KINGSVILLE (December 10, 2025) — Amberly Zaragoza, a plant and soil science alumna of Texas A&M University-Kingsville (TAMUK), recently placed second for her research presentation at the ASA-SSSA-CSSA national conference.
Zaragoza worked on this research while still a master’s student at TAMUK. She graduated and is now in the doctoral program at Texas Tech.
“The research I presented was a greenhouse study looking at various application rates of cattle paunch on grain sorghum. Cattle paunch is a byproduct from the slaughterhouse that comes from the stomach of the cattle during the slaughtering process,” she said. “We found that with the application of cattle paunch it improved grain production compared to the control. There was a reduction in growth rate with higher application of this byproduct,” Zaragoza said.
“Due to the findings, land application of this byproduct could be an alternative method of disposal when given time to breakdown within the soil prior to planting the crop, it provides a source of plant nutrients and organic matter for the soil,” she said.
Even though she has moved on to Texas Tech, Zaragoza said she is continuing this work for her doctorate.
Zaragoza explained that the conference is held by three similar organizations, the American Society of Agronomy, the Soil Science Society of America and the Crop Science Society of America. It’s a national meeting called Tri Society.
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