As farmers spend billions of dollars spreading nitrogen on their fields this spring, researchers at the University of Missouri are working toward less reliance on the fertilizer. Less dependence on nitrogen could start with a simple type of grass, Setaria viridis, and its relationship with bacteria. The plant promises to lay groundwork for scientists exploring the relationship between crops and…
Fertilizer ⋅ Page 1
Putting Cows to Work
Study examines winter feeding strategies to improve pastures
John Lory is in the business of moving and managing nutrients. Lory, an extension associate professor in the Division of Plant Sciences at MU, is exploring three winter feeding strategies to evaluate the best way to use manure from cattle to fertilize the pasture for the following season. Lory said winter feeding practices vary, but traditionally, producers feed hay in…
A promising new way to grow rice
A research program succeeds in spite of a passing hurricane
Despite being battered by the remnants of Hurricane Ike, an experiment to grow rice under center-pivot sprinkler irrigation yielded as much or more of the grain as conventional methods. This new technique may allow farmers to produce the crop in areas where it cannot be grown now, helping produce more food for a hungry world.
Growing rice where it has never been grown before
A Missouri research program may help better feed an increasingly hungry world
In an unexpected place, the Bootheel of Missouri, a research program that could increase rice production began just as the world was reading the shortage news. Using a system of watering familiar to Midwestern farmers, center-pivot irrigation, the study is looking to grow rice on land where it cannot now be planted. If successful, the project could significantly increase rice production.