The Nebraska Corn Board reported Tuesday that California’s low carbon fuels standards, given final approval by the state’s Office of Administrative Law last week, will have a major negative impact on Nebraska corn ethanol should the rules be rolled out as planned.

There are reasons for cautious optimism as groundwater levels over much of the eastern two-thirds of Nebraska rebounded slightly, due mainly to above-average precipitation in 2008 and 2009, according to a report recently released by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

“The long-term trend over much of the state is that groundwater levels have continued to decline from the period of predevelopment of irrigation to the present, but over the past year we have recorded widespread increases of one to five feet,” said Jesse Korus, a groundwater geologist in UNL’s School of Natural Resources. “A return to anywhere from average to well above-average precipitation in all but the western tip of the Panhandle is the main reason for these increases.”

The information is contained in the first comprehensive statewide groundwater level monitoring report UNL has published in 10 years. The 38-page report tracks changes in Nebraska groundwater levels from spring 2008 to spring 2009, over the past 10 years, from predevelopment of irrigation to spring 2009, as well as average daily streamflows in 2008 and other related information. Groundwater level change statistics for each of Nebraska’s 93 counties are recorded.

Korus co-authored the report with UNL geoscientist Mark Burbach, who long has published annual change-level maps for UNL’s Conservation and Survey Division.

“We have been publishing the change-level maps every year, but this is the first time a comprehensive annual and long-term narrative report on the overall state of Nebraska’s groundwater has been published since 1999, which summarized water level changes in 1996,” Burbach said.

The most recent data collected by the two groundwater researchers clearly note some good news across much of the state.

From 2008 to 2009, groundwater level increases of more than a foot occurred in a broad area of north central, northeast, south central and southeast Nebraska.

“Rises of greater than five feet occurred in large portions of Clay, Fillmore and York counties in the southeast, Buffalo County in the central and Platte County in the northeast,” Korus said, noting “There are several smaller areas with greater than five-foot rises in this region as well.”

Even some portions of western Nebraska, long plagued by severe drought, saw some relief, with small, scattered groundwater level increases in Red Willow, Frontier, Chase and Perkins counties in the southwest and Scotts Bluff, Morrill and Sheridan counties in the Panhandle.

Precipitation is the main reason.

Much of central Nebraska experienced greater than 130 percent of the 30-year average precipitation in 2008. In areas such as Buffalo, Dawson and Gosper counties, precipitation was as high as 180 percent of average. Even in typically rain-starved western Nebraska, some counties recorded precipitation of as high as 120 percent of average, while none were lower than 70 percent of average.

“The more abundant moisture likely resulted in reduced pumping for irrigation, and in areas of shallow water table and permeable soils it directly recharged the aquifer,” Korus said.

Despite the relatively good news, some parts of the state did see continuing groundwater level declines. In portions of Keith, Perkins, Dundy and Chase counties in southwest Nebraska, declines ranged from one to more than eight feet. Annual declines also were recorded in Box Butte, Sheridan and Cheyenne counties in the Panhandle, averaging one to five feet.

Groundwater levels also remain below spring 2000 levels over most of the state due to widespread drought conditions from 2000 to 2007. Large areas of groundwater level decline since predevelopment of irrigation remain present in the south central, southwest and Panhandle, Korus explained.

Predevelopment water levels are estimated, but generally occurred before the 1930s, 1940s or early to mid-1950s, depending on when intensive groundwater irrigation began.

From 2008 to 2009 large areas of the western Sandhills and the southwest showed little to no change in groundwater levels.

“These areas received near normal precipitation and are also areas of relatively low irrigation well density,” Korus said.

Average daily streamflow across the state somewhat mirrored increases in groundwater levels.

“Flows were well above the long-term average over much of the state due to above-average precipitation, but both streamflow and precipitation were below to near average in western parts of the state,” Korus said.

The groundwater level change maps can be downloaded free at the School of Natural Resources Web site at http://snr.unl.edu/data/water/groundwatermaps.asp. Maps from previous years are archived there, too, dating to 1954.

Data for the maps, graphs and reports are based on recorded measurements from more than 6,000 observation wells taken by 27 organizations, including each of Nebraska’s 23 Natural Resources Districts, U.S. Geological Survey, Central Nebraska Public Power and Irrigation District, U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, and UNL’s Conservation and Survey Division.

