Laboratory Equipment

Researchers Study History to Keep Texas Green

Evapotranspiration, or ET, is the amount of water a plant actively pulls from the soil. Texas A&M AgriLife Research scientists are trying to utilize this basic measurement to help develop some simple formulas for watering lawns.

Operating on the principle that history is a good teacher, Charles Fontanier, AgriLife Research associate, and Richard White, AgriLife Research turfgrass physiologist, are conducting studies at the Texas A&M AgriLife Turfgrass Field Lab to determine if historical evapotranspiration data can be used to predict water needs when irrigating St. Augustine lawns.

Read more: http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news/2012/12/researchers-study-history-keep-texas-green

Painted Grass Shows Notable Reduction in Photosynthesis

Professional athletic field managers maintain trimmed turfgrass with great precision, carefully painting crisp lines and colorful logos on their grass before each game. While these fields appear to be in perfect health, some field managers have noted deteriorating turfgrass beneath repeated paint applications.

New research now suggests why. In a study that appears in the September-October issue of Crop Science, three North Carolina State Univ. researchers found that grasses coated with latex paints show a notable reduction in photosynthesis.

Read more: http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news/2012/08/painted-grass-shows-notable-reduction-photosynthesis

Genome Project Yields Grass Evolution Clues

Miscanthus grasses are used in gardens, burned for heat and energy, and converted into liquid fuels. They also belong to a prominent grass family that includes corn, sorghum and sugarcane. Two new, independently produced chromosome maps of Miscanthus sinensis (an ornamental that likely is a parent of Miscanthus giganteus, a biofuels crop) are a first step toward sequencing the M. sinensis genome. The studies reveal how a new plant species with distinctive traits can arise as a result of chromosome duplications and fusions.

Read more: http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news-Genome-Projects-Shows-Evolution-of-Grass-Corn-Sugarcane-051612.aspx

Grass Removes Lead from Soil

About 250,000 children in the United States have high levels of lead in their systems, say the Centers for Disease Control. Children under the age of 6 are especially vulnerable to lead poisoning, which can severely affect mental and physical development. At very high levels, lead poisoning can be fatal. Most people know that old paint (from before 1978) can contain high amounts of lead and that children can be poisoned by ingesting paint flakes. But that paint can also slough off into neighboring soils, creating a hazard for gardeners — and children playing in the dirt.

Now, a biologist at Michigan Technological Univ. is working on a way to remove lead from soil that is simple, inexpensive, and, quite literally, green.

Read more: http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news-Grass-Removes-Lead-from-Soil-032712.aspx

Genome Map Speeds Biofuel Development

Researchers at the Univ. of Georgia have taken a major step in the ongoing effort to find sources of cleaner, renewable energy by mapping the genomes of two originator cells of Miscanthus x giganteus, a large perennial grass with promise as a source of ethanol and bioenergy. Changsoo Kim, a postdoctoral research associate in the UGA Plant Genome Mapping Laboratory, identified a set of approximately 600 bits of Miscanthus DNA that can serve as diagnostic tools. The next step is to determine which pieces of DNA are diagnostic of genes that can make the plant an even better biofuel crop.

Read more: http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news-Genome-Map-Speeds-Biofuel-Development-021012.aspx

Genes Could Make Better Grass for Fuel, Food

Researchers from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) Sustainable Bioenergy Centre (BSBEC) have discovered a family of genes that could help breed grasses with improved properties for diet and bioenergy.

The genes are important in the development of the fibrous, woody parts of grasses, like rice and wheat. The team hopes that by understanding how these genes work, they might for example be able to breed varieties of cereals where the fibrous parts of the plants confer dietary benefits or crops whose straw requires less energy-intensive processing in order to produce biofuels.

Read more: http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news-Genes-Could-Make-Better-Grass-for-Fuel-Food-012012.aspx