ARDC TODAYA publication of the University of Nebraska Agr icultural Research and Development Center

Identifying or characterizing a plant’s type is usually done through observing features, such as leaf shape, leaf arrangement, color, plant height, flowers, and fruit. A plant’s phenotype includes its observable characteristics—which are influenced both by the set of genes that the plant carries (or genotype) and by the environment. So a plant’s phenotype depends upon the genotype, but can also be influenced by environmental factors. Phenotyping measures the plant’s features or characteristics and produces usable clues about the morphology (or shape), biomass, and productivity of plants. The “clues” drawn from phenotyping are directly related to genetic plant pigments, stress resistance, and cell biology. Scientists working with the Center for Advanced Land Management Information Technologies (CALMIT) Nebraska are phenotyping crops using remote imagery gathered using satellites, airplanes and other modern day technology

Remote Sensing and Crop Phenotyping

UNIVERSIT Y OF NEBRASKA–LINCOLN * INSTITUTE OF AGRICULTURE AND NATURAL RESOURCES

Vol. 4, No. 1 * Spring 2015

In this issue we feature research and education conducted by the University of Nebraska’s Center for Advanced Land Manage-ment Information Technologies (CALMIT).

In thi s i s sue :

• BestWishestoWilliams• CALMIT

- CALMIT Leads the Way with Cutting Edge Technologies- Remote Sensing and Crop Phenotyping- Research in Action –CALMIT Research at the ARDC- Tools of the Trade

• FirstandLast• JoiningtheTeam• MeadFireDepartment

UsesFEPPTruckstoServetheSaundersCountyCommunity

• RudeenSelectedasARDCEmployeeoftheYear

• WhyRice?AddressingGlobalChallenges

• WitRetiresAfter45YearsofServiceatTurfgrassUnit

- Continued on Page 2

A Closer Look at the

More pictures and information on topics

featured in this edition and from past issues

are online at: ardc.unl.edu/photos.

CENTER FOR ADVANCED LAND MANAGEMENT INFORMATION TEChNOLOGIES

Featured Research

Phenotypes are influenced by the interaction of the genetic make-up of plants (or the genotype) with environmental factors.

UnderstandingPhenotyPes

Tools of the Trade

CALMIT’s spectral laboratory is equipped with optical spectral reflectance equipment that allows rapid characterization of plant qualities through highly accurate and reliable measurements. The CALMIT-designed wireless hyperspectral backpack moves rapid, high-quality spectral measurement into the field. The backpack system consists of a suite of sensors wired to a handheld mast and backpack carried in the field to designated plots while the data are logged on a computer operated at a stationery location typically outside the plot areas. A repurposed Hagie Sprayer (dubbed Hercules) is CALMIT’s mobile research platformthat carries these measurements to field scale.

H e R C U l e s

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A repurposed sprayer

(dubbed Hercules) serves as CALMIT’s

mobile remote sensing research platform

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Akin to its cousins, rice is a cereal grain and seed grass. It is an important food staple to many countries and will continue to maintain a vital role in world food supply in the future. As expected, most varieties of rice require moist growing conditions. So how can rice production still be sustainable in drought conditions – whether it is grown in Nebraska, elsewhere in the United States or across the globe in another country? University of Nebraska researcher Harkamal Walia believes that drought-tolerant varieties are viable and he is researching ways to improve crop performance in sub-optimal growing conditions. Rice varieties were grown at the ARDC and are being analyzed for their ability to adapt to environmental stresses. Walia says, “Unfavorable environmental conditions such as drought, high and low temperature stress, salinity, and flooding result in heavy crop yield losses in the U.S. and worldwide. These stressful conditions are increasingly associated

Why Rice?Addressing Global Challenges

with a shift in agriculture to marginal lands and erratic climatic changes.” The overall research goal is to improve crop performance in sub-optimal growing conditions. In the United States, over 2,900,000 acres of rice were planted in 2014. It is primarily grown in Arkansas, California, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri and Texas. So why is rice being studied in a state termed the “Cornhusker state”? Walia says, “Research conducted at University of Nebraska addresses both local and global challenges. Since rice is one of the most important crops for global food security, it is important to understand and improve its ability to tolerate drought stress.” He also states, “Further, since rice and other cereals such as wheat have many similar features when it comes to traits such as drought tolerance, discoveries made in rice can be valuable for improving stress tolerance in wheat.”

