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News From 2013

Erick Larson, corn specialist with the Mississippi State University Extension Service, examines hybrid plants in test plots located on the R.R. Foil Plant Science Research Center on Sept. 4, 2013. (Photo by MSU Ag Communications/Linda Breazeale)
September 6, 2013 - Filed Under: Corn

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- Mississippi growers’ determination to plant corn last spring is paying off as harvests approach 2012’s record yields of 165 bushels per acre.

Persistent rains and low temperatures in the spring delayed planting, slowed emergence and contributed to less than desirable final stands. Cool weather through May also slowed corn growth and maturity by about two weeks throughout the season.

Jerry Singleton, area agent in Leflore County with the Mississippi State University Extension Service, said he is almost afraid to say how good the yields appear to be.

September 5, 2013 - Filed Under: Crops, Commercial Horticulture, Fruit

GOODMAN – Fruit, vegetable and flower growers can learn about growing fall crops and a new legal services program during a Sept. 20 field day at the Alliance for Sustainable Agricultural Production Demonstration Farm in Goodman.

September 3, 2013 - Filed Under: Community

PICAYUNE – The traditional skills, crafts and arts of Mississippi’s Piney Woods region will be showcased during the Piney Woods Heritage Festival at Mississippi State University’s Crosby Arboretum Nov. 15 and 16.

Visitors to the Picayune facility will enjoy educational exhibits and skills demonstrations, including blacksmithing, wood carving, quilting, storytelling and more. Craftsmen and artists also will offer their work for purchase.

Steve Demarais (left) and Bronson Strickland (right) take measurements of a tranquilized deer housed at Mississippi State University's Rusty Dawkins Memorial Deer Unit.  Center from left, graduate students Erick Michel and Jake Oates record the data to help researchers correlate nutrition and genetics with white-tailed deer antler growth. (Photo by MSU Forest and Wildlife Research Center/Karen Brasher)
September 3, 2013 - Filed Under: Environment, Wildlife, White-Tailed Deer

By Dave Storment
MSU Forest and Wildlife Research Center

Mississippi State University research in support of the state's $2.5 billion poultry industry, such as that conducted by Dr. Alejandro Banda at the College of Veterinary Medicine's Poultry Research and Diagnostic Laboratory in Pearl, helped MSU rank ninth in the nation in agricultural sciences research and development spending. (Photo by MSU College of Veterinary Medicine/Tom Thompson)
August 30, 2013 - Filed Under: Agriculture

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- Mississippi State University’s commitment to its land-grant mission and to the state’s $7.5 billion agriculture and forestry industry resulted in a top spot in a recently released National Science Foundation report.

Goldenrods' bright and prolific blooms are a sure sign that fall is on the way. Although they are often found growing wild, these plants make excellent landscape additions. (Photo by MSU Extension Service/Gary Bachman)
August 30, 2013 - Filed Under: Lawn and Garden, Flower Gardens

I am a firm believer that many of our flowering landscape plants are only one or two steps out of the ditch. The goldenrod is no exception.

I sometimes find it hard to believe that some gardeners actually grow it in their gardens on purpose.

Most folks can recognize goldenrods growing wild. In a couple of weeks, we will start seeing their annual explosion of golden color. Flowering goldenrods are a sign that cooler fall weather is not far away.

Barry Stewart, turf management specialist with the Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station, demonstrates fertilizing equipment on Aug. 29, 2013, on a recently cut patch of St. Augustine grass grown at Mississippi State University's R.R. Foil Research Center. (Photo by MSU Ag Communications/Scott Corey)
August 30, 2013 - Filed Under: Turfgrass and Lawn Management

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- This year’s rainy spring kept grass from growing, but it also kept contractors from building, allowing Mississippi’s sod farmers to manage the season’s rough beginning.

Barry Stewart, turf management specialist with the Mississippi State University Extension Service and Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station, said demand was low at a time that benefitted growers.

Jean Feugang, a research assistant professor in the Mississippi State University Department of Animal and Dairy Sciences, microinjects a quantum dot into an ovarian follicle to monitor the egg's release from the follicle and eventual fertilization. (Photo by MSU Ag Communications/Linda Breazeale)
August 30, 2013 - Filed Under: Agriculture, Biotechnology

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- Mississippi State University scientists are working to find out why some pregnancies are successful and others are not.

Jean Feugang, a research assistant professor in the Department of Animal and Dairy Sciences, is studying the reproductive stage that remains one of the most mysterious -- the time just before conception.

A power outage caused by a natural disaster can destroy years of research and data collection. Larry Hanson uses the Mississippi State University College of Veterinary Medicine's cryogenic freezer to store fish cell cultures at -150 degree Celsius. The freezer is linked to a backup liquid nitrogen tank to keep it cold even when the electricity fails. (Photo by MSU College of Veterinary Medicine/Tom Thompson)
August 29, 2013 - Filed Under: Disaster Preparedness

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- In a state where tornadoes, hurricanes and floods are regular -- although unwanted -- visitors, Mississippi State University has plans for how to preserve data and ongoing research projects.

Hurricane Katrina’s Aug. 29 anniversary provides reminders of the havoc natural disasters can wreak with lives, homes and businesses. Losses to research are less tangible but can be just as devastating.

Dr. Stephen Pruett, head of basic sciences at MSU’s College of Veterinary Medicine, knows just how high those losses could mount.

August 29, 2013 - Filed Under: Lawn and Garden, Vegetable Gardens

JACKSON – Gardeners can keep insects and diseases under control and make spring planting easier with a little bit of cleanup right now.

