Bulletin No. 210 - The Mineral Content of Grains

It is generally recognized that shrunken, frosted, or smutty grain is inferior to sound, clean, plump grain. Much has been done on the protein content of grain, and the best millers today purchase grain for its protein content. Few give any consideration to its minerals. Yet do two bushels of sound, plump, clean grain of known protein content grown under the same or different conditions, have the same mineral content? If not, it is of importance to both the producer and consumer: to the consumer because it governs the nutritive value of the product; to the producer because it represents the fertility which is being taken from his soil. Consequently, the value of grain produced on an acre of soil should be measured by the quality as well as the quantity

Bulletin No. 274 - Influence of Rotation and Manure on the Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Carbon of the Soil

All agricultural plants require carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, calcium, potassium, magnesium, sulfur, phosphorus, iron, and probably traces of other elements for their normal growth and fruition. The growth of farm crops is dependent upon an available supply of these elements, and the extent of growth is governed by the one present and available in least quantity in proportion to the plant\u27s needs. Of the essential elements, all plants secure two (carbon and oxygen) from the air, one (hydrogen) from the water, and the others from the soil. Most soils contain sufficient plant nutrients for normal plant production, with the exception of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. These elements are used by the plants from the soil in the largest quantities and are generally the plant nutrients governing the productivity of a soil. In addition, the organic matter of the soil is of prime importance, for it is the matrix which holds the nitrogen and governs the structure and water-holding capacity of the soil. Probably most Utah soils contain sufficient potassium; consequently, the problem of Utah soil fertility resolves itself into maintaining an optimum concentration of nitrogen, phosphorus, and organic material in the soil. Therefore, this work represents a study of the influence of manure and crop rotation on the nitrogen, phosphorus, and carbon in the soil

Bulletin No. 310 - The Influence of Cropping on the Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Organic Matter of the Soil Under Irrigation Farming

Most soils contain sufficient nutrients for normal plant growth, with the exception of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. These elements are used by plants in the largest quantities and the amounts of these in the soil govern its productivity. Soil organic matter is of prime importance for it is the matrix which holds the nitrogen and modifies the structure, temperature, and water-holding capacity of the soil. The organic matter is the very life of the soil, for it is in and on it that bacteria work and by so doing determine the kind and speed of reactions which occur. It is the bacterial activities in the soil that determine the available plant food. Probably most Utah soils contain sufficient potassium, consequently the problem of Utah soil fertility resolves itself into maintaining an optimum concentration of nitrogen, phosphorus, and organic matter. The present work represents a study of the phosphorus, nitrogen, and organic matter in the soil and the speed with which they are being removed by plants, erosion and leaching

Bulletin No. 163 - Composition of the Irrigation Waters of Utah

Analytical work which has so far been published on the composition of the irrigation waters of the Intermountain Region indicates a wide variation in their composition. Some are exceptionally pure, being nearly free from alkali, and may be used without fear of injury to soils; others contain larger quantities of alkali and must be used with care; still others are so heavily charged with soluble salts that they must be used with extreme caution, otherwise the growing crop will be injured and in time the soil rendered unfit for agricultural purposes. The land then must be either reclaimed or abandoned, either of which will entail an enormous expense to the landowner and indirectly to the State. Much of this unnecessary loss can be prevented if definite and complete information be available on the composition of the irrigation waters

Incidence of rough and irregular atmospheric ice particles from Small Ice Detector 3 measurements

NERC, NE/E011225/1 © Author(s) 2013. This work is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 LicenseThe knowledge of properties of ice crystals such as size, shape, concavity and roughness is critical in the context of radiative properties of ice and mixed phase clouds. Limitations of current cloud probes to measure these properties can be circumvented by acquiring two-dimensional light scattering patterns instead of particle images. Such patterns were obtained in situ for the first time using the Small Ice Detector 3 (SID-3) probe during several flights in a variety of mid-latitude mixed phase and cirrus clouds. The patterns are analyzed using several measures of pattern texture, selected to reveal the magnitude of particle roughness or complexity. The retrieved roughness is compared to values obtained from a range of well-characterized test particles in the laboratory. It is found that typical in situ roughness corresponds to that found in the rougher subset of the test particles, and sometimes even extends beyond the most extreme values found in the laboratory. In this study we do not differentiate between small-scale, fine surface roughness and large-scale crystal complexity. Instead, we argue that both can have similar manifestations in terms of light scattering properties and also similar causes. Overall, the in situ data is consistent with ice particles with highly irregular or rough surfaces being dominant. Similar magnitudes of roughness were found in growth and sublimation zones of cirrus. The roughness was found to be negatively correlated with the halo ratio, but not with other thermodynamic or microphysical properties found in situ. Slightly higher roughness was observed in cirrus forming in clean oceanic airmasses than in a continental, polluted one. Overall, the roughness and complexity is expected to lead to increased shortwave cloud reflectivity, in comparison with cirrus composed of more regular, smooth ice crystal shapes. These findings put into question suggestions that climate could be modified through aerosol seeding to reduce cirrus cover and optical depth, as the seeding may result in decreased shortwave reflectivity.Peer reviewe