The 2016 regional ‘ star ’ finalists in Agri-business , agriscience , farmer and placement share their sae experiences
Star AgriScience Award Regional Finalists :
Halley Jane Lauchland • Lodi
I started my SAE research to find an efficient treatment method control a disease prevalent in winegrapes , Eutypa Dieback ( Dead Arm ). Eutypa is a fungal spore that is carried through the air and enters the vine through pruning wounds , decreasing production and killing the vine . Infections are chronic and spread throughout the vineyard , resulting in the entire vineyard eventually needing to be replanted . Growers incur high costs of replanting vineyards , and then allow for the time necessary for replanted vines to come into production . It is important that vines are producing to their fullest and not further spreading Eutypa . Finding a solution is essential to successful and sustainable farming . My agriscience research was to test cane-pruning , an aggressive pruning technique that would result in a more viable method of disease removal . I selected twelve 18-year-old Cabernet Franc vines with a history of Eutypa and conducted a two-year comparative study using that plot . Each winter , dead-arm symptoms were removed using the cane-pruning method on six of the vines , while the other six vines showed evidence of the disease ’ s progression after being traditionally spur-pruned . In September the grapes were harvested , and bunches counted and weighed to determine which pruning method was most efficient in removing Eutypa Dieback .
Sammie Poldervaart • hamilton - hamilton city
In the area of genetics , I have spent many hours with my dad and a representative from Zoetis . I help with the sampling of the ear from the calves at the dairy to be sent to a lab for genetic testing . After about a month the results back and show many different areas which help us decide what is best for each heifer in terms of breeding , net merit , milk production , body type , and the probability of illness . With these results , my dad and I choose the bottom 20 from the herd and send them to the auction . After we take out the bottom 20 , we look at the current results and decide on how to improve these heifer ’ s offspring through breeding . We compare their genetic results with the genetic results of an AI bull and pick which is our best option to better the offspring .
Cody James Ruiz • King City
My SAE program included growing iceberg lettuce and infecting it with Sclerotinia , a fungal disease that causes root rot and leaf drop . This disease has created problems for the lettuce farmers in the Salinas Valley and the pesticides that effectively worked to treat the disease became illegal . It was my intention to try to find an environmentally safe option beginning with regular household items . I learned the fungus lives in the soil , which makes it difficult to control once a field has been infected .
To infect health plants I took infected leaves and planted them with the seeds . Plants grew healthy for the first couple weeks , then quickly began to show signs of infection , at this time that I began applying different household items to try to treat the fungus . I treated half of the plants with vinegar and was encouraged to see those plants stay healthy for a longer period of time before succumbing to the disease ; I later realized that the life cycle for the disease had not yet started . I moved to detergent and then baking soda and found the same results . I was disappointed to determine that none of those items could treat the fungi .
Tyler Mellott • Lakeside - el capitan
My SAE in argiscience was a two-year study of the effectiveness of regular soap , antibacterial soap , and hand sanitizer in reducing bacterial counts . The first experiment had forty subjects who made three plates each with an unwashed hand , a hand washed with regular soap , and a hand washed with hand sanitizer after handling raw chicken . The plates were incubated and bacteria colonies were analyzed over a five-day period . The goal was to find out if the use of hand sanitizer decreased the risk of foodborne illness by decreasing the number of bacteria on workers ’ hands compared to regular soap and water . The experiment showed hand sanitizer was more effective than regular soap . The second experiment had 35 subjects who made six plates each with an unwashed hand , a washed finger with L-Lactic acid antibacterial soap , another finger with Benzenecarbonyl chloride antibacterial soap , another finger with regular soap , and another finger with hand sanitizer . The plates were incubated and analyzed for five days . This experiment showed that antibacterial soap with the active ingredient L-Lactic acid eliminated the most amounts of bacteria . From these experiments I have learned how to produce a successful experiment , gained knowledge about microbiology and the uses of different cleansing agents .
Wade Sousa • Tulare
My agriscience SAE experiments have been Maternal Colostrum vs Colostrum Re-Placer and Morbidity and Mortality Rates Based on Stress Levels in Dairy Calves . The information from these experiments were designed to help dairy farmers determine if maternal colostrum is more efficient and economical for calves and determine if increased stress levels could affect morbidity and mortality rates in calves . I conducted both research projects at Casa Blanca Cattle Company in Tipton , CA , our family ’ s dairy heifer calf raising facility where we raise on average around 2,000 calves at a time . I decided to conduct these experiments in order to provide legitimate science-based information to our dairy farming operation and other local dairymen . Morbidity and Mortality rates can be a big problem in dairy herds . There are thousands of pathogens in a dairy cow ’ s environment that a newborn calf is unable to handle , costing dairymen money on treatment and labor . Calf raising is the most critical component on the dairy farm , disease prevention should start with observing stress levels and comparing that to the calf ’ s environment . This could help dairymen determine what factors may decrease immune response as a result of stress .
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California FFANEWS • Page 11 • Summer 2016