Reducing ergovaline and ergot alkaloid concentrations through fertilizer, herbicide and clipping management

Title from PDF of title page (University of Missouri--Columbia, viewed on May 28, 2010).The entire thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file; a non-technical public abstract appears in the public.pdf file.Dissertation advisor: Craig Roberts.Vita.Ph. D. University of Missouri--Columbia 2010.Animals grazing tall fescue grass (Lolium arundinaceum) infected with Neotyphodium coenophialum consume the toxins ergovaline and other ergot alkaloids. This research included a series of experiments with two overall objectives: 1) to explore management practices that might reduce alkaloid concentration and 2) to estimate if change in management was economically feasible. Three experiments in this study resulted in reduced ergovaline concentration. The first experiment showed use of poultry litter rather than chemical NPK reduced ergovaline by at least 124 [mu] kg-1 DM. Another experiment showed the herbicide clethodim reduced ergovaline up to 72%. A third experiment, conducted with Clemson University and the University of Georgia, showed that monthly clipping of tall fescue reduced ergovaline in the Spring to the point of partial alkaloid suppression. Economic analysis estimated that clethodim-treated forage would produce the highest calving rates and stocker gains and was the most economically beneficial of all practices studied.Includes bibliographical reference

Little SAC River Watershed: Bacterial Source Tracking Analysis

Data collected from November 2003 to October 2004 at two sites on the Little Sac River show that the whole body contact water quality criteria was not met during this period. The year was divided in four periods: winter, spring, summer, and fall. Averages and geometric means were above the 200 colonies/100 ml for any of the winter, summer, and fall periods at both sites.This material is based upon work supported by the Environmental Protection Agency, region VII through a grant entitled “DNA Source Tracking of Fecal E. Coli in the Little Sac River, Missouri,” (grant X7-98740401-0). Any opinions, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the view of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Upper White River Watershed Integrated Economic and Environmental Management Project

This report outlines enhanced existing local cooperative water quality efforts, sumarizes economic and physical data, and discusses how that information was used to develop analytical models.This project was partially funded by the US EPA Region 7, through the Missouri Department of Natural Resources (subgrant #G05-NPS-09), under Section 319 of the Clean Water Act

Positive Approaches to Phosphorus Balancing in Southwest Missouri: Animal Manure Phosphorus Recycling Initiative

Document presented on July 12, 2001 at Crowder College, Neosho, MO and on November 6 & 7 at Water Quality Research in the White River Basin Conference in Springfield, MO.Opportunities exist to create value added animal waste fertilizer products that can be used in crop production, reducing import demands for phosphorus, and relocating phosphorus from areas of excess supply to areas of need for crop production. This paper focuses on opportunities to recycle poultry litter in southwest Missouri.This project is a cooperative effort of the Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute at the University of Missouri and the Natural Resource Conservation Service. The work is supported by EPA grant X997396-01, Region VII U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, under section 104 (b)(3). The Missouri Department of Agriculture appropriated funds to support the work in this report