News

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- Clergy across the state are being asked to lend their support to efforts to improve marriages in Mississippi, and a series of summits is planned over seven days in late November and early December to better equip them for the task.

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- The sights, scents and sounds of the holiday season will dazzle visitors during the Holiday Open House hosted by the Mississippi State University Department of Plant and Soil Sciences and The University Florist Nov. 30.

Poinsettias of 58 varieties in shades of red, pink and white, as well as a few novelty-type plants, will be on display during the open house located in the greenhouses behind Dorman Hall on Stone Boulevard. The greenhouses will be open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

With cold weather arriving and the holiday season nearly upon us, I could write about fall leaf color or cool season flowers, but I cannot pass up the opportunity to tell you about Blue Fortune agastache.

By Patti Drapala
MSU Ag Communications

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- A little motivation and moderation may be the best strategy for individuals with chronic illnesses to survive the holidays with their health intact.

By Courtney Coufal
MSU Ag Communications

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- The holiday season can be a great opportunity to bring families closer together as children are out of school and parents take time off from work.

Extra days at home during the holidays can create a natural opportunity for families to spend time together, said Tabitha Staier, family education and policy specialist with the Mississippi State University Extension Service.

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- The holidays fall in the middle of the annual flu season, increasing the need to avoid the spread of germs.

Jane Clary, health specialist with Mississippi State University's Extension Service, said visits to and from loved ones from other regions can hasten seasonal influenza's progress across the country and the globe. Every year there is the potential for seasonal flu to become pandemic, which is a disease outbreak that spans the world.

By Bonnie Coblentz
MSU Ag Communications

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- Sticker shock, violent themes and product recalls can make holiday toy buying difficult for parents and others with children in their lives.

Buying gifts for children usually means a trip to the online or actual toy store. This year has seen the recall of millions of toys, many because of lead in the paint of some toys made in China and a recent round made in Mexico because they contain parts too small for children.

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- Mississippi State University will auction about 60 horses and one pony on Nov. 17 to raise money to support MSU's equine research.

The sale will begin at 1 p.m. after a sponsored noon lunch for sale participants. Buyers can begin viewing stock at 10 a.m., and horses under saddle will be displayed between 10:30 and 11 a.m.

STONEVILLE--Planning for the 2008 growing season will be the focus of the Delta Crop Summit on Nov. 13 at the Mississippi State University Delta Research and Extension Center in Stoneville.

Registration will begin at 7:30 a.m. in the Charles W. Capps, Jr. Entrepreneurial Center. The program will begin at 8 a.m. There is no cost to attend and lunch is provided.

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- Michael T. Kidd has assumed duties as head of Mississippi State University’s Department of Poultry Science.

Kidd, whose experience includes both university and industry research, succeeds Wallace Morgan, who retired in June.

“We are fortunate to have a person with his academic and industry experience,” said Vance Watson, vice president of the Division of Agriculture, Forestry and Veterinary Medicine. “Poultry is an important part of the Mississippi economy, and Dr. Kidd has a proven record of teaching and research in support of the industry.”

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- Ronald A. Brown of Starkville recently earned national recognition for his career of service to agriculture and Extension programming.

Brown, the executive director of the Association of Southern Region Extension Directors, recently was inducted into the Hall of Fame for the Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service. The CSREES is the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s agency that administers the Extension Service system nationally.

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- No matter how much they thought they knew, the two- and four-legged students in Peter Ryan's new “special topic” class are learning a lot.

The class, Equine Behavior Modification, is giving 15 students the opportunity to learn how to break horses without breaking themselves. The horses -- as untamed as rarely handled cattle -- are learning that people are more trustworthy than they originally suspected.

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- Mississippi State University researchers are working to develop a new vaccine to protect catfish from a devastating bacterial disease that costs the industry millions of dollars each year.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has awarded more than $371,400 to MSU's College of Veterinary Medicine to study enteric septicemia, or ESC. Researchers believe a modified live vaccine against the disease could dramatically reduce economic losses to catfish farmers.

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- Mississippi's Christmas tree producers should see a $1.6 million holiday season, but there is room in the market for other growers to join the party.

Steve Dicke, forester with the Mississippi State University Extension Service, said the state is expected to produce 49,500 choose-and-cut Christmas trees this year. This number is slightly down from last year, and significantly down from pre-Hurricane Katrina years.

By Patti Drapala
MSU Ag Communications

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- Neither the chill nor the early hour dampened the enthusiasm of 100 Mississippi State University students who gave up their weekend beauty sleep to bag 20,000 pounds of sweet potatoes for the Mississippi Food Network.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

Colorful, cool-season containers near the front door or entryway serve as welcoming beacons to friends and visitors coming our way this fall and during the holiday season.

I just returned from speaking at the 19th annual Southern Garden Symposium in St. Francisville, La., where historic homes were accented with colorful flower containers. The landscapes all had incredible form and texture from evergreen trees, shrubs and groundcovers.

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- When rains don't meet the needs of crops in Mississippi's agriculturally rich Delta, producers rely on irrigation to meet their plants' needs, drawing water from the deep and plentiful alluvial aquifer below their soils.

An aquifer is a ground formation of coarse gravel and small rocks filled with water in the cracks and empty spaces. Aquifers are recharged slowly by underground water supplies fed by rainfall often hundreds of miles away.

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- Rains that started the third weekend of October put the state's cotton harvest on hold, but they did not substantially damage the crop remaining in the field at the end of the month.

By Patti Drapala
MSU Ag Communications

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- His auspicious debut at a 1935 football game between Mississippi State and Alabama brought the Bulldogs good luck and a 20-7 victory.

More than 72 years later, the university's canine mascot has become an icon. Because people instantly see Bully as the face of MSU, he must look good, feel great and behave properly to create a favorable impression. He succeeds as a goodwill ambassador because of the College of Veterinary Medicine's comprehensive approach to overseeing his health care and daily routine.