by Lana Koepke Johnson | Agronomy and Horticulture
University of Nebraska–Lincoln Department of Agronomy and Horticulture students received top honors at the American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, and Soil Science Society of America International Annual Meeting in St. Louis, Missouri, Oct. 29 – Nov. 1.
Undergraduate students honored include Cleopatra Babor, Cole Hammett, Charlotte Brockman and Mason Rutgers. Graduate students honored include Marina Betta, Lucia Bonfanti, Victor de Sousa Ferreira, Tauana Ferreira de Almeida, Sydney Graham, Bridget McKinley, Grace Pacheco, Roberta Rebesquini and Luzviminda Sazon.
Senior plant biology majors Cleopatra Babor and Cole Hammett, and senior agronomy major Charlotte Brockman received the ASA, CSSA, SSSA International Annual Meeting Golden Opportunity Scholar Award.
The Golden Opportunity Scholars Institute, a collaborative program of the ASA, CSSA and SSSA, matches undergraduates with scientist-mentors during the ASA-CSSA-SSSA International Annual Meetings. The program encourages talented students to enter the agronomy, crop, soil or environmental sciences, cultivate networks and develop the necessary workforce to sustain the profession. Undergraduate scholars go through an application process and are selected based on their academic achievements and interest in agronomy, crop and soil sciences. All expenses are paid to attend the annual meetings and participate in sessions designed specifically for the scholars.
Hammett also received first-place in the ASA, CSSA, SSSA International Annual Meeting Golden Opportunity Scholars Poster Competition.
Mason Rutgers, senior plant and landscape systems major, tied for third-place in the ASA-CSSA-SSSA International Annual Meeting Students of Agronomy, Soil & Environmental Sciences Pedology Contest. He belongs to Nebraska’s Soil Judging Team and has won numerous awards at regional and national soil judging contests.
Betta, a master’s student specializing in crop physiology and production, received first-place in the ASA Graduate Student Poster Competition in Precision Agriculture Systems. Her poster was titled “Determining Site-Specific Soybean Optimal Seeding Rate Using On-Farm Precision Experimentation.”
Betta’s research focuses on determining site-specific optimal seeding rates in soybean using large-scale on-farm trials, as well as using data-driven knowledge for profitable soybean management systems. She is advised by agronomy and horticulture assistant professor Nicolas Cafaro La Menza and Laila Puntel, former agronomy and horticulture assistant professor.
Bonfanti, a master’s student specializing in crop physiology and production, received first-place in the ASA Applied Soybean Research Community Master’s Student Paper Contest – Oral. Her poster was titled “Soybean seed yield distribution within the canopy as affected by nitrogen supply in high-yielding environments.” She is advised by Cafaro La Menza. Bonfanti’s research focuses on assessing the effect of nitrogen supply on soybean seed yield distribution within the canopy.
de Sousa Ferreira, a doctoral student specializing in crop physiology and production, received second-place in the ASA Graduate Student Oral Presentation – Cover Crop Management. The title of his presentation was “Evaluation of Corn Residual Herbicide Carry-over on Early-Season Interseeded Cover Crop Establishment”. Chris Proctor, associate extension educator, serves as his advisor.
His study focuses on the timing of interseeding cover crops in continuous corn and corn-soybean-corn rotations, as well as the impact of cover crops on nitrogen dynamics in soil. de Sousa Ferreira’s research also investigates the potential impact of residual herbicides on cover crop establishment, as well as different sensors as alternatives for predicting cover crop biomass.
Tauana Ferreira de Almeida, a doctoral student specializing in crop physiology and production, received first-place in the SSSA Cover Crop Community Oral Presentation. Andrea Basche, associate professor of agronomy and horticulture, is her advisor. She leads Basche’s team participation in the Precision Sustainable Agriculture Coordinated Agriculture Project. Her research focuses on the efficiency of cover crops under different management systems to improve soil health, control weeds and pests and increase cash crop yield.
Graham, a doctoral student specializing in plant breeding and genetics, received the CSSA Crop Science Turfgrass Science Outstanding Paper Award. She is advised by Katherine Frels, assistant professor of agronomy and horticulture, and Jeffrey Boehm, USDA Research Geneticist.
Graham's research aims to improve Wheat Stem Sawfly, Cephus cinctus, resistance in wheat via high throughput phenotyping and genomic selection. Because screening for WSS is labor intensive she is identifying methods to quickly evaluate stem solidness with image analysis and detect infestation of WSS with multi-spectral UAV data. Improved phenotyping methods will be used to develop genomic prediction models to provide WSS resistant wheat to Nebraska growers. Additionally, she is the incoming barley breeder for the UNL Small Grains program, where the focus is cultivar development for several markets, including feed, forage, and malting types.
Bridget McKinley, a master’s student specializing in crop physiology and production, received first-place in the SSSA Graduate Student Soil Health Community Poster Session. The title of her poster is “Root Productivity of Fall Planted Cover Crop Cultivars Grown as Monocultures Vs Mixtures.” She is advised by Basche. Her research focuses on the productivity of cover crops as part of multi-cite variety trials. Her research objectives are to understand the above and below-ground performance of cover crops planted as monocultures or mixtures and understand the potential of increasing both the resilience and efficiency of various agroecosystems.
Pacheco, a master’s student specializing in in soil and water sciences, received second-place in the SSSA Graduate Student Soil Health Community Poster Session. The title of her poster is “Short term cover crop species effects on soil organic carbon and nitrogen pools at different agro-ecoregions in Nebraska.” She is advised by Basche.
Pacheco is working with the Cover Crop Initiative, a collaborative project between UNL and Natural Resources Conservation Service to advance knowledge and utilization of cover crops in Nebraska. Her research focuses on the short-term effect that different species and varieties of cover crops have in soil carbon and nitrogen pools. She is also evaluating and comparing above ground cover crop measurements with UAV imagery.
Rebesquini, a master’s student specializing in cropping systems, received the SSSA Soil and Water Conservation Scholarship. This scholarship encourages current students to consider a career in soil and water conservation and is awarded to students whose career goals are in soil and water conservation and show outstanding scholastic accomplishments in their classes, projects and work experience.
Advised by Basche, Rebesquini’s research focuses on the perennial grain Kernza® intermediate wheatgrass, aiming to establish resilient practices to enhance environmental quality, preserve water and soil resources, and promote sustainable cropping systems. She believes in the importance of educating farmers and landowners about soil and water conservation and encouraging multi-faceted approaches to address agricultural challenges and benefit future generations.
Sazon, a doctoral student specializing in crop physiology and production, received second-place in the ASA Applied Soybean Research Community PhD Student Paper Contest – Oral. The title of her paper is “Assessing early-season variables to inform nitrogen fertilization in soybean.” She is advised by Cafaro La Menza and Patricio Grassini, Sunkist Distinguished Professor of Agronomy. Sazon’s research focuses on understanding soybean response to nitrogen application to provide a basis for soybean nitrogen recommendation.
