College of Agriculture and Life Sciences

New Publications

Developing Nitrogen Application Guidelines for Medjool Dates

Woven fabric sacks are placed over Medjool date clusters to prevent bird damage. The sacks are tied at the bottom until the dates are mature. At harvest the ends of the sacks are untied, allowing the dates to fall gently into baskets.

Medjool dates are among the largest, softest and sweetest in the world. And they are the primary date grown in California’s Bard Valley and in neighboring Yuma, Arizona. The combined region produces about 30 million pounds of dates annually—99 percent of them Medjools—with an estimated value of $40 million.

UA Awarded $4.35M to Study Earth’s Critical Zone

Researchers examine and photograph a cross-section of soil exposed within an excavation pit at the Valles Caldera National Preserve, N.M. From L to R: Scott Compton, hydrologist with Valles Caldera National Preserve; Jon Chorover, a UA professor of soil, water and environmental science; and Craig Rassmussen, a UA assistant professor of soil, water and environmental science.

The zone from the treetops to the bottom of the groundwater table has been dubbed the “Critical Zone” because of its key role in processing and cycling water, carbon and nutrients necessary for life.

Arizona Pathways to Life Success for University Students (APLUS)

Students at the University of Arizona are more than feeling the strain of the recession. A longitudinal study—the Arizona Pathways to Life Success for University Students, or APLUS—by the Norton School of Family and Consumer Sciences is following the financial attitudes and behaviors of more than 2,000 freshmen. Launched in spring 2008, the study, led by Soyeon Shim, Norton School director and by researcher Joyce Serido, project director and co-principal investigator, started just before the current recession.

Major Gift Creates Endowed Chair in Animal Sciences

A donation to the University of Arizona Foundation from the estate of Phyllis Rosina Ede Hislop has enabled the University to establish a new endowed chair.