work. I have a couple of
[00:44:29.520]questions. Maybe it's
[00:44:31.540]clarification.
[00:44:33.920]You have, on your second study,
[00:44:36.460]you had fertilizer for Kernza
[00:44:38.730]and corn soybean. So, how many
[00:44:41.740]years of
[00:44:42.220]corn did you have and then what
[00:44:44.170]was your basis for determining
[00:44:46.170]to apply 180 kilograms or
[00:44:48.260]pounds
[00:44:48.800]per acre of urea because it was
[00:44:50.900]the same for corn and Kernza?
[00:44:53.170]And the second question is,
[00:44:55.060]your soil water was high in
[00:44:57.140]Kernza, at least in the 2023.
[00:45:00.380]Do you anticipate there was
[00:45:02.620]some
[00:45:03.120]nitrate in that water in the
[00:45:05.290]deeper depths of the Kernza? So,
[00:45:08.520]in terms of your first question,
[00:45:11.660]let me back up. Yeah. So, I'm
[00:45:14.460]just backing up here to the
[00:45:16.160]treatments table. Yeah. So,
[00:45:18.820]here,
[00:45:19.260]so, we chose specifically the
[00:45:22.030]180 kilograms per hectare
[00:45:25.020]partially because that was what
[00:45:28.060]was decided
[00:45:28.680]by the Greater Kernza CAP team
[00:45:30.110]to make things consistent
[00:45:31.380]across sites.
[00:45:33.120]But to provide more context to
[00:45:34.650]that, we also had a much larger
[00:45:36.380]experiment to begin with. So,
[00:45:37.460]we actually had tested several
[00:45:38.970]different rates starting from,
[00:45:40.730]this will be in pounds per acre,
[00:45:43.100]but like, you know, 40 pounds,
[00:45:44.700]80 pounds, et cetera. So, we
[00:45:46.250]incrementally expanded. I had
[00:45:48.180]simply chosen for my thesis to
[00:45:49.590]reduce it down to these three
[00:45:50.940]treatments partially because
[00:45:52.500]of the soil water infiltration
[00:45:54.000]analysis where those were the
[00:45:55.560]three treatments tested. And I
[00:45:57.880]wanted to make sure that
[00:46:00.410]different stuff collected, we
[00:46:02.460]wanted to make sure that it was
[00:46:04.220]able to speak on
[00:46:04.940]the same treatments and come to
[00:46:07.140]each their own conclusions, but
[00:46:09.660]on the same set of data. In
[00:46:12.750]terms
[00:46:13.260]of, sorry, could you remind me
[00:46:15.310]of the first part of that?
[00:46:16.910]Second. Second. On your soil
[00:46:23.440]water data,
[00:46:25.260]you saw that at the deeper
[00:46:26.920]depths, you had more moisture
[00:46:29.450]in 2023, I believe. Right? So,
[00:46:34.240]my question
[00:46:34.780]is, since they were fertilized,
[00:46:36.580]what is your projection about
[00:46:38.140]the nitrate level in the water
[00:46:39.900]at that depth? Just because you
[00:46:42.540]have, you have a fertilizer
[00:46:45.010]management.
[00:46:45.820]So, at least here on these
[00:46:49.120]slides, like, for example, in
[00:46:51.190]2023, we're actually seeing,
[00:46:52.540]if I'm understanding correctly,
[00:46:54.310]we're seeing a
[00:46:55.260]lower soil moisture in the corn-soybean
[00:46:56.770]rotation, as opposed to the
[00:46:58.730]Kernza, which has a lower soil
[00:47:00.060]moisture. And so, in terms of
[00:47:02.670]what we might say about, like,
[00:47:05.290]how much nitrates, like the
[00:47:07.340]concentration of that
[00:47:08.520]underneath each crop, if I'm
[00:47:10.060]following correctly. Yeah. So,
[00:47:12.620]am I seeing,
[00:47:13.260]I can't differentiate the color
[00:47:15.230]in the middle panel on the top,
[00:47:17.180]that bigger one,
[00:47:18.860]is that soybean or is that Kernza?
