AGRICULTURE, SOIL, AND NATURAL RESOURCES

High School

Effects of Wood Ash on Forest Growth and Agriculture
Juan-Lucas Gonzalez-Cabanellas, American Heritage School at Boca-Delray

Wood ash has properties like high mineral and carbon content. These properties can help supply plants with minerals and can correct acidity. After reviewing studies, wood ash works best with nitrogen for general growth, and by itself, has other fertilizing properties.

An Innovative Approach to the Planet’s Degrading Environments: Engineering a Novel Strain of Rhizobacteria to Enhance Plant Productivity under Worsening Abiotic Stress Conditions
Selin Kocalar, Carlmont High School

The study probes the symbiotic relationship between plants and their rhizospheres using analytical methods, optimizes the relationship through rhizobial genetic engineering approaches, and applies the edited strain to a model organism, demonstrating its marked efficacy in alleviating the effects of multiple forms of environmental stress.

Putting Pectin in its Place: The Effect of Extracted Pectin Placement on a Shallow-rooted Seed in a Sand Growth Medium in Relation to Soil Moisture Retention and Plant Growth
Rachel Mammen, Plano West Senior High School

The purpose of this project is to analyze the effect of Extracted Pectin placement on Sand growth mediums containing a shallow-rooted seed to obtain the maximum soil moisture retention for better plant growth. In areas of drought, if moisture is maintained in the soil, crops will grow better. This experiment proved that the placement of Extracted Pectin affects soil moisture retention and plant growth for a shallow-rooted seed in a Sand growth medium. Including Extracted Pectin at Root Level provided the greatest increase in soil moisture retention and plant growth. Also, as an added environmental benefit, Extracted Pectin is considered a waste product and would otherwise be discarded.

Microbially Induced Calcite Precipitation Phenotype of Bacillus Subtilis 168 on the Reduction of Underground CO2 Efflux Via Soil-Consolidation
Noah Mathai, Plano West Senior High

My presentation is a Wixsite web address that contains the following elements: Abstract, Slidedeck, and an Oral Video Presentation.

In Vitro Evaluation of Herbal Bionematicide and its Effect on Management of Root-Knot Nematodes in Solanum lycopersicum
Shloke Patel, Hillsborough High School

This research takes an innovative approach to find an effective solution to control plant-parasitic root-knot nematodes, which are yield-limiting and a global threat for many crops. Nematodes thrive in sandy soil and a warm climate, thereby reducing Florida crop production, especially tomatoes. Currently, there are no viable effective biological, eco-friendly nematicides to control the nematodes. Marigold plants contain compound alpha-terthienyl which exhibits nematicidal properties. In vitro study was performed to find the efficacy of flower, root, and stem extracts from marigold plants in comparison with industry-standard, Vydate in nematode management. In vivo study was conducted to study determine the efficacy of these extracts and industry-standard against root-galling in Solanum lycopersicum.

Wheat Head Object Detection
Nathan Zhao, Charter School of Wilmington

Currently, few accurate and field-applicable machine learning models exist for detecting wheat heads within an image. This research aims to remedy this by creating a robust model to detect wheat heads by adapting the YOLOv5x object detection model and training the Global Wheat Head Detection dataset.

Undergraduate

Soil Stabilization by Streptomyces Bacteria
Olivia Biddle, Xavier University

Streptomyces bacteria are similar to fungi in structure, and fungi aid in the formation of soil aggregates, but no one has yet explored the potential of Streptomyces to stabilize soil. To determine the effect of Streptomyces on the formation of water stable soil aggregates, Streptomyces bacteria were first isolated from field collected soil, and one isolated colony was used to make a liquid culture. The culture was then distributed, in four different concentrations, to Petri dishes containing fine soil (<212 μm), and placed in the incubator (30 °C) for a month. During that month, I added water to plates several times to maintain their initial weight. I then quantified total bacteria and Streptomyces in the soil by doing viable plate counts onto LB and Actinomycete Isolation Agar, respectively. The distribution of soil aggregates in each dish was measured using a wet sieving technique, and the percentage of total water stable aggregates. Aggregates with 1-2 mm diameter were significantly more stable than control treatments in treatments receiving full and half doses of Streptomyces. There was not a linear relationship between Streptomyces number and stability of 1-2 mm aggregates. Streptomyces may be important for stabilizing intermediate sized aggregates in natural environments.

Biodesalination of High Salinity Water: A Key to Sustainable Farming in Arid Regions from Earth to Mars
Pooja Kasiviswanathan, Iowa State University

Permanent drought fueled by adverse effects of climate change and global warming is a critical problem worldwide. Emerging water management technologies have limited applications as they consume high energy. Using natural resources, a potential strategy to convert high salinity water to near freshwater was identified to combat global drought and sustain farming in arid regions. This strategy will also find potential application in desalination of briny water available on Mars to raise crops for NASA’s Mars Mission.

Graduate

Brown-spot Needle Blight is Emerging in Alabama: A Serious Threat to Loblolly Pine Plantations
Debit Datta, Auburn University

I’m going to share a part of my master’s thesis work entitled “Brown-spot needle blight is emerging in Alabama: A serious threat to loblolly pine plantations?” Pine plantation in the southern USA covers nearly 13 million hectares. More than 80% of the pine plantations are loblolly pine and nearly 100% of the loblolly pine plantations are established from genetically improved seedlings. However, over the past 3 years, an emerging threat has been encountered is loblolly pine needle defoliation and growers have been noted that repeated defoliation causing reduced tree growth and mortality of the trees. Moreover, the expression of symptoms of the disease was somewhat confused with pine needle rust and invasive Phytophthora needle blight due to the similarity of disease nature and devastation. From that standpoint/hypothesis, the study was conducted to identify and characterize the fungal pathogens associated with LPND in the southeastern USA.

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