Groundwater level change maps rely on well readings recorded as close to April 1 as possible, before the start of the irrigation season.

The full, published report, “Nebraska Statewide Groundwater-Level Monitoring Report 2009,” (Nebraska Water Survey Paper Number 76) which explains and amplifies data presented on the maps, as well as other materials, can be purchased for $15 online at snrsales@unl.edu or at the Nebraska Maps and More store, first floor Hardin Hall, UNL East Campus, North 33rd and Holdrege streets, Lincoln.

On Tuesday, the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service, Nebraska Field Office reported that corn for grain production in Nebraska based on year-end surveys is estimated at 1.58 billion bushels, up 13 percent from last year and a record high.

Yield of 178 bushels per acre is 15 bushels above last year and highest of record. Farmers harvested 8.85 million acres of corn for grain, up 4 percent from 2008.

Soybean production for 2009 totaled 259 million bushels, up 15 percent from last year and a record high. Yield, at 54.5 bushels per acre, is up 8 bushels from last year and highest of record. Area for harvest, at 4.76 million acres, is down 2 percent from 2008.

Sorghum for grain production in 2009 is estimated at 13.0 million bushels, down 32 percent from last year. Yield, at 93 bushels per acre, is up 2 bushels from 2008. Area harvested for grain was 140,000 acres, down 70,000 acres from a year ago and the lowest sorghum for grain acreage since 1952.

Hay production totaled 6.24 million tons, virtually unchanged from the previous year. Acreage harvested is 2.70 million acres, up 5 percent from 2008. Yield, at 2.31 tons per acre, is down 0.1 ton per acre from last year. Alfalfa production is down 6 percent from a year ago while all other hay production is up 9 percent.

Nationwide, U.S. corn for grain production is estimated at a record 13.2 billion bushels, up 2 percent from the November 1 forecast, and 1 percent above the previous record of 13.0 billion bushels set in 2007. U.S. grain yield is also estimated at a record level for 2009, at 165.2 bushels per acre. This is up 2.3 bushels from the November forecast and 4.9 bushels above the previous record of 160.3 bushels per acre set in 2004.

Soybean production in 2009, nationally, totaled 3.36 billion bushels, up 1 percent from the November 1 forecast and up 13 percent from 2008. U.S. production is the largest on record. The average yield per acre is estimated at a record high 44.0 bushels, 0.7 bushel above the November 1 forecast and 4.3 bushels above last year’s yield. Harvested area is up 2 percent from 2008 to a record 76.4 million acres.

Sorghum grain production in 2009, nationally, is estimated at 383 million bushels, up 5 percent from the November 1 forecast but 19 percent below 2008. Planted area is estimated at 6.63 million acres, down 20 percent from last year and is the third lowest acreage total on record. Area harvested for grain, at 5.52 million acres, is down 24 percent from 2008. Average grain yield, at 69.4 bushels per acre, is up 5.4 bushels from the previous forecast and up 4.4 bushels from last year.

Scientists have sequenced the majority of the soybean genome, providing an unprecedented look into how this important legume crop converts four critical ingredients–sunlight, water, carbon dioxide and nitrogen–into protein and oil, the basic building blocks for many consumer products.

The research team from 18 federal, state, public and private organizations, including the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, published their research today in the journal Nature.

“Soybean and other legumes play a critical role in global food security and human health and are used in a wide range of products, from tofu, soy flour, meat substitutes and soy milk to soy oil-based printing ink and biodiesel,” said Molly Jahn, USDA Deputy Under Secretary for Research, Education and Economics. “This new information about soybean’s genetic makeup could lead to plants that produce more beans that contain more protein and oil, better adapt to adverse environmental conditions, or are more resistant to diseases.”

This sequencing of the soy genome is the culmination of more than 15 years of collaborative research. The team used a so-called “whole-genome shotgun” (WGS) approach to sequence 85 percent of the 1.1 billion nucleotide base pairs that spell out soy’s entire DNA code. The sequence also provides researchers with a critical reference to use in deciphering the genetics of some 20,000 other legume species.

 Geneticists Randy Shoemaker, Perry Cregan, David Hyten, Steven Cannon and David Grant with USDA’s Agricultural Research Service (ARS) contributed to the Nature paper. Their work involved the creation of genetic markers and the development of the soybean (Glycine max) genetic map that facilitated “anchoring” of the genome sequence to the 20 sets of soybean chromosomes. ARS is USDA’s principal intramural scientific research agency.