[00:47:20.890]So, the orange here, just
[00:47:22.600]soybean. Okay. And then the
[00:47:24.700]blue,
[00:47:24.780]no red is Kernza. Okay. So, you
[00:47:27.170]don't have as much moisture in
[00:47:28.720]the Kernza as you do in the
[00:47:30.780]soybean?
[00:47:31.580]Yes. And so, we can say that at
[00:47:33.910]least that between the crops,
[00:47:36.340]that because there's more
[00:47:37.340]moisture in
[00:47:37.820]the corn-soybean rotation, that
[00:47:39.500]we could have theoretically
[00:47:40.930]higher nitrate concentrations,
[00:47:42.620]at least leaching through the
[00:47:44.250]profile. We have one question
[00:47:47.680]online, I see, from
[00:47:48.860]Amit. Thanks for joining, Amit.
[00:47:49.410]Amit asks, your research site
[00:47:49.820]was under dry land conditions,
[00:47:50.290]and you were looking for a
[00:47:50.780]place to grow your crops. Did
[00:47:50.780]you have any research on how to
[00:47:50.780]grow your crops in the dry land
[00:47:50.780]conditions?
[00:47:50.780]Thanks for joining, Amit. Amit
[00:47:52.160]asks, your research site was
[00:47:53.740]under dry land conditions,
[00:47:54.940]or irrigation was applied? So,
[00:47:56.880]this was dry land. So, no pivot,
[00:47:59.420]no irrigation was applied at
[00:48:00.740]all. The only, the only water
[00:48:02.200]that we got was simply for
[00:48:03.340]rainfall.
[00:48:04.060]Okay. Thank you. Can you hear
[00:48:07.140]me okay?
[00:48:08.140]Before you draw any conclusions
[00:48:10.140]from your soil application
[00:48:11.290]information,
[00:48:11.900]you ought to plot it on a long
[00:48:14.090]basis instead of a regular
[00:48:15.880]basis, because that's what it
[00:48:17.590]is in nature. Just a suggestion.
[00:48:19.580]Okay. I think, good point. I
[00:48:24.860]can't remember which. I think I
[00:48:26.380]might have actually
[00:48:27.260]log-transformed that, but I
[00:48:28.570]need to take a look back at my
[00:48:29.750]notes.
[00:48:30.220]Yeah, thanks, Jim. Sorry, Amit,
[00:48:32.680]did you want to add something
[00:48:34.460]online? Go ahead, Amit.
[00:48:35.740]Yeah. Can you hear me okay?
[00:48:37.260]Yeah.
[00:48:38.540]So, you presented one slide
[00:48:41.980]about wheat biomass affected by
[00:48:46.300]different environment
[00:48:49.580]in three years. Do you remember
[00:48:53.420]what were your common wheat
[00:48:56.090]species at the research site?
[00:48:57.660]Weed species. Do you remember
[00:48:59.550]any?
[00:48:59.980]So, the most common weed
[00:49:02.080]species that I had seen, it
[00:49:04.360]varied a little bit throughout
[00:49:05.740]the field,
[00:49:06.140]but the most common included,
[00:49:08.360]like, your mustards. So, your
[00:49:10.220]common mustard,
[00:49:11.100]Flixweed or tansy mustard.
[00:49:12.360]There was one plant that had a
[00:49:13.580]bit of thistle in it, but most,
[00:49:14.930]to, like,
[00:49:15.580]that had a bit of thistle in it,
[00:49:15.580]but most, to, like, that had a
[00:49:15.580]bit of thistle in it, but most,
[00:49:15.580]to, like,
[00:49:15.640]that had a bit of thistle in it,
[00:49:16.110]but most, to, like,
[00:49:16.460]that had a bit of thistle in it,
[00:49:17.580]but most, to, like,
[00:49:17.660]that had a bit of thistle in it,
[00:49:17.660]but most, to, like,
[00:49:17.660]that had a bit of thistle in it,
[00:49:17.660]but most, to, like,
[00:49:17.740]that had a bit of thistle in it,
[00:49:19.350]but most, to, like,
[00:49:20.620]I think, too, there might have
[00:49:21.620]been some henbit as well,
[00:49:24.060]especially in the corn and
[00:49:25.420]soybean plots,
[00:49:26.140]but that was more so in for
[00:49:27.330]trial. Okay, thank you. Yeah,
[00:49:30.650]great presentation.
