Is growing a cover crop on Alabama farms a solution or a problem for growers in the state who are trying to prevent soil and water erosion losses? A grant funded through the Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station research program for the current fiscal year will attempt to answer that questions and others.
“Phosphorus transport from agricultural lands to freshwater bodies is a major threat to the water quality of U.S. water systems,” said Rishi Prasad, associate professor and Alabama Extension specialist for the College of Agriculture’s departments of Animal Sciences and Crop, Soil & Environmental Sciences. “Soils in Alabama are highly weathered, carbon-depleted, and vulnerable to wind and water erosion losses.”
As a result, agricultural conservation practices such as reduced or no-till systems and cover crops are widely promoted by natural resources conservation services and adopted by farmers to improve soil health.
Cover crops planted in the fall can help trap sediments and effectively reduce particulate phosphorus losses.
“However, the decomposition of cover crop tissue following its termination in no-till soils enhances the release of bioavailable phosphorus, also known as dissolved reactive phosphorus in the soil, which is vulnerable to loss during rain events,” Prasad said.
Assisting with the research project is Debolina Chakraborty, research assistant professor for the Department of Biosystems Engineering.
“In this research, we are quantifying how the decomposition of cover crop species contributes to environmental phosphorus loss in no-till soils of Alabama,” Prasad said. “We are also investigating the effectiveness of biochar in reducing phosphorus losses during runoff events. Biochar is a recalcitrant carbon material that has gained a lot of attention in recent years as a ‘silver bullet’ to help solve all environmental problems.”
Through this experiment, Chakraborty and Prasad also are trying to understand if a biochar application is worth the investment, especially when profit margins are so thin for Alabama farmers.
“The information generated from this research will be helpful to farmers and state agencies that pay for the adoption of conservation practices,” Prasad said.
The grant is one of 29 competitive grants awarded across three principal Experiment Station programs: AgR-SEED, Production Agricultural Research (PAR) and equipment grants for fiscal year 2024.
PAR projects typically address a specific problem and/or challenge being experienced currently by Alabama agricultural producers.
The acronym AgR-SEED stands for Agricultural Research Enhancement, Exploration and Development. This funding addresses some of the most immediate and long-term needs of agriculture, at both the state and national levels.
They are administered through the Experiment Station with USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture Hatch funding and matching state appropriations. Many of the two-year, $50,000 grants support combine research and Alabama Extension projects to address current farming problems in a timely manner through applied research.
The following projects were funded for the current cycle. The name of the principal investigator and their department is followed by the name of the proposal and the grant amount.
AgR-SEED Program
- Mehrnaz Abbasi, Department of Nutritional Sciences: Effects of vitamins A & D on inducing browning of white adipose tissue: Dose-response & molecular mechanisms for obesity therapy, $50,000.
- Sushil Adhikari, Department of Biosystems Engineering: Advancing hot syngas cleanup: Development of sulfur and tar removal catalysts in dual-bed single reactor near biomass gasification conditions, $49,919.
- Dianna Bourassa, Department of Poultry Science: Understanding Campylobacter transmission mechanism in poultry, $50,000.
- Leonardo De La Fuente, Department of Entomology & Plant Pathology: Xylella fastidiosa and assessment for its presence on host plants in Alabama, $49,708.
- Rex Dunham, School of Fisheries, Aquaculture & Aquatic Sciences: Pond to plate genetics: Multiple gene replacement to develop environment friendly catfish with enhanced production and Omega-3 fatty acids, $50,000.
- Paul Dyce, Department of Animal Sciences: Improving in-vitro livestock embryo production through enhancing oocyte maturation, $49,960.
- Taryn Garlock, School of Fisheries, Aquaculture & Aquatic Sciences: An evaluation of channel and hybrid catfish for fish-out operations in Alabama, $49,962.
- Michelle Gibbs, Department of Biological Sciences: Investigating soil microbiome adaptation to micronutrient-enriched vs. standard fertilizers, $50,000.
- Charlene Hanlon, Department of Poultry Science: Lipidomic profiling to address fertility and hatchability challenges in broiler breeders, $49,979.
- Valentina Hartarska, Department of Agricultural Economics & Rural Sociology: Women farmers in sustainable agriculture in Alabama and the Southeast. $50,000.
- Geoffrey Hill, Department of Biological Sciences: The effects of cohabitation by songbirds and chickens on the microbiome of chickens, $49,989.
- Hossein Jahromi, Department of Biosystems Engineering: Biodegradable mulches from biochar-lignin-chitosan composites for improved soil health and greenhouse gas emission reduction in sustainable agriculture, $50,000.
- Sanjiv Kumar, College of Forestry, Wildlife & Environment: An experimental multi-year soil moisture drought prediction system for Alabama, $49,981.
- Christopher Lepczyk, College of Forestry, Wildlife & Environment: Evaluating biodiversity and management of yards across a socioecological gradient, $50,000.
- Nannan Liu, Department of Poultry Science: Unraveling neuronal and molecular mechanisms of DEET repellency in Aedes aegypti, $49,864.
- Nobuaki Mizumoto, Department of Entomology & Plant Pathology: Evaluating tunneling behavior of subterranean pest termites compared with closed and distant relatives; developing a trap to capture drywood termites to prevent initial infestation, $50,000.
- Denis Nadolnyak, Department of Agricultural Economics & Rural Sociology: Land tenure, farmland availability constraints, and the economic performance of beginning farmers and ranchers in Alabama and the Southeast, $50,000.
- Clint Penick, Department of Entomology & Plant Pathology: How does antimicrobial investment affect entomopathogenic control of invasive ants? $50,000.
- Rishi Prasad (PI), Debolina Chakraborty (Co-PI) Department of Crop, Soil & Environmental Sciences; Department of Biosystems Engineering: Is cover crop a solution or a problem for Alabama water quality, and are there any remediation strategies? $50,000.
- Marko Rudar, Department of Animal Sciences: Contribution of limited glycine availability to poor growth performance in starter pigs fed low protein diets, $49,863.
- Ajay Sharma, College of Forestry, Wildlife & Environment: Southern pine resilience: Adapting to increased salinity in changing coastal environments, $49,813.
- Shabarinath Srikumar, Department of Poultry Science: Pathogen and poultry: demystifying the role of transcriptional factors (TFs) in this unholy nexus, $49,904.
- Rodney Tollerson II, Department of Biological Sciences: Structural and functional response of microbial communities to extended fertilizer use, $50,000.
- Marlee Trandel-Hayse, Department of Horticulture: Comparing quality, flavor and volatile components of rabbiteye and Southern Highbush blueberry cultivars, $50,000.
- Zuto Yang, College of Forestry. Wildlife & Environment: Assessing carbon flux in a blueberry field via continuous monitoring with Eddy Covariance Technology, $49,857.
PAR – Production Agriculture Research
Laura Huber , Department of Pathobiology/College of Veterinary Medicine, Farm environment impact of antibiotic use in animals, $49,942.
Equipment Grant Program
Leanne Dillard, Department of Animal Sciences: Purchase of a near-infrared reflectance (NIR) spectroscopy for forage and grain quality analyses, $50,000.
Mark Liles, Department of Biological Sciences: Plant culture chamber to assess synergy between algae and plant growth promoting bacteria for increased lettuce yield and disease resilience, $14,168.
John Linhoss, Department of Biosystems Engineering: Using reality capture equipment to enhance engineering research and design projects, $6,275.
