Looking for science project ideas?

Here’s what’s going on at OSU’s Western Agricultural Research Station!

Located in South Charleston, Ohio, the station has around 40 projects evaluating weed control, looking at new herbicide chemistries compared to older standards, working on good IPM (integrated pest management) strategies for farmers to control herbicide tolerant weeds, and evaluating the new Enlist and Extend GMO soybean varieties, with Mark Loux, OSU Weed Specialist.

Station manager Joe Davlin said, “We have 6 acres of soybean plots with OSU Plant Pathologist Anne Dorrance, who specializes in soybean diseases, frogeye leaf spot being one of the big ones to control, with different classes of fungicides being sprayed at various growth stages of the soybean plant.”

Leah McHale, a soybean breeder with OSU, is doing preliminary and experimental testing of many different lines of soybeans on about 6-7 acres.

OSU Soybean and Small Grains Specialist Laura Lindsey has around 10 soybean studies at the station, assessing different compounds used to enhance soybean production, either used as a seed treatment or sprayed on the plant early or later in the soybean plants’ growth cycle. Davlin said, “We compare planting dates with different relative maturities of soybeans, looking at developing a new system to define soybean growth stages, and evaluating seeding rate and relative maturity comparisons for double crop soybeans after wheat.”

Alex Lindsey is evaluating cover crops in a corn/soybean rotation and looking at foliar responses to nitrogen applications on soybean plants versus soil applied applications.

OSU Pest Management specialists Andy Michel and Kelley Tilmon are looking at Bean Leaf Beetle control for soybean producers.

Steve Culman, OSU Fertility Specialist, is comparing broadcast versus starter fertilizer application on soybeans with different formulations of liquids and dry fertilizers. He is also studying long-term crop rotation effects of phosphorous and potassium rates in a corn and soybean crop rotation.

(photo courtesy of Urbana Daily Citizen paper)