Science briefs

Panicles from field-grown rice germplasm CS272, one of the three lines developed in this study, in Arkansas. Photo by Heather Box.

Three new and improved long-grain rice germplasm lines

April 16, 2025

A drainage ditch leading from an industrial hog farm in southeastern North Carolina. Photo by Adam Chaffin.

Industrial animal agriculture causes widespread nutrient pollution in North Carolina

April 15, 2025

Site-specific management zones of actual evapotranspiration and turfgrass quality at Eagle Lake Golf Course in Roy, UT and histograms of the four natural break classes (1-4) of estimated TQ. Blue lines identify the fairway, greens, and tee boundaries and red dots identify sprinkler heads. Image by Karem Meza.

Site-specific irrigation and turfgrass quality using UAS imagery

April 15, 2025

Monthly trends in grazing land condition ratings (measured as the CCIndex) over the 1995–2022 period. Browns represent declining grazing land conditions while greens represent improving conditions. Hatching is statistical significance at the 95% confidence level. Image adapted from Bundy et al. (2025).

Grazing land degradation on the rise

April 15, 2025

Image of web interface looking at Global Historical Climatology Network daily (GHCNd) data with example downloading a small region of data in southeast Minnesota. In the map, a user can define a bounding box (blue-square). Then in the application programming interface (API) call, the user can define the climate variable, the dates for which the data should be gathered and the type of aggregation that is requested. Image from Gall et al. (2024).

New tool simplifies collection, integration, and querying of agrometeorological data

April 2, 2025

Workflow of physics-informed neural networks (PINNs), proposed in a new article published in Vadose Zone Journal. The PINNs consist of two fully connected feedforward neural networks. Image by Koki Oikawa/Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology.

Using machine learning to estimate soil hydraulic parameters of layered profiles

February 26, 2025

Led by University of Oklahoma Ph.D. candidate Tiffany Legg, University of Oklahoma Environmental Studies capstone students conducted soil sampling in Oklahoma City's John F. Kennedy community. Collaborating with local residents, the team addressed concerns about industrial disturbances and soil contamination. Photo by Carrie Leslie.

Transforming urban soil research through community engagement

February 26, 2025

Highbush blueberries, a North American blueberry species. Photo by Mark Ehlenfeldt, USDA-ARS.

A breakthrough for blueberry breeding with near-infrared spectroscopy

February 26, 2025

Greenhouse gas sampling under dryland spring wheat using a static chamber. Photo by Upendra Sainju.

Benefits of continuous cropping to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and sustain crop yields

February 26, 2025

Russian wheat aphid (RWA)-resistant (upper) and RWA-susceptible (lower) wheat lines at four weeks after infestation. Photo courtesy of Xiangyang Xu.

Characterization of gene conferring resistance to U.S. Russian wheat aphid

February 26, 2025

Webinar: Developing Safe and Inclusive Fieldwork Settings

Webinar: Early Career Award Opportunities in Agronomy, Crop, Soil, and Environmental Sciences

Call for Papers: Phenomics of Germplasm Collection

Call for Papers: Advances in Monitoring Soil Water Content

Call for Papers: Advancement of Fate and Transport of Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) in the Vadose Zone