Founded: 1983
Full Time: 3
Part Time: 0
Budget: 472,519
Director: Dr. Kirkland E. Mellad
Vice Chancellor for Research
Southern University Agricultural Research and Extension Center
Baton Rouge, LA 70813
Telephone: 225/771-2262 FAX: 225/771-4464
E-Mail: kmellad@subr.edu
Research Areas:
The mission of the Center is to improve the status of its clientele by providing educational and technical assistance aimed at increasing the productivity and profitability of Louisiana's small scale farms and addressing related clientele needs. A major part of the Center's thrust involves the evaluation and development of ecologically and economically sound sustainable agricultural production systems. Current and future research efforts include an array of agricultural commodities such as vegetables, small fruits, herbs, small animals and economic potential of value-added processing. The Center's programs are and will continue to be multi-disciplinary with collaboration among plant and soil scientists, economists and other social scientists, nutritionists, food scientists and animal scientists. The Center works closely with Cooperative Extension Program (CEP) in developing the outreach educational and technical assistance infrastructure for program delivery. CEP's outreach efforts are organized and intensified to reflect the strengths of the Center and the Southern University Agricultural Research and Extension Center (SUAREC) and to address the needs of the identified clientele. Some of the research projects include the use of prostaglandins to improve the reproductive efficiency in rabbits; the use of the Boer goat genome to enhance the growth and carcass characteristics of goats; the effects of mixed-species controlled grazing and quality of forage on animal performances, the evaluation of cultural practices for herb (dill, basal, etc.) production in the southeast; kenaf and crawfish waste as potential protein supplements for livestock feed; obesity in African-American women; drip irrigation and soil fertility; photoperiod effect on mirlitons; and the development of sustainable vegetable production systems.
Areas of Expertise:
Special Capabilities and Facilities:
The Center is an operational component of the SUAREC. The main strength of the Center is the provision of technical and educational assistance to limited resource small farms and farmers in Louisiana. Some of the unique strengths are reflected in the array of ongoing research and outreach projects. Center personnel are also actively involved in other technical assistance projects serving the state's small farmers, their families and the rural communities in which they reside. Examples of this include the Louisiana farm family technical assistance project, the development of alternative and value-added farm products and related enterprises.
Research Equipment:
The Center has various research equipment to support and enhance its research capabilities. These equipment are distributed in various laboratories. Some of these laboratories include:
In addition, there are several new laboratories in the SUAREC building that support the mission of the Center. These laboratories include Tissue Culture Laboratory, Isotope Laboratory , GIS Laboratory, Ecology Laboratory, Air Quality Laboratory, Plant Pathology Laboratory, Hydrology and Water Quality Laboratory, Food Processing Technology, Textile Technology Laboratory, and Family Resource Management Laboratory.
There is in place, an assortment of office equipment essential to information storage, retrieval, manipulation and telecommunication via the information superhighway.
Keywords:
0200000 Agriculture
0201003 Agriculture Commodities
0201008 Agronomy
0201015 Animal Feeds/Nutrition
0201016 Animal Genetics/Breeding
0201018 Animal Physiology/Morphology
0201024 Crop Science
0201029 Fertilizers
0201031 Forest Economics
0201034 Herbicides
0201035 Horticulture
0201037 Irrigation
0201044 Pest Management
0201045 Pesticides
0201046 Plant/Soil Nutrient Bioavailability
0201049 Production Economics and Management
0201052 Soil Sciences
0201060 Waste Management
0201067 Forest Ecology
0201068 Forest Management
0201102 Animal Reproductive Biology
0201104 Sustainable Agriculture
0202000 Food Sciences
0202013 Food Preparation
0202014 Food Preservation
0202015 Food Processing
0202018 Food Technology