Plant Sciences Unit

Property Map

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Property Map

Location Map

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Location Map

In addition to the land base, the ETREC-Plant Sciences Unit is home to many great facilities that are used to aid in research. There are facilities that include: buildings for maintenance and to house equipment, seed lab for processing seed and samples, crop dryers, refrigeration units for seed and plant material storage, office space for researchers, ten greenhouses, pump house for irrigation, and two residential houses. Plant Sciences Unit is also home to ETREC headquarters as well as a NOAA weather station.

The ETREC-Plant Sciences Unit uses specialized equipment to aid in research. Specialized row crop planters, a custom combine, two grain drills, and a forage harvester with electronic weighing devices make up this inventory of equipment. The unit is also the site for the Center for Athletic Field Safety.

Current projects being undertaken at the ETREC-Plant Sciences Unit include: corn and soybean state variety trials, corn and soybean breeding programs, weed control in row crops, turfgrass weed control, turfgrass disease control, turfgrass management, forestry projects including a pine and tulip poplar, breeding nursery, bee hives to study bee diseases, forage research with varieties and management of fescue, hay, alfalfa, and clover, bio-energy projects with switchgrass, and switchgrass breeding.

The Environmental Hydrology Field Teaching Site is also located on the unit. This designated area contains wells used for water sampling and water quality analysis. Also this area is used to train students to use Ground Penetrating Radar.

The UT Turfgrass Field Day is held at this unit annually. Attendance for this event has grown steadily over the years and provides the latest information and research results on turfgrass, related to golf courses, athletic fields, and home lawns. This event is usually held in the fall.