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| This Week's Titles: |
| Nuclear
Fallout Could Help College Research |
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Rain Gardens Reduce Water
Pollution |
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| Controlling
Ground Pearl Insects In Blueberries |
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| Late
Summer Rally For Cotton Prices |
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| Research
That Will Make Compost Piles Safer |
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| Nuclear
Fallout Could Help College Research |
1:47 |
Fingerprints from the cold
war may help college scientists improve the health of rivers
in the state. |
When storms dump heavy
rain in North and Central Georgia, a lot of sediment spills
into rivers. If nothing is done about sediment runoff, it can
choke off a river. Sediment-filled water is also harder and
more expensive to clean for drinking. Scientists with the University
of Georgia's College of Agricultural and Environmental Science
are using nuclear fallout, leftover from nuclear weapon tests
conducted in the fifties, to learn more about sediment runoff.
"Nuclear fallout turns out to give us a tool to maybe determine
where our sediment's coming from these days. The method is called
sediment fingerprinting and it is interesting because in a way
we're using something that came in from nuclear fallout, which
you would think would be really bad, but that's been called
an environmental tracer." That was David Radcliffe with the
College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, who adds
poor farming practices caused sediment to spill into rivers
from the early eighteen-hundreds to the early nineteen hundreds.
The research will be conducted on the North Fork Broad River
in Northeast Georgia. Over the next three years, university
scientists will collect around a thousand samples, or fingerprints
from the river during stormy and fair weather. The samples will
be tested for tracer material from nuclear fallout to help scientists
learn more about sediment runoff into rivers. John Harrell,
University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental
Sciences, reporting from Tifton. |
Links to audio files:
(files include a brief quote from the source for your use.)
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| Rain
Gardens Reduce Water Pollution |
1:35 |
Some gardens don't want to
drink up all the water that comes flowing through. |
As the population increases,
especially in urban areas, motor oil, soil, and other pollutants
are increasing. Most pollutants flow into a storm drain, then
take a quick trip to a nearby stream, river, or lake. Scientists
with the University of Georgia's College of Agricultural and
Environmental Sciences have been working with rain gardens.
When a rain garden is put in, the plants and soil filters rainwater
before it reaches the nearest storm drain. A rain garden can
also add beauty to a landscape. "Flowers and shrubs and in some
of them they'll even have trees so the idea is just for the
top part of it to actually use that vegetation to help treat
the water as it moves through, so kind of almost trying to recreate
what might have been there naturally. You're beautifying the
landscape but it has a functional of purifying or treating that
water as the water moves through the garden." That was Frank
Henning with the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences
who adds water passes through rain gardens rather quickly, and
won't form a small pond and stay around for several days. So
rain gardens are an effective, natural way to reduce water pollution,
and help the environment. John Harrell, University of Georgia
College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, reporting
from Tifton. |
Links to audio files:
(files include a brief quote from the source for your use.)
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| Controlling
Ground Pearl Insects In Blueberries |
1:33 |
College scientists are working
to root out an insect pest that is causing problems in blueberries. |
Farmers that grow rabbiteye
blueberries in Southeast Georgia have been having more problems
with ground pearls. These are scale insects that feed on the
root system of blueberry plants. Research has found certain
species of ants carry the pearls to blueberry plants without
killing them. But red imported fire ants will strip the roots
of an infestation in a few days. So much of the research is
focusing on making adjustments in ant control in blueberry fields.
James Clark, a county extension agent in Appling County says
growers will have to dig some to find ground pearls, but they
are easy to recognize. "But it is a scale insect. They look
like their name, they look like pearls. Literally thousands
on the roots of these affected plants that we've been working
with. You've got to dig, you've got to look for unthrifty plants
and then do a little digging and looking, you'll find them on
the roots if they're there." That was James Clark with the University
of Georgia's College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.
Other insecticides will be tested in Appling County this year
to find an effective way to control ground pearls in the blueberry
fields of Southeast Georgia. John Harrell, University of Georgia
College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, reporting
from Tifton. |
Links to audio files:
(files include a brief quote from the source for your use.)
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| Late
Summer Rally For Cotton Prices |
1:32 |
Market prices for cotton recently
took an unexpected turn. |
For most of 2007, cotton
market prices had been sluggish, with no signs of a significant
rally. But an agricultural economist with the University of
Georgia's College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences
says prices have staged a late summer rally. He adds it's unusual
for prices to increase as the crop heads into the home stretch.
"This has been a real important recovery, to have another rally
this late in the growing season is a little contrary to seasonal
tendencies. Normally we would see the market beginning to weaken
by this time heading into harvest. So again this price recovery
that we've seen recently has been a very good sign." That was
Don Shurley with the College of Agricultural and Environmental
Sciences, who adds market prices for cotton are currently over
sixty cents per pound. This year's crop in the U.S. is forecast
to be around seventeen and-a-half million bales, which is down
three million bales from last year. Export demand for U.S. cotton
is also good right now. With a smaller crop being harvested,
market prices should remain good in the coming months if the
export demand remains strong. John Harrell, University of Georgia
College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, reporting
from Tifton. |
Links to audio files:
(files include a brief quote from the source for your use.)
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| Research
That Will Make Compost Piles Safer |
1:40 |
Compost applied in fields will
be safer in the coming years, thanks to college research. |
Composting helps pathogens
become less active, and prevent contamination during field applications
of animal manure. Studies show compost should be turned periodically
during the first weeks of composting, so the pathogens will
remain inactive at the surface of compost piles. Scientists
with the University of Georgia's College of Agricultural and
Environmental Sciences have been tracking certain pathogens
in compost piles composed of chicken litter and peanut hulls
in a research field. The research also involves pathogens in
manure from other animals. "All manures do not behave in the
same way in that pathogens vary in how quickly they are inactivated
depending upon which manure you're actually composting. We've
looked at hogs, chickens, as well as cow manure. So what it's
saying to us is that if you're working with composting cow manure
you're going to have to probably be holding that a lot longer
then you would say chicken litter." That was Marilyn Erickson
with the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.
The research also found certain pathogens on the surface of
unturned litter containing chicken litter can survive for an
extended period of time. So the compost material should be held
for more than two months before applying it to fields. John
Harrell, University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental
Sciences, reporting from Tifton. |
Links to audio files:
(files include a brief quote from the source for your use.)
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