[00:49:31.180]Yeah, I would add, any weed
[00:49:32.460]scientists who are interested
[00:49:33.740]in Kernza, we've applied
[00:49:35.180]sides at this trial in four
[00:49:37.520]years because the weed control
[00:49:40.300]has been
[00:49:41.100]so good from the crops, but we've
[00:49:43.260]also, the drought probably
[00:49:45.200]helped with keeping weeds low,
[00:49:46.940]so.
[00:49:47.740]Anyway, thanks for that
[00:49:48.940]question, Amit.
[00:49:49.500]Okay, great. Thank you.
[00:49:51.020]Thank you for the presentation.
[00:49:53.350]I was curious about the cropping
[00:49:54.860]system part.
[00:49:55.580]So, you have Kernza and you
[00:49:57.670]have alfalfa. Could you
[00:49:59.580]describe a bit, how would it
[00:50:01.500]look like for
[00:50:02.220]a farmer? Like, do you cut alfalfa
[00:50:04.230]first, and then the Kernza, do
[00:50:05.860]you cut it together?
[00:50:07.020]What would be the timings for
[00:50:09.700]forage production if you do it?
[00:50:11.180]That's a good question. I don't
[00:50:13.700]think I've considered that
[00:50:15.240]before,
[00:50:15.660]but I think...
[00:50:17.740]...at least with what we've
[00:50:20.860]done in our experiments, is
[00:50:22.540]simply to just take the
[00:50:24.060]combine to the the Kernza just
[00:50:26.560]in the summer, and just kind of
[00:50:29.160]ignoring the alfalfa.
[00:50:31.130]Interestingly
[00:50:31.660]enough, though, I've noticed
[00:50:33.360]that over each harvest year, or
[00:50:35.050]throughout the experiments,
[00:50:36.800]that
[00:50:37.180]in each summer when it comes to
[00:50:38.820]grain harvest, the alfalfa
[00:50:40.400]biomass has been
[00:50:41.420]less and less present. It seems
[00:50:43.290]to be very dried out and dead
[00:50:44.910]by that point, and so
[00:50:47.260]when you're harvesting the Kernza,
[00:50:48.900]there doesn't seem to be much
[00:50:50.160]alfalfa biomass to harvest
[00:50:51.900]at that time. Maybe in the
[00:50:53.080]first year, yes, but when they
[00:50:54.400]do, there wasn't as much. And
[00:50:55.910]then,
[00:50:56.140]it wasn't until about fall that
[00:50:57.730]the alfalfa started to regrow
[00:50:59.230]again, and then you could
[00:51:00.700]actually harvest that meaningfully.
[00:51:02.540]Well, I notice online is one of
[00:51:08.140]the handful
[00:51:09.100]of Kernza farmers in Nebraska,
[00:51:10.870]so if Trent wants to chime in
[00:51:12.380]about that, feel free to unmute
[00:51:14.220]or add
[00:51:14.780]in the chat.
[00:51:15.400]Thank you.
[00:51:15.900]Thank you.
[00:51:16.400]Any other questions in the room?
[00:51:18.500]Nice job, Madeline. My question
[00:51:25.620]is, I really liked your last
[00:51:27.110]summary slide
[00:51:27.740]of the three different
[00:51:29.420]considerations. So, based on
[00:51:32.120]what you found and some of the
[00:51:33.580]inconclusive data about the
[00:51:35.300]environmental ecosystem
[00:51:36.890]services and some of your
[00:51:38.400]yields,
[00:51:39.020]if you were to be a salesperson
[00:51:41.330]for Kernza at the Lands
[00:51:43.190]Institute, for example, what
[00:51:45.520]would you, how
[00:51:46.140]would you describe the value
[00:51:47.910]proposition of Kernza to
[00:51:49.520]farmers in Nebraska who are
[00:51:51.360]considering
[00:51:51.960]switching from corn or soybean
[00:51:53.600]to include some Kernza on their
[00:51:55.230]farm? And if you think that
[00:51:57.160]that's
[00:51:57.480]maybe limited in any way, what
[00:51:59.880]do you see as the best research
[00:52:01.960]opportunities moving forward to
[00:52:04.160]improve that value proposition?