Up Close and Personal - From Near and Far The brightness and colors of light signals from plants, often allow scientists to infer, for example, phenotypic properties that are related to genetic traits. In the past, such properties were measured using chemical extraction and physical measurement. Sometimes plants were destroyed in the process of obtaining these measurements. Remote sensing ‘senses’ the reflected light for crops and other plants and offers the possibility of non-destructive measurement whether it be for a single plant, an entire field, or collections of fields across the landscape. Such measurements are faster than mechanical or chemical analysis. This offers plant breeders, farmers, agronomists, and ecologists the opportunity to quickly understand how genomic characteristics translate into crop yield, disease and plant stress (drought and nutrient deficiency) resilience, etc. Scientists working with the Center for Advanced Land Management Information Technologies (CALMIT) use a suite of remote sensing observational capabilities. This includes a spectral laboratory, ground-based wireless spectral sensing backpack units, motorized mobile spectral platforms, and instrumented aircraft and satellite-based sensors. CALMIT provides the facilities and expertise to advance the non-destructive means of determining plant genetic traits required for crop breeding at spatial scales from leaf to landscape levels. The center also plays a key role in the development of the phenotyping facility on the Nebraska Innovation Campus through its collaboration with the UNL Consortium for Integrated Translational Biology (CITB).

Leading the Way CALMIT has been a national and international leader in research, education, and practical application of remote sensing and other spatial technologies, such as geographic information systems (GIS) since its establishment by the University of Nebraska Board of Regents in 1972. In more than 40 years, CALMIT has trained a generation of faculty, scientists, and practitioners in the spatial sciences and pioneered cutting-edge remote sensing research and applications that are commonly used today. Dr. Don Rundquist, former CALMIT Director of 20+ years, was instrumental in establishing much of the field-based remote sensing infrastructure at the ARDC used to support current crop phenotyping research. Dr. Brian Wardlow currently serves as director and is part of a team of six University of Nebraska School of Natural Resource faculty associated with CALMIT. That team works cohesively to conduct research and instruction of the highest quality in remote sensing, geographic information systems (GIS) and related technologies.

Remote sensing and Phenotyping - Continued from page 1

Information for CALMIT articles provided by

Elizabeth Walter-Shea, University of Nebraska–

Lincoln School of Natural Resources.

Learn more about the

Center for Advanced Land

Management Information Technologies

(CALMIT) at www.calmit.unl.edu

Best Wishes to Williams Congratulations to Dr. Susan Williams who recently retired from her position of Director of Southeast Research and Extension Center after 31 years serving Nebraska Extension.

Nebraska Extension Dean and Director Chuck Hibberd (right) thanks Susan Williams (left) for her 31 years of service at a reception held in her honor.

Joining the Team If you have been at the August N. Christenson Research and Education Building recently, you may have noticed a few new faces. We welcome Lori French, business support associate with the Greater Nebraska Business Center; Zach Glaubius, landscaping assistant at the ARDC; and Christina Franklin, office associate with the Southeast Research and Extension Center. Lori, Zach and Christina are involved with many different projects and play a crucial role in supporting research and educational efforts to the public.

New staff - (l to r) Lori French, Zach Glaubius and Christina Franklin

First and Last Dirk Burken (right in above photo) served as the beef feedlot manager at the ARDC since 2011. Burken received his PhD from UNL in December and left the position for a job in Canada. Before he left we got a picture with Professor Emeritus, Terry Klopfenstein. Klopfenstein (middle) is pictured with his first graduate student advisee, Bob Meduna (left) and his last graduate student advisee, Dirk Burken. Klopfenstein advised approximately 150 graduate students and his research in ruminant nutrition has left a lasting impact on the beef industry.

