08/29/1991

AU AG Research Center a Monument to Ozark Native

SHORTER, Ala.—The E.V. Smith Research Center is a 3,870 acre research facility of Auburn University's Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station. Like its namesake, Ozark's Edwin Virginious Smith, the center stands monument to the hand-in-hand relationship of science and agriculture.

Born in Ozark in 1905, Smith earned a B.S. degree in agriculture from Auburn in 1928. In 1931, he completed his Ph.D from Iowa State University and began a 41-year career at Auburn University. At the time of his retirement in 1972, Smith was dean of the College of Agriculture and director of the Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station.

During his tenure as director of the Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station, from 1951 until 1972, Smith saw the number of farms in the state decrease from 211,000 to 86,000. The number of farmers dropped from 280,000 to about 100,000 during the same time period.

Smith recognized that these drastic reductions in numbers of farms and farmers would mandate fewer, but much larger farms in the state. Much of the research in the Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station was geared to provide technical data necessary to build large, multifaceted farm businesses.

The E.V. Smith Research Center is the prototypical agricultural research center. The research center is divided into agricultural engineering, dairying, beef cattle, horticulture, field crops and a plant breeding unit. Research is conducted on a wide range of crops and disciplines, including forestry and urban entomology.

Jim Bannon, current director of the research center, notes that several projects are underway to determine the most optimum utilization of chicken litter, a byproduct of the state's largest agricultural enterprise.

In a pilot study by ag engineers, broiler litter is mixed with recyclable newsprint and buried in four-foot deep by six-inch wide trenches. Researchers planted the first crop of cotton on this unique soil amendment in April. What effect the paper/litter soil amendment has on the cotton crop and how economical it will be for Alabama farmers are two missions of the research effort, according to Bannon.

A companion study by ag engineers at the E.V. Smith Center investigates various distribution patterns of broiler litter when it is applied using a mechanical spreader.

In a multidisciplinary study, animal scientists and agronomists are investigating the use of poultry litter as a nitrogen source for various corn varieties grown specifically for silage. They hope to obtain abundant dividends of information, because little is currently known about corn varieties that are used for silage, nor is there much technical data on the effectiveness of litter as a soil amendment in corn. In addition, animal scientists can determine how these production parameters affect the acceptance and production by livestock.

Researchers also will evaluate broiler litter, used in combination with pine bark, wheat straw or papermill sludge as a compost material. And, dairy researchers are comparing feather meal as a protein source with soybean meal and fish meal.

As Director Bannon notes, "research projects are liable to pop up anywhere at the research center." Even the roadway leading to the Dairy Research Unit is a test site. Here researchers are testing a herbicide-impregnated fabric for its ability to restrict root growth without significantly restricting tree growth. By restricting root growth on such popular shade trees as sycamore, red maple, Bradford pear and willow oak, researchers hope to reduce root-buckling of pavement around urban dwellings.

The polypropolene fabric was placed four feet deep on all four sides of the trees when they were planted in the spring of 1990. Each spring researchers dig a trench outside the fabric to determine whether roots have penetrated it, thus posing a threat to the nearby roadway. So far, little difference has been detected in tree growth among those with the treated fabric and untreated trees, according to Bannon.

Urban entomologists are evaluating the impact of white marble landscape rock, periwinkle ground plants, pinestraw, bareground, thatched centipedegrass and unthatched centipedegrass on heat, light and humidity of the environment immediately adjacent to dwellings. Researchers have determined these factors play a vital role in development of roaches in urban environments, and by measuring these factors, they hope to develop surroundings less conducive to high roach populations.

This seemingly simple study involved construction of simulated houses and the use of over seven miles of wires. These wires are hooked to a computer system that monitors the effect various mulches have on temperature, light and humidity.

The E.V. Smith Research Center will soon become one of the Southeast's largest pecan test sites. Recent plantings will allow scientists to evaluate 20 varieties. Other pecan test orchards will be used to conduct disease and insect studies. And, horticulture researchers will evaluate several frost and freeze production systems.

"Pecan production is shifting from the Gulf Coast to Central Alabama," according to Bannon. "These new plantings will provide answers to production problems that are different than those prevalent in Gulf Coast area pecan production," he concluded.

Though physically separated from the Auburn campus by about 30 miles, the E.V. Smith Research Center is considered part of the Main Agricultural Experiment Station at Auburn University. When it was officially dedicated in 1978, virtually all of the agronomic work and most of the horticulture and beef cattle research was shifted to the facility.

The move to an away-from-campus research center was necessitated by the continued growth of the University and subsequent encroachment of the Main Station research farm, combined with the poor quality and limited range of the soil on campus.

The E.V. Smith Research Center, like it's namesake, has made significant contributions to Alabama agriculture. Though Dr. Smith died in 1984, the agricultural research center that bears his name remains a legacy to the people of Alabama. It is a tribute to this Alabama native and forward-thinking scientist, who recognized the increased need for research tested technology to drive today's "high tech" agricultural economy.

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By:
Roy Roberson