Greenhouse Project - HCS412

Apr 2, 2004 - planting day
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Apr 16, 2004 - emergence at 2 weeks
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Greenhouse

Forage businesses are dependant on the amount of forage grown. In recognition of this dependence, students will receive academic credit based on the amount of forage they can grow. You can work in pairs, and can submit joint or individual reports as you choose. Each group will grow 3 pots each of 2 forage treatments (6 in total) in the greenhouse during the spring quarter. You should select your treatments from the following list:

• Choice of species and cultivar from the forage ID list (simple mixtures, complex mixtures, grasses or legumes)
• Fertilizer regime
• Establishment method (depth, pre-germination, sowing rate)
• Harvesting regime (once, twice, harvesting height)

(List of teams and projects - 2005)

(List of teams and projects - 2004)

Apr 23, 2004 - emergence at 3 weeks
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May 17, 2002 - production after 6 weeks
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Report

Forage professionals will often be required to plan, conduct and report field trials. Presentation styles vary, but in every case a high presentation standard exists. In this project, groups will prepare a typewritten report in American Forage & Grassland Council (AFGC) Proceedings format (3000-4000 words, including tables/figures). This includes:

• Introduction – background to your study, literature you are aware of (include a list of references, minimum of 3), consideration of your treatments of interest, statement of hypothesis (what you are trying to test and what you expect to be the answer).
• Methods – describe growth conditions, statement of treatments, soil media, fertilizer applied, harvest regime, seed germination rate, sowing rate, etc.
• Results – establishment and final plant density (count/m²), yield (g/m² or kgDM/ha) and variation of each treatment, t-test of treatment effect, any other measurement results you made (eg. height), use metric units.


• Excel file for T-test <click to open Excel file>


• Discussion – what do you conclude about your hypothesis, discuss the effectiveness of your treatments, consider any factors which contributed to success/”failure”, how do your results relate to farm practice, lessons learned, any financial implications (what did your treatments ‘cost’, what is your forage worth?), any environmental implications?
• References (use format shown in AFGC format example.
• Tables or figures.

Assessment

• based on the yield of your best treatment (average for 3 pots), 1 point per 10 g/m²
• >500 g/sqm = 50 points
• 450 g/sqm = 45 points
• 313 g/sqm = 31 points
• 176 g/sqm = 18 points
• no yield = 0 points

Reporting (125 points, 25%)

• Two project data reporting sheets (25 points total)
• Presentation, on-time, adherence to AFGC format , spelling/grammar  - 10 points
• Introduction - 15 points
• Methods - 15 points
• Results - 20 points
• Discussion - 40 points

Planting action - Apr 2, 2004
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emergence at 3 weeks - Apr 23
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May 17, 2002 - production after 6 weeks
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