Purdue Agriculture Report

Welcome to Purdue Agriculture Report, an e-newsletter for business and community leaders on research, academics and Extension across Indiana and around the globe.

As fuel prices concern those who fly or drive during this summer's travel season, Purdue University is finding ways to transform renewable resources into fuels through our Laboratory of Renewable Resources Engineering (LORRE).

Led by Purdue Agriculture, LORRE's multidisciplinary efforts seek efficient and economically viable biobased energy alternatives. LORRE researchers work to provide core capabilities and technologies for a biobased chemical industry anchored in the rural communities of Indiana.

Our plan is to develop valuable technologies to enhance the economics, environmental qualities and competitive products of dry mills and soy biodiesel plants, which will support the growing biobased economy in Indiana and the Midwest. We will focus on research that increases both the number and value of products from these facilities.

Purdue booklet speaks volumes about soybean rust

A new booklet developed by Purdue University Extension does for soybean growers what CliffsNotes does for literature students.

"Preparing for Asian Soybean Rust" covers the foliar disease from initial infection to yield loss prevention - all in a handy, 15-page volume.

The booklet is available through county offices of Purdue Extension and Purdue's Media Distribution Center. Farmers also can order and download the publication online.

"Preparing for Asian Soybean Rust" is loaded with color photographs and instructions for submitting leaf samples to Purdue's Plant and Pest Diagnostic Laboratory for rust analysis, said Shawn Conley, Purdue Extension soybean specialist and one of the publication's authors.

"What we were trying to develop was a small, all-inclusive publication that growers can take to the field and determine whether their crop might have soybean rust," Conley said. "We've also included the steps to follow if growers suspect they have Asian soybean rust in their fields." read more

Sentinel plots stand guard over nation's soybean crops

America 's first line of defense against a pathological killer carries no weapons, handcuffs or pepper spray. It relies solely on dark green leaves.

The pathological threat is Asian soybean rust, a foliar disease that has been known to destroy as much as 80 percent of a soybean field's yield potential. The agricultural crime-fighters are hundreds of tiny soybean fields known as sentinel plots.

Sentinels have been planted throughout Indiana and in other farm states, said Greg Shaner, Purdue University Extension plant pathologist. The plots serve as detection sensors for rust infection so that farmers can be alerted in time to protect their crops with fungicide, he said.

"Sentinel plots are intended to be an early warning system," said Shaner, who is supervising the Indiana sentinel plot program. "They are small plots - roughly 50-by-50 feet - that are planted throughout the country in soybean-producing states. We try to get these in the ground a little bit ahead of the normal crop.

"The plots are monitored closely on a weekly basis for the first appearance of rust. Once we know that rust is within a couple hundred miles of where we have sentinel plots, we'll switch to a twice-weekly monitoring." read more

Student entrepreneur among business-minded class

Mark Shortz had a business, but no business plan. The Purdue University senior remedied that by doing his coursework.

On the first day of his horticulture business class last fall, he and the other students filled out a survey on how much they knew about managing a business.

Jennifer Dennis, assistant professor in horticulture and agricultural economics, learned that many of the students had firsthand business experience. "I found out that several of the students currently had a business," Dennis said. "Some students grew and sold flowers for wholesale, started farm markets or worked in family-owned greenhouses."

As part of the course, students develop a business plan and complete an executive summary for an Indiana business. Shortz, a senior in landscape horticulture and design from Zionsville, Ind., applied course concepts, such as financial balance sheets, target marketing and advertising, to his landscape business in Zionsville that started as a summer job and grew to a full-scale landscape enterprise. read more

Purdue expert's tips get to the root of taking plant cuttings

The best way to start a garden may be to ask a friend for a piece of theirs.

Mary Welch-Keesey a Purdue University Cooperative Extension Service horticulture specialist and co-author of Purdue's award-winning "Plant Propagation" CD, said taking cuttings is one of the fastest, most cost-effective ways to start new plants. This plant propagation technique involves cutting off a portion of an established plant and encouraging it to develop new roots or stems.

"Cuttings are a great way to propagate plants," Welch-Keesey said. "The new plant will retain the leaf and flower color of the parent plant, and plants grown from cuttings will be larger and flower sooner than the same plant grown from seed." read more

African-American and Caucasian adolescent girls handle sodium and calcium differently, which may help explain why the races have different rates of hypertension and osteoporosis, according to research at Purdue University.

In a study published in the April edition of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, nutrition researchers discovered Caucasian girls lose more calcium in their urine than African-American girls, but both races lose calcium at an accelerated rate when they consume a high-salt diet.

"While we found a racial difference in calcium retention in adolescents, we also confirmed that blacks retain more sodium on a high-salt diet than whites," said Connie Weaver, distinguished professor and head of Purdue's Department of Foods and Nutrition. "This proves that salt is processed differently in the races, but too much salt in the diet reduces bone density in both races." read more

The 2005 Indiana Farm Management Tour will take place June 28-29 and will include visits to southern Indiana farms in Clark and Scott counties.

In addition to farm management education, this year's tour participants will learn about each stop's particular human resource and entrepreneurship aspects.

"These farmers have aligned themselves with current issues in agriculture, one being local economic development," said tour coordinator Alan Miller. "In addition, these farms have also found ways to keep their families involved in farming." read more

A Purdue University field day celebrating its silver anniversary will focus attention on plant species that aren't worth a nickel.

The 25th annual Purdue Forage Day will devote two educational sessions to weed-related issues in hay production. Other topics will address crop evaluation and moisture testing equipment.

The field day takes place from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. EST June 23 at K&K Farms, located just north of Logansport, Ind., near U.S. 35. Admission is free, with lunch available at a nominal charge. read more