“Good sanitation is one of the easiest and most economical methods of insect and disease control in the vegetable garden,” said Rebecca Bates, Mississippi State University Extension Service Lincoln County coordinator.

In vegetable gardens, plants should be removed as soon as production stops. Any live plant material will continue to provide food for insect pests and allow them to mature and multiply.

August 28, 2013 - Filed Under: Women for Agriculture

MISSISSIPPI STATE – Mississippi’s farm and ranch women can learn how to plan for the future of their farming businesses at a workshop series offered by the Mississippi State University and Alcorn State University Extension Services.

August 28, 2013 - Filed Under: Community, Technology, About Extension

by Kaitlyn Byrne
MSU Office of Ag Communications

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- The Mississippi State University Extension Service uses creative technology, including video conferencing and webinars, to cut costs and reach more people with research-based programs.

Connie Templeton, distance learning analyst with the Distance Education team in the Extension Center for Technology Outreach, said a combination of video conferences, webinars and online training modules help Extension agents reduce costs for meetings, workshops and classes.

Pansies such as these Matrix white selections are outstanding landscape plants in Mississippi, providing color from fall to spring. (Photo by MSU Extension Service/Gary Bachman)
August 26, 2013 - Filed Under: Lawn and Garden, Flower Gardens

Even though we’re still in a very warm August, now is the time to start thinking about fall color.

Planting fall-flowering annuals can enhance your landscape’s ability to offer color right through spring. Garden centers will soon be offering some good choices of fall bedding plants, so make plans now for what you want your landscape to look like.

August 23, 2013 - Filed Under: Rural Development, Technology, Family

WOODVILLE – Four months ago Elease Sullivan knew very little about Facebook or the potential it held for her business.

But the Mississippi Bricks to Clicks pilot program changed that.

Mississippi State University’s Extension Service partnered with Woodville/Wilkinson County Main Street Association to test a program that helps small businesses understand and use social media to market their products or services.

The state's cotton remains two to four weeks behind schedule after rains delayed spring planting. One cotton boll is nearing maturity as another flower blooms on this cotton plant Aug. 23, 2013, on Mississippi State University's R.R. Foil Plant Science Research Center in Starkville. (Photo by MSU Ag Communications/Kat Lawrence)
August 23, 2013 - Filed Under: Cotton

MISSISSIPPI STATE – Mississippi’s cotton growers are hoping weather challenges don’t prevent their late-planted crop from making the good yields it seems capable of producing.

Darrin Dodds, state cotton specialist with the Mississippi State University Extension Service, said the bulk of the crop was in pretty decent shape by late August.

“Some folks feel they are sitting on one of the better crops they’ve had,” he said. “All that will boil down to the weather we have in the fall. We need a long, favorable fall, and the heat to stick with us and the rain to stay away.”

Peter Ryan
August 22, 2013 - Filed Under: Equine

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- The American College of Theriogenologists recently recognized a veteran Mississippi State University professor’s research and teaching career with an honorary membership.

August 22, 2013 - Filed Under: Flower Gardens, Vegetable Gardens

VERONA – North Mississippi flower and vegetable gardeners will have the opportunity to tour fall horticulture plots at the North Mississippi Research and Extension Center on Sept. 28.

Mississippi State University Extension Service and Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station personnel will host the annual event from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m. on that Saturday in Verona.

MSU horticulture experts will lead educational seminars, answer questions and provide tours of the flower and vegetable gardens at the facility located at 5421 Highway 145 South.

Quadry Antoine of Belle Chase, La., Rufus Warren of Indianola, and other members of Mississippi State University's football team play with a calf at the third annual Beefing Up the Bulldogs event at MSU on Aug. 18, 2013. (Photo by MSU Ag Communications/Kat Lawrence)
August 22, 2013 - Filed Under: Agriculture, Beef, Dairy, Community

By Kaitlyn Byrne
MSU Ag Communications

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- Members of Mississippi State University’s football team traded helmets and shoulder pads for cows and hay bales at the third annual Beefing Up the Bulldogs event at the new Leo Seal Jr. Football Complex.

Jason Krutz, irrigation specialist with Mississippi State University's Delta Research and Extension Center, says he believes that soil moisture sensors can save farmers money, conserve water and extend the life of irrigation pumps. Krutz is holding one of the sensors during the Corn and Soybean Field Day in Stoneville, Miss., on July 18, 2013. (Photo by MSU Ag Communications/Linda Breazeale)
August 22, 2013 - Filed Under: Agriculture, Irrigation

STONEVILLE – When it comes to irrigating crops, farmers are like Goldilocks.

“They don’t want too much water; they don’t want too little water; they want it just right,” said Jason Krutz, irrigation specialist with Mississippi State University’s Delta Research and Extension Center.

Krutz explained that too much irrigation can damage a crop, drive costs up and reduce underground water supplies.

Ashley Ward with Ducks Unlimited and John Long with the Mississippi State University Extension Service model proper eye and ear protection for dove hunting. (Photo by MSU Ag Communications /Kat Lawrence)
August 22, 2013 - Filed Under: 4-H, 4-H Shooting Sports

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- When Labor Day rolls around each year, friends and family throughout Mississippi head to the fields early in the morning to get the first flights of doves over the fields they planted in the spring.

John Long, 4-H youth development specialist and shooting sports state program leader with the Mississippi State University Extension Service, said opening day of dove season is the big kick-off to hunting season and is considered a Southern tradition.

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