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Tools of the Trade - Continued from page 1

CALMIT Leads the Way with Cutting Edge TechnologiesThe Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources (IANR) at UNL has committed and provided

significant funds to support the establishment of state-of-the-art phenotyping facilities (UNL Consortium for Integrated Translational Biology or CITB) that will provide high-resolution, non-destructive digital imaging of organisms ranging from seedlings to fully grown plants.

The rationale behind this investment is to develop and use cutting edge technologies, such as high-throughput imaging and optical spectra sensing, to comprehensively phenotype organisms and plants under various environmental stress conditions (e.g., drought, temperature, salt, and excess moisture) in growth chamber, greenhouse and field settings.

CALMIT will provide the expertise for the remote sensing applications, particularly the field com-ponent of the CITB. CITB’s overall goal is to provide science-based information to help scientists develop computer models to predict plant responses to environmental stresses and weather/climate variability at the leaf, plant, field and landscape levels.

CALMIT’s expertise and facilities will play an integral role in the CITB accomplishing that goal. Collectively, the capacity of CALMIT to acquire and analyze the spectral behavior of crops and other plants from leaf and plant to field and landscape scales coupled with the knowledge and research of leading crop breeder ongoing at ARDC places UNL as major leader in this rapidly emerging field of crop phenotyping, which will enable more stress-resilient and productive crop varieties to be devel-oped over the coming years.

Dr. Melinda Yerka (USDA-ARS) began an experiment at ARDC this past summer collaborating with CALMIT utilizing the Hercules mobile platform to collect remote sensing data over diverse sorghum canopies in the field. On the same day as the remote sensing measurements, Yerka and her team harvest biomass, dry it, and analyze it using Near-InfraRed Spectroscopy (NIRS). “Following the current calibration phase of remote data to NIRS results,” Yerka said, “I hope to use remote sensing as a replacement for destructive harvests to identify genotypes with specific forage quality characters that I prioritize in my breeding program, such as high or low lignin content. Then forage lines with high lignin content could be used in pyrolysis and lines with low lignin content could be used in saccharification and fermentation into ethanol.” As part of the Carbon Sequestration Program (started in 2001), Dr. Anatoly Gitelson and colleagues investigated remote sensing’s phenotypic relationship with plant productivity utilizing Hercules and field level measurements. The spectrum of reflected visible light is strongly influenced by the amount of chlorophyll in plant leaves. Since chlorophyll content is related to plant productivity, the reflected signal likewise is related to plant productivity. Dr. Gitelson and colleagues demonstrated simple models relating the amount of light at several colors in the spectrum to the chlorophyll content. These relationships apply at any scale, leaf, plant, canopy, field, and all the way to space-based satellite observations of regions. This successful effort is based on calibration and validation experiments at ARDC sites as well as sites from surrounding states. The research continues with data from new satellite platforms and field work. ARDC research by Drs. Arthur Zygielbaum, Timothy Arkebauer and Elizabeth Walter-Shea investigate the impact of vegetation stress on these estimates of plant productivity. When Dr. Zygielbaum realized that changes he observed in the spectrum of water-stressed plants were caused by plant photoprotective effect and not changes in leaf water content, his search for a tool to measure water in plant leaves from reflected light took a different path. Plant photoprotective effect is a mechanism used by plants to shut down harmful side-effects of photosynthesis when plants are stressed. Zygielbaum’s greenhouse experiments demonstrated that the spectrum of visible light reflected from plants offered a window into the energy exchange processes that stressed plants use to assure that vital plant structures remain intact and allow recovery once the stress conditions are relieved. Data obtained during the summers of 2013 and 2014 using Hercules and a field portable spectrometer indicated that plant photoprotective response spectral signatures could also be detected under field conditions. Because the field environmental conditions are very complex compared to greenhouse settings, much work remains to compare the spectra to changes in light, wind, humidity, and temperature in order to accurately interpret the results. Also, the very photoprotective response that could provide a window in identifying crop stress could also interfere with the use of remote sensing for the estimation of biophysical parameters. Once completed, the results will help define further ARDC research in the coming growing seasons.

