Project

- Current Projects -
Updates and progress reports about ongoing CIT research project.

Soils Scientists Will Try Fertilizing Apricot Trees with "Biosolids"
What to do with wastewater treatment plant sludge? Plant science professor Sharon Benes will track the growth and fruit production of apricot trees fertilized with "biosolids," which are the solid materials left over after raw sewage is treated at wastewater treatment plants. Biosolids contain desirable fertilizer elements such as nitrogen and organic materials, but they also can contain pathogenic organisms and chemical pollutants, which in high amounts could prove harmful to trees and/or soil.

Study Continues on the Growth of Salt-tolerant Plants
The West Side San Joaquin Valley has been for years an agriculturally rich area. However, soil salinity and drainage problems are common. West-side soils tend to be saline, and salinity problems are exacerbated by slowly-permeable soils and a high water table which often prevents successful leaching of salts. In an effort to find ways of disposing of the excess salt, Fresno State researcher Sharon Benes is studying the saline water use of saltgrass and other halophytes, which are plants that are native to more saline conditions. Some plants are being tested with irrigation water up to two-thirds the salt content of sea water.

Automated Subsurface Drip System to Be Evaluated
An automated subsurface drip irrigation system will be tested by researchers at Fresno State this year. Technicians have set up pan evaporators and soil sensors in a grape vineyard to monitor rates at which water evaporates or is drawn from the soil. Based on electronic information provided by the sensors, a computerized control system will direct irrigations to the vineyard.

Somatic Hybridization of Hibiscus syriacus and Hibiscus rosa-sinensis
Plant science professsor Arthur Olney is leading an effort to create a new Hibiscus hybrid from two existing species - Hibiscus rosa-sinensis, valued for its large, brilliant flowers; and Hibiscus syriacus, valued for its cold hardiness to -30° The work encompasses several facets of plant tissue culture techniques, including protoplast isolation and fusion, DNA analysis of fusion protoplasts, and the tissue culturing of fused protoplasts onto plantlets. Initial research results have been published by the California Agricultural Technology Institute (CATI). Click below for articles and publication.

Plant propagation: Research team attempts to develop new hibiscus hybrid by fusing cells of different species (Update article - Fall 1997)
Development of Randomly Amplified Polymorphic DNA Markers Characteristic of Hibiscus rosa-sinensis and H. syriacus.(CATI publication)

The Use of Electronic Monitoring to Evaluate Feed Consumption, Body Weight, Weight Gain and Feed Efficiency of Feedlot Cattle
Animal science professor Randy Perry is continuing to electronically track feeding habits and weight gain of beef cattle from the university's commercial herd. To obtain this data, Perry's research team has attached electronic monitoring devices to six steers. Through use of an on-site computer connected to a scale and to feed and water troughs at a specially-equipped pen, data on weight gain, drinking and eating habits is being obtained on each individual animal. Below are related articles and publications:

The Use of Electronic Identification and Monitoring to Evaluate Feed Consumption, Weight Gain and Feed Efficiency of Feedlot Cattle (CATI Research Notes)
Monitoring feedlot cattle (Update article - Spring 1997)

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