Research Updates

Devon Vancura, a senior agricultural engineering major, checks a connection for a testing monitor in the Nebraska  Tractor Test Laboratory. The facility is the designated tractor testing station for the entire United States. (Photo by Craig  Chandler, University Communication)
Devon Vancura, a senior agricultural engineering major, checks a connection for a testing monitor in the Nebraska Tractor Test Laboratory. The facility is the designated tractor testing station for the entire United States. (Photo by Craig Chandler, University Communication)

Nebraska Research to Advance Tractor Test Methods

March 23, 2018
New research at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln will help bring tractor testing into the modern era by simultaneously assessing the three types of tractor power used to pull implements — power takeoff, hydraulic, and drawbar.

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Changes in crop yield due to shifts in temperature and precipitation from 2968 to 2013
Changes in crop yield due to shifts in temperature and precipitation from 2968 to 2013

University Research Published in Nature Investigates Climate Effects on Ag Yields

March 22, 2018
While climate change is often described on a global scale, a new University of Nebraska-Lincoln study indicates changing climate trends in the Great Plains between 1968 and 2013 drove about 25% of the collective fluctuations in corn, soybean, and sorghum yields.

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Cover of 2017 Nebraska On-Farm Research Results
Cover of 2017 Nebraska On-Farm Research Results

2017 On-Farm Research Results Now Online

March 22, 2018
View the results from more than 80 Nebraska on-farm research studies conducted in summer 2017 in a free book, now available online.

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A row of corn

On-Farm Research Results: Impact of Torque on Corn Yield

March 7, 2018
This report synthesizes the results of seven on-farm research studies of using Torque™, a seed or furrow-applied growth promoter, in Nebraska between 2010 and 2015.

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Photo of field trial studying management of glyphosate-resistant ragweed

Herbicide Options for Managing Glyphosate-resistant Common Ragweed in LibertyLink Soybean

March 1, 2018
Results from a 2017 weed management trial on glyphosate-resistant ragweed indicated two applications were often more efficient and cost effective than either three applications or one application of herbicide.

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Distribution of the 1-square-kilometer cells where irrigated land in 2012 exceeded 50 percent of the cell area (blue-green dots) in Nebraska. Pink corresponds to declining annual, while yellow corresponds to declining irrigation-season (May-July) precipitation rates over the 1979-2015 period. The brownish color marks their spatial overlap.

Research Shows Large-Scale Irrigation Reduces Local Precipitation

February 28, 2018
A University of Nebraska-Lincoln researcher has shown that widespread irrigation has resulted in a net moisture loss in Nebraska, a finding that could have worldwide water conservation implications if substantiated by further research.

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Taking CO2 measurements in plots where residue has been baled
Taking CO2 measurements in plots where residue has been baled

Corn Residue Removal and CO2 Emissions

February 26, 2018
University research looking at CO2 emissions from two types of residue removal (baling and grazing) compared with a control treatment found little day-to-day impact; however, when looking at cumulative data for the whole year, grazing did appear to affect cumulative CO2 emissions in irrigated crop-livestock systems. This data represents the first year of this study.

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CO2 sensor in rye cover crop

Cover Crop and CO2 Emissions

February 26, 2018
Do cover crops affect CO2 emissions from the soil and if so, under what conditions? These were among the questions addressed by university researchers monitoring CO2 emissions from cereal rye cover crops in irrigated and dryland no-till continuous corn treatments.

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