A UNL graduate student uses a wireless backpack to make reflectance spectra measurements of wheat at ARDC in the above photo.

CALMIT Research at the ARDC

Research in Action A 50-foot hydraulic boom mounted on Hercules provides a platform for mounting optical spectrometers above the crop. Rick Perk (who also operates CALMIT’s airborne imaging program) developed Hercules’ mechanical design. Dr. Arthur Zygielbaum, Bryan Leavitt, and a team of undergraduates developed its instrumentation system. CALMIT’s single-engine Piper Saratoga aircraft with an airborne AISA-Eagle (the Airborne Imaging Spectrometer for Applications –Eagle) imaging system puts UNL further in the spotlight as one of a few universities in the United States to operate an airborne remote sensing program. The AISA imager is capable of scanning in visible and near-infrared spectral channels over a wide swath on the ground at a minimal spatial resolution of 0.5 m, providing excellent spatial coverage of detailed features on the ground over the landscape level beyond field scale. CALMIT has been at the center of four current projects at the ARDC. CALMIT assisted Dr. Stephen Baenziger with his nitrogen deficiency study for winter wheat varieties using CALMIT’s backpack system. “For a large multi-state grant, we worked with CALMIT to develop and improve high throughput phenotyping of winter wheat with a specific emphasis on nitrogen use efficiency,” Baenziger said. “Using their approach, we were able to phenotype over 1,200 plots weekly throughout the growing season and have developed an outstanding data set for our and future research. This effort would not have been possible without CALMIT’s expertise.”

CALMIT research will help predict plant responses to environmental stresses and weather/climate variability.

The graph on the right is an example of data collected from the Hercules remote sensing research platform. PAR Albedo is the percentage of visible light reflected from a plant. This graph shows that the plant reflected more light in the afternoon than in the morning. Research shows that this difference is most likely caused by plant photoprotective mechanisms. Plants are typically more stressed in the afternoon than in the morning.

ARDC Today Spr ing 2015

This issue of the ARDC Today was produced and edited by Deloris Pittman, Marketing and Promotions Manager. The ARDC Today is published quarterly by the University of Nebraska–Lincoln ARDC, 1071 County Road G, Ithaca, Nebraska, 68033-2234.

Mark Schroeder is the director, University of Nebraska ARDC. For more information, call (402)624-8030 or (800)529-8030. On the web at: ardc.unl.edu. Email: dpittman1@unl.edu.

Nebraska Extension in Saunders County and the Southeast Research and Extension Center administrative offices are located at the ARDC. Links are located on the ARDC website.

© 2015 University of Nebraska–Lincoln Agricultural Research and Development Center.

TheUniversityofNebraska–Lincolndoesnotdiscriminatebasedongender,age,disability,race,color,religion,maritalstatus,veteran’sstatus,nationalorethnicoriginorsexualorientation.

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APRIL12 Getting to Know Nebraska; NU President hank Bounds Visit15 Nebraska Federal Women Meeting

MAY12 Crop Management Field Scout Training

JUNE1 Mid Plains Beef Meeting2-4 Babysitting Basics8 4-h Livestock Tagging and Tattooing9 Clover Kid Day Camp12 AMSA Reciprocal Meat Conference18 4-h Sr. home Environment Workshop23 4-h Jr. home Environment Workshop24 4-h Livestock Recordkeeping Workshop25 4-h Textile Detective Workshop30 4-h Fun and Games Workshop

JULY2 4-h Electricity Workshop14 Precision Ag Focus Crop Management Diagnostic Clinic15 Midsummer Crop Management Diagnostic Clinic22 Turf Field Day22 4-h Council Meeting

