"The Development and Evaluation of a Soil Moisture Indes (SMI) using Automated Weather Data Network (AWDN) Soil Moisture Data in Nebraska for the 1999-2006 Growing Season"; Eric Hunt; Advisors-Ken Hubbard and Don Wilhite. Soil Moisture is an important parameter in the hydrological balance and is essential for understanding land-surface interactions. While spatial coverage of soil moisture is poor across most of the United States, impedance probes have been used to measure soil moisture throughout Nebraska in the Automated Weather Data Network (AWDN) since 1999. With eight years of continuous data at selected sites, we were able to derive a Soil Moisture Index (SMI) that is based on an actual water content () and a known field capacity and wilting point. The SMI is a continuous function and is scaled from 5.0 to -5.0, with 5.0 representing at field capacity and -5.0 representing at wilting point. Since the inception of the soil moisture network in 1999, periodic episodes of drought have affected all areas of Nebraska. Thus the SMI was used in this manuscript to analyze growing seasons (April 1-October 1) from 1999-2006 at six carefully selected sites throughout Nebraska. The SMI proved to be effective at depicting the onset of drought and at identifying soil recharge, or lack thereof, when heavy rainfall events followed a significant dry spell.

Special Seminar: Genome Sequencer FLX 454 Next-Generation Sequencing Next-Generation Sequencing technology from Roche and 454 Life Sciences allows you to obtain over 100,000,000 bases and 400,000 reads in a single sequencing run. Read lengths average 200-300 base pairs. The breakthrough GS FLX System technology will be introduced and show published data that highlight applications.

"Fire Frequency in the Great Plains: From Scars on Trees to Modeling" Rich Guyette, University of Missouri

The expansion of the ethanol production industry in Nebraska has created opportunities for cattle producers to utilize the byproducts as a feed source in their operations. UNL researchers have conducted research for many years on utilizing ethanol byproducts – from feed rations to storage and it is ongoing. Is byproduct feeding a viable option for producers? Come and learn more about how byproducts could become an economical feed staple for producers.

Presented by: Rick Rasby, Extension Beef Specialist, UNL Department of Animal Science

Topics include:

* Nutrient quality and differences between distillers grains and corn gluten feed
* Storage and handling issues for cow/calf producers
* Use in heifer development and backgrounding diets
* Using solubles in cattle diets
* Pricing distillers grains

Pre-registration requested one day in advance.

Complimentary hot roast beef sandwiches and refreshments served. For more information, contact UNL Extension at (800)529-8030 or via e-mail at kglewen1@unl.edu.

This meeting is sponsored by UNL Extension. Extension is in the university's Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources.