Ivan William Buddenhagen was born in Ventura, Calif., in 1930 to Harold J. Buddenhagen, a petroleum geologist, and Pearl M. Buddenhagen, a teacher and homemaker. He died at his Davis, Calif., home on July 9, 2022. He would have approved of his simple coffin, crafted of pine that had been felled by drought and beetles, and adorned with messages and drawings from his beloved family. A sprawling bouquet of his favorite plants, including banana, served as a botanical mantle atop his coffin.
The Department of Plant Sciences welcomes Imtiyaz Khanday as an assistant professor of plant reproductive biology and as an assistant agronomist for the Agricultural Experiment Station in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences at the University of California, Davis.
The annual small grain field day and other field-based activities were cancelled due to COVID-10, so Mark Lundy and colleagues are sharing digital resources related to nitrogen fertilizer management in small grains, small grain variety evaluation, and leaf and canopy meters to measure the N status of crops. Also posted are virtual field tours of small grain variety evaluation plots.
Recycling trees onsite can sequester carbon, save water and increase crop yields, making it a climate-smart practice for California’s irrigated almond orchards. Professor Amelie Gaudin, Plant Sciences, UC Davis, worked with postdocs, grad students, and Cooperative Extension colleagues.
Flexible harvest options may allow growers to plant small grains in the winter, rather than fallow ground, out of concern that there will not be adequate water or strong markets to justify the crop. Research by Plant Sciences faculty member Mark Lundy.
Drone-mounted cameras are being used to determine fertilizer needs in agricultural crops, which also helps growers reduce crop fungal diseases. Bruce Linquist and Luis Espino address the use of drones (or unmanned aerial vehicles; UAVs) in rice production.
If all the nitrogen fertilizer is applied at fall planting, much of the nitrogen can be leached below the root zone by winter rains before the crop needs the nutrients for spring growth.