Bulletin No. 293 - Velvon: A New Smooth-Awned Barley

Velvon, a new barley variety with smooth awns, with relatively stiff straw, and with a high degree of resistance to covered smut was developed at the Utah Agricultural Experiment Station through the cooperative efforts of the Station and the Division of Cereal Crops and Diseases, Bureau of Plant Industry, U. S. Department of Agriculture. This new variety resulted as a hybrid strain from a cross made in 1930 for the purpose of improving straw strength and the texture of awns

Bulletin No. 263 - Relative Produciton of Feed Grain from Spring-Grown Cereals in Utah

Nearly one-third of the cropped acreage of Utah is devoted to cereals. Except for wheat, most of these crops are fed locally. In addition to this, an average of over a million bushels of corn, barley, and oats is shipped into the state each year to be used in various livestock and poultry industries. The purpose of this publication is to show the comparative amount of feed produced by the different crops--wheat, oats, barley, and corn--under similar conditions as determined for the specified four years by acre-yields obtained in various agricultural regions of the state. One should bear clearly in mind that its purpose is not to encourage all farmers to grow crops giving the highest feed value to the acre or to shift from one cereal to another, although this might be done to advantage if increased feed production is desired

Bulletin No. 262 - Comparative Yields of Spring Wheat Varieties in Utah

Wheat was one of the first crops grown by early Utah settlers. It has since occupied an important place in the agriculture of the state. While wheat is almost the only crop grown successfully on dry-lands, it is also important under irrigation. Thirty per cent of the wheat acreage of Utah in 1929 was spring-sown, which produced 44 per cent of the state\u27s production. Eighty-seven per cent of the spring wheat acreage was grown under irrigation, this acreage producing 92.3 per cent of the total spring wheat crop. Thirty-eight per cent of Utah farmers were growing spring wheat in 1929; this wheat was grown in all ,counties of the state except one, the percentage of farmers growing this crop at that time ranging from less than 1 per cent in Washington and San Juan Counties to 64 per cent in Emery County; yet Emery County ranks about sixth in acreage and eighth in production

Bulletin No. 287 - Tests of Corn Varieties and Hybrids in Utah

The corn acreage in Utah is only about half that planted in barley and approximately one-fourth that sown to spring wheat. During the period 1910-30 this acreage was about equally divided into corn for grain, corn for silage, and corn fed to livestock in the field (table 1) . Since 1930 there has been a gradual increase in the acreage of corn grown for silage with the exception of the years 1936 and 1937

Bulletin No. 281 - Sorghums Varietal Tests in Utah

Sorghums are not grown to any appreciable extent in Utah except in the Virgin River valley in the southwestern portion of the State. No experimental work on sorghum culture had been done prior to 1931 except on the dry land of Juab County near Nephi. Those early tests, discontinued after 1917, indicated that sorghums were poorly adapted to such conditions. Numerous improved varieties have been produced since that time, some of which are adapted to relatively short growing seasons. This bulletin will discuss the practicability of growing some of these varieties of sorghum in Utah and their economic value compared to leading crops now grown

Radiolytic reactions in the coolant of helium cooled reactors

The success of helium cooled reactors is dependent upon the ability to prevent significant reaction between the coolant and the other components in the reactor primary circuit. Since the thermal reaction of graphite with oxidizing gases is rapid at temperatures of interest, the thermal reactions are limited primarily by the concentration of impurity gases in the helium coolant. On the other hand, the rates of radiolytic reactions in helium are shown to be independent of reactive gas concentration until that concentration reaches a very low level. Calculated steady-state concentrations of reactive species in the reactor coolant and core burnoff rates are presented for current U. S. designed, helium cooled reactors. Since precise base data are not currently available for radiolytic rates of some reactions and thermal reaction rate data are often variable, the accuracy of the predicted gas composition is being compared with the actual gas compositions measured during startup tests of the Fort Saint Vrain high temperature gas-cooled reactor. The current status of these confirmatory tests is discussed. 12 references. (auth