Learn moreabout what is

going on at the ARDC -

visit: ardc.unl.edu

What’s OnThe Calendar

Rudeen Selected as ARDC Employee of the Year Doug Rudeen has been selected as the recipient of the 2014 ARDC Employee of the Year Award. Sponsored by the social/benefits committee at the ARDC, fellow employees nominate candidates. Supervisors, employees and the committee then submit scoring forms. Rudeen is a long-term employee at the ARDC. He worked at the beef feedlot at the ARDC for 15 years before joining the facilities operations crew in 1998. As a carpenter with the facilities crew, Rudeen not only works on projects at the August N. Christenson Building, but does remodeling and other building upgrades throughout the ARDC. Also nominated were Mark Christensen with the ARDC, Cheryl Dunbar with Nebraska Extension in Saunders County, Rich Gooding with UNL’s Department of Agronomy and Horticulture, and Jeff Perkins of UNL’s Department of Animal Science. Nominators for Rudeen stated that, “Doug is busy every day trying to make ARDC a better place. He is a carpenter by job title, but can and is always willing to take on many other roles. Doug is one of those people that anybody would be proud to have as an employee” . Rudeen was also honored with prizes solicited and organized by the social/benefits committee at the ARDC. Prize donors included Micro Beef and Mead Cattle Company. Rudeen will be recognized on a plaque displayed indefinitely at the ARDC. This is the thirteenth year the award has been presented. Past winners can be viewed online at http://ardc.unl.edu/eoy.

Doug Rudeen (left) was presented with the Employee of the Year Award by Ruby Urban, ARDC Assistant Director.

Through the Federal Excess Personal Property Program (FEPP), the Nebraska Forest Service, in cooperation with the United States Forest Service, acquires, reconditions, and loans vehicles to cooperating rural fire districts. The Nebraska Forest Service Fire Shop that refurbishes the vehicles is located at the ARDC. The Mead Volunteer Fire Department utilizes an 8-wheel drive heavy expanded mobility tactical truck (HEMTT) that was obtained through the program in 2012. The heavy-duty military vehicle can go places that might present challenges for other standard fire trucks and holds 2,500 gallons of water. But the truck also comes in handy when Nebraska winters are at their worst. During one of the recent harsh winter blasts to hit the area with slick and impassable roads and highways, even snowplows can have a tough time. When a 25-ton truck goes off the road, only a heavy duty vehicle is going to get it back on the move. The Mead Volunteer Fire Department used the FEPP fire truck to pull out a Nebraska Department of Roads snowplow truck that had slid off Highway 92 between Wahoo and Mead. Mead volunteer firefighter, Adam Miller, recorded the event and it can be seen online at: http://tinyurl.com/mead-snowtruck. The Mead Volunteer Fire Department also responded to calls from stranded motorists with the FEPP vehicle. The department acquired a 2nd HEMTT through the excess property program in February of this year. Lew Sieber is the Fire Equipment Manager for the NFS fire shop that refurbishes and rebuilds the vehicles. Sieber says, “There are presently more than 25 of these trucks in service in the state, and approximately 700 total pieces of equipment placed in the whole state by the Nebraska Forest Service’s FEPP program.” Learn more about the Federal Excess Personal Property Program at: http://nfs.unl.edu/Fire/FEPPmain.asp.

Mead Fire Department Uses FEPP TrucksTo Serve the Saunders County Community

Wit Retires After 45 Yearsof Service at Turfgrass Unit

Long-time employee, Lannie Wit, recently retired after 45 years of service with the University. He managed operations at the John Seaton Anderson Turfgrass and Ornamental Research facility at the ARDC. The site is reputed as the largest turfgrass facility in the United States consisting of 75 acres of intensively managed land. Wit played an important role in contributing to the success of the numerous research projects conducted by the nationally recognized team of researchers who use the facility.

The Mead Volunteer Fire Department used the FEPP fire truck to pull out a Nebraska Department of Roads snowplow truck that had slid off Highway 92 between Wahoo and Mead.

Wit