[00:52:05.680]So, I think that, yeah, it's
[00:52:07.890]kind of like a multi-faceted
[00:52:09.920]question. So, in terms of it
[00:52:13.400]being
[00:52:13.880]very valuable, I think it's
[00:52:13.880]kind of like a multi-faceted
[00:52:13.880]question. So, in terms of it
[00:52:13.880]being
[00:52:13.920]very valuable, I think it's
[00:52:13.940]kind of like a multi-faceted
[00:52:13.950]question. So, in terms of it
[00:52:14.040]being
[00:52:14.080]very valuable on, like, you
[00:52:16.080]know, first glance of producers
[00:52:18.170]taking a look at it, I'd say,
[00:52:19.820]you know,
[00:52:20.140]we first take a look at the forage
[00:52:22.020]biomass aspect of it. There was
[00:52:23.970]a study done by Hunter et al.
[00:52:25.580]2020. It was like a two-part A
[00:52:27.410]and B. One of the first studies
[00:52:28.670]looking at grain, the second
[00:52:30.080]study
[00:52:30.340]was looking at forage biomass,
[00:52:32.390]simply of just Kernza. And he
[00:52:34.500]also did some, like, economic
[00:52:36.500]calculations as well and found
[00:52:38.610]it to be economically viable.
[00:52:40.800]So, at least on a pure, you
[00:52:42.820]know,
[00:52:43.820]money-profits standpoint, that
[00:52:45.850]seems to be, that would be a
[00:52:47.460]positive. There was a seminar
[00:52:51.360]that I
[00:52:52.080]had attended and there was a
[00:52:53.840]researcher, he was doing
[00:52:55.520]research on comparing forage
[00:52:57.530]quality, at
[00:52:58.440]least, between Kernza and other
[00:53:00.520]commonly used supplements. And
[00:53:02.690]he found that Kernza was pretty
[00:53:04.700]much equivalent to those, that
[00:53:06.000]you can use it as a supplement
[00:53:07.000]for your cattle and feed. So,
[00:53:08.620]in terms of feeding cattle,
[00:53:09.870]economics, it seems profitable.
[00:53:11.570]In terms of
[00:53:13.560]how it might affect your rangelands,
[00:53:16.760]I haven't, not as many
[00:53:22.870]immediate studies immediately
[00:53:24.480]would
[00:53:24.700]come to mind. I would say that,
[00:53:28.690]sorry, what was the second half?
[00:53:33.060]Search opportunity.
[00:53:34.240]Search opportunity, yeah. So,
[00:53:35.890]the research opportunities, I
[00:53:37.370]think, in order to improve Kernza's
[00:53:40.110]use, adoption,
[00:53:43.300]I think, there's some research
[00:53:45.250]coming out where they're
[00:53:46.710]talking about inner cultivation
[00:53:49.540]in order to
[00:53:50.340]basically reverse the effects
[00:53:52.870]of the perennial encroachments
[00:53:55.490]and standage to make it act as
[00:53:57.540]if
[00:53:57.620]it's constantly within the
[00:53:59.010]first year. And so, they've
[00:54:00.430]found some positive results
[00:54:01.940]with that,
[00:54:02.340]especially with grain yields.
[00:54:03.540]And yeah, I think I would need
[00:54:07.940]to think a little bit more
[00:54:08.820]about
[00:54:09.460]their studies in terms of
[00:54:10.670]future research, but I think
[00:54:12.100]those are a few.
[00:54:13.040]Any other questions online?
[00:54:18.240]All right. Well, thank you all
[00:54:21.930]online. We see friends, family,
[00:54:24.560]and CAP collaborators. So,
[00:54:27.040]thank you for joining us, and
[00:54:28.200]in the room, please have some
[00:54:29.340]more treats, and have a great
[00:54:32.560]rest of
[00:54:32.960]your day and weekend. Thanks
[00:54:34.350]again. Congrats, Madeline.
[00:54:35.520]Thank you.

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Madeline Johnston

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