Bulletin No. 371 - Fifty Years of Dry Land Research at the Nephi Field Station

The Nephi Field Station is the oldest dry-Iand experimental farm in America still in operation. It was established in 1903 by action of the Utah legislature and has been in continuous operation since. Five other arid experimental farms were established in Utah at the same time (Widtsoe and Merrill 1905) but they were all discontinued prior to 1920 (Harris et al. 1920). The Nephi Field Station has had a most interesting history, and it is worthy of note that many of the men who were closely associated with it during its early history subsequently distinguished themselves as outstanding leaders. The station came into being largely as a result of the efforts of Dr. John A. Widtsoe, noted irrigation and dry farm authority of the west until his death in 1952. Under his leadership a systematic investigation was undertaken in 1901 to determine the possibilities of farming without irrigation in Utah. The experimental farm at Nephi was established largely as a result of that study

Stylet Penetration Activities by Aphis craccivora (Homoptera: Aphididae) on Plants and Excised Plant Parts of Resistant and Susceptible Cultivars of Cowpea (Leguminosae)

Direct current electrical penetration graphs (DC-EPGs) were used to analyze the stylet penetration activities of cowpea aphid, Aphis craccivora Koch, on plants of aphid-resistant (ICV-12) and aphid-susceptible (ICV-1) cultivars of cowpea, Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walpers. Aphid stylet penetration on whole plants at seedling, flowering, and podding stages were studied in one experiment, and in another experiment excised leaves from seedling plants, excised flowers, and excised pods were tested. Electrical signals depicting the aphid stylet penetration activities on their host plants were amplified, recorded onto a paper chart recorder, and scored for specific waveform patterns. Compared with similar tissues of ICV-1, intact leaves and excised seedling foliage of ICV-12 plants caused severe disruption of aphid stylet penetration activities. This was manifested in frequent penetration attempts that were abruptly terminated or unsustained, and in shorter penetration times, signifying antixenosis resistance in ICV-12. There was reduced occurrence of E waveforms, which represent stylet activity in plant vascular tissues. Also, prior exposure of test aphids to plants of one cultivar did not significantly influence the expected stylet penetration activities on plants of the other cultivar. Overall, ICV-12 exhibited high levels of resistance against A. craccivor

Defects in Friction Stir Welding of Steel

Defects associated with friction stir welding of two steel grades including DH36 and EH46 were investigated. Different welding parameters including tool rotational and tool traverse (linear) speeds were applied to understand their effect on weld seam defects including microcracks and voids formation. SEM images and infinite focus microscopy were employed to identify the defects types. Two new defects associated with the friction stir welding process are introduced in this work. The first defect identified in this work is a microcrack found between the plunge and the steady state region and attributed to the traverse moving of the tool with unsuitable speed from the plunge-dwell to the steady state stage. The tool traverse speed has recommended to travel 20 mm more with accelerated velocity range of 0.1 from the maximum traverse speed until reaching the steady state. The maximum recommended traverse speed in the steady state was also suggested to be less than 400 mm/min in order to avoid the lack in material flow. The second type of defect observed in this work was microcracks inside the stirred zone caused by elemental precipitations of TiN. The precipitates of TiN were attributed to the high tool rotational speed which caused the peak temperature to exceed 1200 °C at the top of the stirred zone and based on previous work. The limit of tool rotational speed was recommended to be maintained in the range of 200-500 RPM based on the mechanical experiments on the FSW samples

A global biophysical typology of mangroves and its relevance for ecosystem structure and deforestation

Mangrove forests provide many ecosystem services but are among the world's most threatened ecosystems. Mangroves vary substantially according to their geomorphic and sedimentary setting; while several conceptual frameworks describe these settings, their spatial distribution has not been quantified. Here, we present a new global mangrove biophysical typology and show that, based on their 2016 extent, 40.5% (54,972 km2) of mangrove systems were deltaic, 27.5% (37,411 km2) were estuarine and 21.0% (28,493 km2) were open coast, with lagoonal mangroves the least abundant (11.0%, 14,993 km2). Mangroves were also classified based on their sedimentary setting, with carbonate mangroves being less abundant than terrigenous, representing just 9.6% of global coverage. Our typology provides a basis for future research to incorporate geomorphic and sedimentary setting in analyses. We present two examples of such applications. Firstly, based on change in extent between 1996 and 2016, we show while all types exhibited considerable declines in area, losses of lagoonal mangroves (- 6.9%) were nearly twice that of other types. Secondly, we quantify differences in aboveground biomass between mangroves of different types, with it being significantly lower in lagoonal mangroves. Overall, our biophysical typology provides a baseline for assessing restoration potential and for quantifying mangrove ecosystem service provision