AGRO 5005. BIOMETRICS (I, S). Three credit hours. Two hours of lecture and three hours of laboratory per week.

Basic concepts of statistical reasoning applied to problems in agricultural, biological and environmental sciences. Data gathering, graphical description and numerical summarization. Concepts of probability and sampling. Estimation and hypothesis testing, analysis of variance, linear regression and correlation. Students describe and analyze real data sets and use statistical computing programs.

AGRO 5006. GENESIS, MORPHOLOGY AND CLASSIFICATION OF SOILS (I). Three credit hours. Three hours of lecture per week. Prerequisite: AGRO 3005 or authorization of the Director of the Department.

Historical development of concepts of soil and systems of soil classification; principles and nomenclature of "Soil Taxonomy"; environmental factors and processes of soil formation; and field study of soil profiles. Field trips are required.

AGRO 5007. SOIL PHYSICS (I) (Even numbered years). Three credit hours. Two lectures and one three-hour laboratory per week.

Physical properties of soils, and factors affecting them; soil consistency, structure, water, air, temperature, tillage; evaluation and influence in determination of soil productivity.

AGRO 5008. SOILS OF PUERTO RICO (II). Three credit hours. Two hours of lecture and three hours of laboratory per week.

Study of the genesis and distribution of the soils of Puerto Rico, based on environmental conditions; classification of soils using the "Soil Taxonomy" system; evaluation of the morphological, chemical, physical, and mineralogical properties of soils with respect to agricultural and not agricultural uses. Representative soil profiles are studied during field trips.

AGRO 5010. MANAGEMENT OF NATURAL FORESTS. Three credit hours. Three hours of lecture per week. Prerequisites: BIOL 3435 or BIOL 3051 or CFIT 3005 or authorization of the Director of the Department.

The study of the composition and structure of the different forest systems of the tropics; wet forest, deciduous forest, conifer forest and mangrove from the stand point of multiple use and sustainability. Field trips required.

AGRO 5015. CONSERVATION, MANAGEMENT AND DEVELOPMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES (I) (Even numbered years). Three credit hours. Three hours of lecture per week. Prerequisite: AGRO 4035 or authorization of the Director of the Department.

Study of concepts, methods and techniques in the conservation, management and development of natural resources, and their effects on environmental quality. Contemporary issues and problems in the management and allocation of natural resources will be discussed.

AGRO 5501. AGRICULTURAL BIOTECHNOLOGY (II) (Even numbered years). Three credit hours. Three hours of lecture per week. Prerequisites: QUIM 3062 and (BIOL 3015 or BIOL 3300) and (BIOL 3770 or PROC 4016) or authorization of the Director of the Department.

Biological concepts for biotechnology: enzymes, nucleic acids, genetic transfer mechanisms, operons, plasmids, vectors, cloning, DNA sequencing, monoclonal antibodies, clonal production and hybridization.

AGRO 5502. AGRICULTURAL BIOTECHNOLOGY LABORATORY (II) (Even numbered years). One credit hour. One three-hour laboratory per week. Corequisite: AGRO 5501.

Experiments or demonstrations on microbial growth, DNA isolation, embryo transfer, protoplast isolation, tissue culture, plant hybridization, mutagenesis, plasmid isolation, and DNA electrophoresis. Restriction enzymes and other DNA techniques.

AGRO 6005. USE OF STATISTICAL COMPUTER PACKAGES IN BIOMETRY. Two credit hours. Two hours of lecture per week.

Use of statistical computer packages in the analysis of experimental data.

AGRO 6600. ADVANCED BIOMETRICS (II). Three credit hours. Two hours of lecture and three hours of laboratory per week.

Advanced study of analysis of variance, covariance and multiple regression, design and analysis of experiments applied to research problems in agricultural, biological and environmental sciences. Students design experiments, analyze data and use statistical computing programs. Previous knowledge of basic statistics is required.

AGRO 6604. SOIL-PLANT RELATIONSHIPS (I) (Odd numbered years). Three credit hours. Three hours of lecture per week.

Study of the processes that affect root growth and development, methods of study of such processes, availability of nutrients and factors that affect their movement and absorption; growth as a function of dry matter accumulation, root proliferation and nutrient uptake.

AGRO 6607. SOIL CHEMISTRY (I) (Odd numbered years). Three credit hours. Two hours of lecture and one three-hour laboratory per week.

Chemical composition and properties of soils, chemical processes of weathering, soil solution reaction, chemical properties of clays, and ionic exchanges in soils.

AGRO 6612. MANAGEMENT OF TROPICAL SOILS (I) (Odd numbered years). Three credit hours. Three hours of lecture per week. Prerequisite: authorization of the Director of the Department.

Application of principles of soil science in the interpretation and use of recent research relating to problems in the management and production of tropical soils.

AGRO 6624. SOIL MINERALOGY (I) (Even numbered years). Three credit hours. Two hours of lecture and one three-hour laboratory per week.

Identification of the constituent minerals of soils, and their relation to soil classification and agricultural practices.

AGRO 6651-6652. SEMINAR (I, II)-(I, II). One credit hour per semester. One research period per week each semester.

Discussion of assigned or selected readings of investigation related to problems in Agronomy, presentation of original work related to research in Agronomy.

AGRO 6995-6996. SPECIAL PROBLEMS (I, II, S)-(I, II, S). One to three credit hours per semester. One to three research periods per week each semester.

Advanced studies, investigations and special problems in Agronomy or related fields. Problems or topics will be assigned according to the interests and needs of the individual student.

AGRO 6997. SPECIAL TOPICS IN AGRONOMY (I, II, S). One to three credit hours. Prerequisite: authorization of the Director of the Department.

Topics not covered in other courses or specialized studies in the areas of crops and soil sciences.

AGRO 6998. SPECIAL TOPICS IN AGRONOMY (I, II, S). One to three credit hours. Prerequisite: authorization of the Director of the Department.

Topics not covered in other courses or specialized studies in the areas of crops and soil sciences.

AGRO 6999. RESEARCH (I, II, S). One to six credit hours. One to six research periods per week.

Organized research in crops at the Master's thesis level, including thesis presentation and discussion as part of the requirement for a Master of Science degree with a major in Crops.

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Advanced undergraduate course where the principles used in Phytoremediation will be discussed. These include the use of vascular plants for the phytoextraction, rhyzofiltration, phytostabilization and phytovolatilization of organic contaminants from the soils and water resources. Phytoremediation offers a permanent solution for removing the contaminants from the environment.

CFIT 6611. ADVANCED PLANT BREEDING (II) (Even numbered years). Three credit hours. Three hours of lecture per week.

Types of genetic action in plant breeding, use of the principle of population genetics and quantitative genetics in the improvement of crops; relationship of population structure to the induction of genetic variation and selectivity processes. Application of cytogenetics and polyploid concept to plant improvement.

CFIT 6644. ENVIRONMENTAL PHYSIOLOGY (On demand). Three credit hours. Three hours of lecture per week.

Environmental aspects of phytophysiology, including energy, nutrition cycles, pollution, and others.

CFIT 6645. ADVANCES IN BIOLOGICAL NITROGEN FIXATION (I) (Odd numbered years). Three credit hours. Two hours of lecture and one hour of seminar per week.

Mechanism by which atmospheric nitrogen is incorporated into plant proteins and modern techniques utilized for its study, organisms capable of fixing nitrogen in a free-living state or in symbiosis with plants, methodology to take advantage of this process in agriculture.

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