The Department of Energy’s Joint Genome Institute; Purdue University at West Lafayette, Ind.; the University of Missouri at Columbia, and the University of Arizona at Tucson also participated in the soybean sequencing project, which was supported by the National Science Foundation and USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA). Through federal funding, NIFA invests in science to solve critical issues impacting people’s daily lives and the nation’s future.

According to USDA’s Shoemaker, who is with the ARS Corn Insects and Crop Genetics Research Unit in Ames, Iowa, integrating the new sequence with existing physical and genetic maps of soy will move researchers closer to linking observable physical traits of soy to their associated genes and alleles–alternate versions of genes. Ultimately, this will speed the development of new soybean cultivars offering higher seed yields, increased protein and oil contents, better adaptability and improved disease resistance, particularly to Asian soybean rust (ASR), which threatens America’s $27 billion soy crop.

“Overlaying the sequence onto available maps will expedite identification and orientation of genetic markers such as single nucleotide polymorphisms, which are often located near genes that control agronomically important traits,” Shoemaker said.

Using such markers, soy breeders can rapidly determine which offspring plants have inherited these traits without growing them to maturity, saving time, money and resources.

“We’ve mapped the locales for about 90 important traits affecting soybean growth and development, seed yield, seed protein and oil, and disease resistance, to name but a few,” Shoemaker added. “With this high-quality sequence, we now have access to candidate genes that we’ve never had before, which will enable us to look at their patterns of expression, develop molecular markers to track them in breeding programs, and work with them to determine their function or modify them to improve their function.”

Some key discoveries already gleaned from the whole-genome sequence include the first soybean gene conferring resistance to ASR, which can cause soy losses of 10 to 80 percent; a mutation that could make soybeans easier to digest by producing lower levels of a carbohydrate called stachyose; a mutation for higher levels of production of the enzyme phytase that could enable livestock to absorb more phosphorus from soybean feed so less gets excreted as a potential water contaminant; and 52 genes that orchestrate development of soy plant root nodules, where symbiotic bacteria transform atmospheric nitrogen into a form soy and other crops can use for their growth and development.

“This is a milestone for soybean research and promises to usher in a new era in soybean agronomic improvement,” said co-author Gary Stacey, Director, Center for Sustainable Energy and Associate Director and National Center for Soybean Biotechnology, University of Missouri. “The genome provides a parts list of what it takes to make a soybean plant and, more importantly, helps to identify those genes that are essential for such important agronomic traits as protein and oil content.”

From the sequence analysis, Stacey said that he and his colleagues have identified more than 46,000 genes of which 1,110 are involved in lipid metabolism. “These genes and their associated pathways are the building blocks for soybean oil content and represent targets that can be modified to bolster output and lead to the increase of the use of soybean oil for biodiesel production.”

While biodiesel from soybean oil represents a cleaner, renewable alternative to fossil fuels with desirable properties as a liquid transportation fuel, there simply is not enough oil produced by the plant to be a competitive gasoline on a gallons-of-fuel yield per acre. The availability of the soybean genome may provide some key solutions.

“We can now zero in on the control points governing carbon flow towards protein and oil,” said Tom Clemente, Professor, Center for Biotechnology, Center for Plant Science Innovation at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. “With the combination of informatics, biochemistry and genetics we can target the development of a soybean with greater than 40 percent oil content.”

The availability of the soybean genome sequence has accelerated other soybean trait discovery efforts as well. For example, researchers have used the sequence to zero in on a mutation that can be used to select for a line that has lower levels of the sugar stachyose, which will improve the ability of animals and humans to digest soybeans.

In another effort, by comparing the genomes of soybean and corn, a single-base pair mutation was found that causes a reduction in phytate production in soybean. Phytate is the form in which phosphorous is stored in plant tissue. Because phytate is not absorbed by the animals that eat the feed, the unabsorbed phytate passes through the gastrointestinal tract, elevating the amount of phosphorus in the manure. Limiting phytate production in the soybean could reduce a major environmental runoff contaminant from swine and poultry waste.

Of additional importance for soybean farmers is that the genome sequence has provided access to the first resistance gene for the devastating disease Asian Soybean Rust (ASR). In countries where ASR is well established, soybean yield losses due to the disease can be as high as 80 percent.