News

MISSISSIPPI STATE – Despite morning rains, about 150 people attended the Agronomic Crops Field Day at the R.R. Foil Plant Science Research Center Thursday at Mississippi State University.

A bus tour took participants to six stops to view the university’s cotton, soybean and corn research and demonstration plots. Participants heard research updates and asked questions of the scientists.

Daylilies are extremely easy-to-grow flowering perennials, and their variety gives gardeners plenty of ways to create unique, colorful landscape designs.

MISSISSIPPI STATE – Recent rains and irrigation have helped portions of Mississippi’s soybeans recover from June’s dry spell, but more moisture is needed to complete the season.

“We are thankful for the rain that we’ve received this growing season, and we all know it is a blessing,” said Trent Irby, Mississippi State University Extension Service soybean specialist. “But we still have several weeks to go in many areas, and additional moisture certainly will be needed to finish making the crop.”

Irby said the state’s soybean crop looks good.

MISSISSIPPI STATE – Pictures of wilting corn in the Midwest may dominate the evening news, but the 2012 drought is also shrinking livestock’s profit potential nationwide.

John Michael Riley, agricultural economist with Mississippi State University’s Extension Service, said the drought means livestock, dairy and aquaculture producers will continue to see higher feed prices.

MISSISSIPPI STATE – A laboratory at Mississippi State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine recently became the first-ever recipient of an MSU award recognizing laboratories for outstanding attention to safety.

MSU’s Office of Regulatory Compliance and Safety presented the inaugural Excellence in Laboratory Safety Award to the Center for Environmental Health Sciences.

The award was established to recognize an MSU laboratory group that makes safety a top priority every day.

MISSISSIPPI STATE – Mississippi has 187 known species of ants calling the state home, and while fire ants are the most feared, others can cause problems ranging from disruptive to serious.

Blake Layton, entomologist with the Mississippi State University Extension Service, said several species of ants invade Mississippi homes.

The ones most commonly found are the Argentine ant, odorous house ant, little black ant, dark rover ant, imported fire ant, black carpenter ant and acrobat ant. A new invasive species, the hairy crazy ant, is found in Jackson and Hancock counties.

By Kaitlyn Byrne
MSU Ag Communications

MISSISSIPPI STATE – Whether gardening, working or enjoying a baseball game, Mississippians should protect themselves from the heat of summer.

Several factors affect the body’s ability to cool itself during extremely hot weather. For example, in high humidity, sweat cannot evaporate rapidly, preventing the body from releasing heat quickly, said Ann Twiner, with the Mississippi State University Extension Service.

MISSISSIPPI STATE – A Mississippi State University doctoral candidate has been selected for a prestigious national fellowship focused on federal marine policies.

Clifford P. Hutt of Starkville is one of 53 scholars selected for the John A. Knauss Marine Policy Fellowship. He will spend a year in a legislative or executive office in Washington, D.C. to learn firsthand about federal policies impacting domestic waterways, including ocean, coast and Great Lakes resources. Since the fellowship program’s inception in 1979, Hutt is the first MSU student selected to participate.

MISSISSIPPI STATE – Sumner Davis has been named department head of the Mississippi State University Extension Service center that supports local governments.

For 40 years, the Center for Governmental Training and Technology, or CGT, has led the development and implementation of educational programs for county and municipal officials, provided technical assistance to local units of government, and provided specialized publications for local government officials in Mississippi.

The beginning of a new school year also signals the time when teachers will be learning about their students’ special needs, including food allergies.

MISSISSIPPI STATE – Two middle-school science teachers returned to college this summer for lessons in functional genomics and biology that did not exist their first time around, and they educated their professor at the same time.

By Dr. Rebekah Ray
MSU Delta Research and Extension Center

STONEVILLE – Mississippi State University scientists are trying to identify soybean varieties resistant to a disease that can reduce yields by more than 20 bushels per acre.

MSU plant pathologist Gabe Sciumbato and research associate Walter Solomon are checking soybean varieties for purple leaf blight through MSU’s soybean variety trials. Both are Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station researchers at MSU’s Delta Research and Extension Center in Stoneville.

If you’re looking for a vigorous and unique ground cover for your landscape, consider a popular ornamental that I really enjoy, the colorful sweet potato vine.

Longtime favorites include Margarita, which is lime green with large leaves; Blackie, a cut-leaf variety with dark purple to black foliage; and Tricolor, which has leaves of green, pink and white.

New selections have introduced amazing color selections and leaf shapes.

MISSISSIPPI STATE – College freshmen who have prepared themselves for new experiences are often not ready for the so-called freshman 15, the dreaded weight gain associated with starting college.

Brent Fountain, associate Extension professor in the Department of Food Science, Nutrition and Health Promotion at Mississippi State University, said weight gain is likely during the first few months of college life.

MISSISSIPPI STATE – An ideal growing season through mid-June turned into a hot and dry situation that stressed the state’s crops until widespread rains came after the Fourth of July.

The state has experienced very hot and dry weather in the last several weeks, but Mississippi State University experts remain optimistic about the overall potential.

Trent Irby, soybean specialist with the MSU Extension Service, said 90 percent of the state’s soybean crop was in the reproductive growth phase by the second week of July.

MISSISSIPPI STATE – Creativity and planning ahead can make buying school clothes for the coming year gentler on checking accounts, even when parents have more than one child.

A growing percentage of Mississippi young people go to public and private schools dressed in uniforms. Purchasing uniforms and other school clothes can put unprepared parents in a financial hole if they are not careful.

Experts with the Mississippi State University Extension Service offered a variety of tips on how to make back-to-school clothes shopping less stressful.

JACKSON – Afterschool programs can help keep kids on the straight and narrow, and parents can choose the right program with a few simple tips.

MISSISSIPPI STATE – Increasing numbers of athletes report taking nutritional supplements to improve their performance in sports, and the ages of these athletes concern nutrition specialists.

Mississippi State University professor Ron Williams and several colleagues across the United States recently analyzed information in the National Health Interview Survey. More than 1.2 million children ages 10 to 18 reported taking supplements specifically for sports performance. The average age of reported users was 10.8.

Summer is slipping by, and school supplies are already making their way into large bins at local stores. The back-to-school marketing event is an excellent time to consider purchasing a new computer; many stores will have them on sale beginning in August.

MISSISSIPPI STATE – Muscadine grape growers interested in the latest research and recommendations will gather at the Beaumont Experiment Station in Perry County on Aug. 16.

After meeting in Pearl River County for several years, the Mississippi State University Extension Service and Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station moved the annual meeting to Beaumont.