Scott Schrage - University Communication

Andrea Basche in a field of cover crop planted into corn stubble — Figure 1. Nebraska’s Andrea Basche and a colleague have found that planting perennials and cover crops may substantially improve the ability of soils to soak up heavy rainfall, potentially alleviating the most severe effects of flooding and drought. (Photo by Greg Nathan, UNL)

Which Farming Practices Help Soils Absorb Heavy Rains?

October 3, 2019

A synthesis of 89 studies across six continents has helped clarify which agricultural practices hold water when it comes to helping soils soak up precipitation — a factor critical to mitigating floods, outlasting drought and stabilizing crop yields.

Figure 1. Corn growing on the University of Nebraska–Lincoln’s East Campus. A new Nebraska study has quantified the benefits of irrigation among nine U.S. crops by analyzing yields from 1950 to 2015. (Photo by Craig Chandler/University Communication)

Gap Growing Between Irrigated, Rainfed Crop Yields

August 13, 2019

A 65-year comparative analysis between U.S. yields of irrigated and rainfed crops has sounded a message to farmers, land managers and policymakers: Mind the gap. Researchers analyzed annual yields of nine crops on a county-by-county basis from 1950 to 2015.

By measuring the water use of plants on an hourly or even minute-by-minute basis, Nebraska's James Schnable and colleagues hope to better understand and eventually improve how crops respond to drought. (Craig Chandler/University Communication) — Figure 1. By measuring the water use of plants on an hourly or even minute-by-minute basis, University of Nebraska associate professor James Schnable and colleagues at Iowa State University hope to better understand and eventually improve how crops respond to drought. (Photo by Craig Chandler/University Communication)

New Stalk Sensor Could Lead to Improved Drought-Resistant Corn

July 31, 2019

Researchers at the University of Nebraska and Iowa State University are pursuing an elusive goal: measuring rates of sap flow in corn in real-time, actual fields, and changing weather conditions. Their data on corn water use could lead to improved drought resistance.

Visual representation of gene sequences — Nebraska's James Schnable has helped sequence nearly the entire genetic catalog of proso millet. The resulting genetic insights could help raise yields of the drought-resistant crop in the Nebraska Panhandle and infertile regions likely to face food shortages in coming decades. (Nature Communications / James Schnable / Scott Schrage)

Sequencing of Proso Millet Genome Could Raise Yields, Expand Production Range

March 4, 2019

Researchers have now sequenced and mapped the genome of proso millet – a feat essential to raising yields of the drought-resistant crop in the Nebraska Panhandle and semiarid regions where population booms foreshadow food shortages.

Figure 1. Nebraska's Joe Louis with a collection of leaves infested by corn-leaf aphids. Louis and his colleagues have found that spraying a corn plant with one of its own defensive compounds might reduce aphid colonization by as much as 30%. (Photo by Craig Chandler, University Communication)

Experiments Underscore Overlooked Aspect of Defending Corn from Pest

March 4, 2019

Spraying a corn plant with one of its own compounds — 12-oxo-phytodienoic acid, or OPDA — can help deter the virus-carrying, pollination-disrupting insect known as the corn-leaf aphid.

David Holding and Leandra Marshall analyzing corn — Nebraska's David Holding (right) and Leandra Marshall (left) are developing lines of popcorn featuring higher levels of lysine, an amino acid essential to the diets of humans and some livestock. (Photo by Craig Chandler, University Communication)

Genes to Proteins: Enriching the Nutritional Value of Popcorn, Sorghum

February 21, 2019

After years of research a University of Nebraska-Lincoln team led by David Holding has roughly doubled the content of lysine, an essential amino acid, in both popcorn and sorghum. For sorghum it could mean a more complete source of nutrition for many in the developing world.

sunset on Nebraska farm — Research from Nebraska's Suat Irmak and Meetpal Kukal has analyzed links among growing-season duration, heat accumulation and ag yields across the contiguous United States. (Photo by Craig Chandler, University Communication)

115 Years of Data Reveal Longer Growing Season, Changing Temperature Trends

June 29, 2018

The past century of climate change has extended the average U.S. growing season by nearly two weeks but driven annual buildups of yield-stifling heat in the West and Northeast, says new research from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln.

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.