Global climate change and the environment has become a part of many Oklahoma Agricultural Experiment Station programs. The air we breathe, the water we drink, and the soil we depend upon for food are affected by an increasing global population and industry. In addition to the basic agricultural problems that must continue to be addressed, the experiment station must deal with even broader issues to meet society's needs.
For instance, our agricultural economists have a program underway to help rural areas meet the changing needs for solid waste managementÑand that includes handling solid waste being transported from urban to rural areas. By Oct. 1, 1993, new legislation will reduce the total number of landfill areas available in Oklahoma, and their operation will become much more expensive. Experiment station scientists in agronomy and agricultural engineering are working with the economists to protect surface and underground water supplies, hold down management costs and enhance aesthetics after this new legislation is enacted.
OSU forestry researchers have a large project in eastern Oklahoma gauging global climate change. Large towers have been erected in forested areas to help researchers monitor air and water changes at treetop levels. They also are able to track tree growth near the tops, where new wood is being added.
Near Antlers, the foresters are covering four-year old pine trees with plastic canopies and infusing carbon dioxide underneath. The idea is to create an environment that will match a point somewhere in the future, at which scientists feel carbon dioxide levels will be artificially increased by mankind. Long-term goals of this study are to measure tree performance, good or bad. This data may enable the forestry industry to select and manage tree species that show the capability to be productive under future conditions.
The poultry industry covers large areas of eastern Oklahoma and Arkansas, and a number of dairy operations also exist there. Manure produced by these confinement operations can be both a blessing and a problem to people. OSU agricultural engineers, agronomists, and animal scientists are working to learn just how much of this material can be applied to pastures without causing excessive runoff of nitrates and phosphates from the manure.
The runoff includes plant nutrients, which may cause algae growth downstream, reducing aesthetics and increasing treatment costs prior to use of the water. Similar studies are being conducted to measure the effectiveness of poultry litter on forested lands.
Urban water runoff problems are not escaping the eye of agricultural researchers. OSU entomologists, agricultural engineers, agronomists, and zoologists are working together to investigate problems with non-point sources of insecticides used in urban areas.
Insecticides such as diazinon are used on home lawns and shrubs for control of various insects. The OSU scientists are studying if and how such chemicals get into the storm sewer systems, and, if so, in what concentrations. The ultimate goal is educational, and many homeowners have already been surveyed to study their use patterns and how they dispose of excess chemicals.
As sheer numbers of people put increasing stress on mankind, they also have an effect on the plant world. OSU biochemists are in the third year of an EPSCoR grant looking at plant biotic stress. This work entails looking at the plant's reaction to pests, pesticides and herbicides. The ultimate goal is to design better management strategies to reduce such stress on plants, as well as to develop plants that can perform under such effects.
OSU agricultural economists are working with Soil Conservation Service personnel to head off future erosion problems on land that will be coming off of Crop Resource Protection as per specifications of the 1990 Farm Bill.
Levels of straw and other crop residues required to control erosion to the specifications must be established and the land classified by 1995, when the next farm bill will be enacted. Much of this type of land is not suited for continual farming and must be protected from erosion.
Integrated Pest Management efforts have grown in popularity as successful programs demonstrate their value. OSU entomologists are working with many other disciplines to apply IPM principles to stored grain, control of insects in fields, and now, in greenhouses.
IPM in the greenhouse greatly reduces the amount of expense and labor required in nursery production and is becoming popular with the industry. The benefit to the environment is obvious: less chemicals required to accomplish economical control of pests.
When it comes to reducing chemical application, a smart sprayer under study by OSU agricultural engineers may be a winner. This is a spray device equipped with instrumentation that can differentiate between bare ground and plantsÑand spray only the plants!
Preliminary work shows it can even differentiate between cheat and wheat, which is really smart for a machine, because cheat is a problem weed cousin to wheat and the two look much alike in early growth stages. Early tests show that this machine can reduce pesticide use by a factor of 10.
While many research projects within the Division of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources deal directly with the environment, many others deal directly with a particular problem, but strive to include environmental concerns as part of the study.
o coordinate all such efforts, the Division of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources has established the Center for Agriculture and the Environment at OSU. While not brick and mortar, the Center is both concept and reality. It makes use of the buildings, people and expertise already established within the Division, on campus and across the state.
The mission statement for the Center is as follows: The Center for Agriculture and the Environment will promote and facilitate interdisciplinary teaching, research and extension pertaining to the interrelationships of agriculture with the environment, and, in so doing, develop opportunities for the advancement of agriculture consistent with protection and enhancement of the environment.
The Center will receive direction from a technical advisory committee and a users advisory group. The technical advisory committee is made up of Center professionals as well as non-division OSU faculty members. The users advisory group will consist of the technical advisory committee and representatives of division publics, including urban consumers.
A main goal of the Center will be to provide information to policy makers and decision makers to help them better appreciate what is needed for maintaining and improving the environment, especially where it relates to agriculture.
An example of an environmentally-oriented project is peanut research being conducted jointly by the departments of plant pathology, entomology and agronomy, an effort seeking to gain control of diseases such as sclerotinia blight and leaf spot. But the objective is to achieve control with reduced use of pesticides and fungicides.
To accomplish these goals, the researchers are studying plant development at the molecular level, and doing diagnostic work to identify the presence of pathogens.
Outside the laboratory, they study crop rotations, varietal strengths, and spray application techniques. Learning the most favorable conditions for disease onset is helping the scientists learn ways to predictÑand thus head offÑcostly problems.
Similar principles are being applied to problems in watermelon production in southern Oklahoma. Horticulture and plant pathology researchers at the Wes Watkins Agricultural Research and Extension Center at Lane, Oklahoma, are studying various ways to prevent diseases such as anthracnose from attacking watermelon vines. Anthracnose is spread from plant to plant by contact, or by rainwater splashing from one plant to the next.
One study underway is having some success for preventing this problem by using other plants as physical barriers. Watermelon vines are planted in raised beds, with soybeans along each side of the bed. At each end, a planting of sorghum prevents vines from extending to the next bed. One bed can be rife with anthracnose, while an adjoining planting stays healthyÑwith no chemicals used.
OSU entomologists are continuing efforts to utilize an insect "perfume" to attract pecan weevil moths. Made from synthesized pheromonesÑa hormone emitted by female mothsÑthe compounds lure male moths into traps. Researchers use moth numbers to tell when spraying pesticides will be most effective. The result is less chemical in the environment, lower costs to producers, and more effective weevil control.
Using CATSCAN equipment, OSU soil scientists and agricultural engineers have developed a method to measure soil pores, or openings within soil profiles. The goal of this work is to monitor moisture flow and predict the movement of pollutants through soils.
In short, the pressure of human population is changing the environment in which we live. More and more products must come from the soil and forages grown on the earth's surface, while the areas to meet such needs continues to decrease. Every scientist today knows that the cry for increased agricultural productivity must be matched by consideration of its effects upon the soil, water, and air that we all depend upon.