Agriculture
Lon Mann Cotton Research Station
Highway 1 South
P.O. Box 789
Marianna, AR 72360
870-295-2839
Fax:870-295-2838
Claude Kennedy, Resident Director: email
Driving directions:
From I-40, take Exit 239 and head south on the bypass to Hwy. 1. Turn right onto Hwy. 1; stay on Hwy. 1 traveling through Marianna and continuing three miles south of Marianna to the Station located on the east side (left) of Hwy. 1.
The Lon Mann Cotton Research Station is one of the three original branch stations established by the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station in 1926. Originally the Cotton Branch Station, it was renamed in 2005 to honor the legacy of Lon Mann as a leader in the development of Arkansas agriculture.
The mission of the Station is to serve the agricultural community of Arkansas, particularly those involved in agronomic crop production in eastern Arkansas. The 650-acre station is located 2 miles south of Marianna and consists primarily of silt loam soils. Research includes annual evaluation of cotton, soybean, wheat, and corn varieties and breeding lines, as well as studies to determine optimum fertility, irrigation and pest management practices for these and other crops.
The Station is also the site of the Eastern Arkansas Soil Testing and Research Laboratory, which provides statewide soil testing services.
Area farmers and businesses participated in a development campaign that concluded in 2005, which made possible major improvements to the Station. The Station Headquarters, which had been in the same building since 1926, is now in the Dan Felton, Jr., Building.
The new building includes a 160-seat auditorium, offices, labs, kitchen and conference room. It is attached by a breezeway to the Soil Testing and Research Laboratory.
Program Technicians
Jimmy Hornbeck: Cotton Research - email
Bill Apple: Soybean, Corn and Grain Sorghum Research - email
John Bryant: Cotton, Soybean and Wheat Research - email
Principal Investigators and Research Projects
Cotton Research
- Dr. Gus Lorenz - Plant Bug Threshold Regional Study; Plant Bug Efficacy Evaluation; Plant Bug Transgenic Trial
- Dr. Leo Espinoza - Varietal Response to Potassium and Three Nitrogen Rates; Nitrogen Rates under Different Tillage Systems; Nitrogen and Water Use Optimization for Low Pressure Drip System
- Dr. Fred Bourland - Variety Performance Trials; Strain & Breeding Line Evaluation
- Dr. Morteza Mozaffari - Using Fertilizers, Poultry Manure and Bio-Solids for Corn, Wheat and Cotton Production
- Dr. Tina Gray Teague - Late Season Water/Insect Management of Cotton
- Dr. Derrick Oosterhuis
- Dr. Tom Barber - Seeding Configurations in Multiple seeding patterns In Cotton
- Dr. Jason Norsworthy - Integration of Cereal and Brassica Cover Crop into Roundup Flex Cotton; Integration of Legume Cover Crop into Roundup Flex Cover; Comparison of Dual & Prowl H20 over the top Post Emergence in Cotton; Influence of Cereal Cover Crop On Early Season Weed Emergence In Cotton; Staple-LX alone & Tank Mix and Tank Mix with Direx for Preplant Weed Control in Cotton; Barnyard Grass Seed Production in Cotton.
- Mr. Griff Griffith - Research Assistance, PhD Program Weed Science; Herbicide & Resistance Management Studies
Small Grain Research
- Dr. Robert Bacon - Small Grains and Variety & Strains Performance
- Mr. John Kelley - Canola Variety Performance
- Dr. Leo Espinoza - Yield Response to Varying N rates; Yield Response to Varying Sulfur Sources
- Dr. Nathan Slaton - Wheat Fertilization Trials; Comparing Urea, Super U, Urea treated with Agrotain; Conduct N trails on different soils following different crops; Polymer-coated urea trial for winter wheat production; P & K and Zinc & boron response on wheat
Soybean Research
- Mr. Don Dombek - Evaluation Commercial Soybean Variety Trials, Early Planted Soybean Cultivars
- Dr. Nathan Slaton - Determining Soybean yield Response to Phosphorus and Potash various rates
- Dr. Kristofor Brye - Impacts of alternative wheat-residue management practices on wheat yield and soil fertility in a wheat-soybean, double-crop production system
- Dr. Pengyin Chen - Propagation of Breeding Material; evaluation Bt Soybeans
Corn Research
- Mr. Don Dombek - 2008 Commercial Corn Hybrids Performance Evaluation Err.
- Dr. Jason Kelley - Corn and Grain Sorghum Planting Date Study; Twin Row Corn and Population Study; Corn Alternative Management Practices
- Dr. Leo Espinoza - Yield Response of Corn to Varying Nitrogen Rates Under Different Tillage Systems; Effect of Starter Fertilizer on Corn Yield - Spectral Reflectance of Corn under Varying Tillage Systems - Using a GreenSeeker
Grain Sorghum Research
- Mr. Don Dombek - 2008 Commercial Grain Sorghum Performance Evaluation Irr.
- Dr. Rick Cartwright - Effect of Quadris fungicide on sorghum yield and quality
Soils
- Dr. Leo Espinoza - Temporal Variability of Soil Chemical Properties; Effect of Soil Moisture on Electrical conductivity as Measured by a VERIS Device; The Potential Use of a Mobile Sensor Platform to characterize the Spatial Variability in Soil pH; Use of Gypsum as an anti-crusting Agent
