Business

 

Technology Transfer Activities

Evaluation and Improvement of Cereal Germplasm for Disease Resistance and Winter-Hardiness

• Recommendations are conveyed to wheat and small grains breeding programs at 14 cooperating state universities for developing improved cultivars by genetic marker-assisted breeding procedures.  We also provide molecular data for use in genetic marker-assisted selection for pest resistance.

• Information and training on small grain disease management strategies and assistance with small grain field trials are provided to the NC State University Small Grains Extension Specialist, NC County Agricultural Extension Agents, and Certified Crop Advisors.

• Small grain growers receive information and advice on small grain disease management via Field Days and extension publications.

• Eastern U.S.small grain breeders are provided information on pathogen populations and resistance-screening techniques for use in breeding pathogen-resistant small grain lines.  Pathogen isolates are made available for use in screening trials.

Using Genetic Diversity of Improve Quantitative Disease Resistance and Agronomic Traits of Corn and GEM

 

• 25 new recombinant inbred lines of maize will be deposited in the USDA Maize Genetic Stock Center for public distribution to all interested maize geneticists and breeders ( http://maizecoop.cropsci.uiuc.edu/).

• The near-isogenic line method of introgressing specific chromosomal segments into a standard genetic background was made available for adoption by commercial corn breeding programs.

• Our semi-tropical inbred lines are being used by a public maize breeding program in Wisconsin.

Strategies to Predict and Manipulate Responses of Crops and Crop Disease to Anticipated Changes of Carbon Dioxide, Ozone, and Temperature

 

• An ozone biomonitoring system consisting of ozone-sensitive and ozone-tolerant snap bean lines has been used in ambient ozone studies to determine interacting effects of environmental factors such as temperature and humidity on plant responses to ozone.  The snap bean lines have also been used in university and high school educational activities.
  
  

• We sent snap bean seed lines that exhibit differences in ozone sensitivity to researchers at five universities for a multi-state research project aimed at modeling impacts of ambient ozone on vegetation.

• Information was provided to the U.S. EPA for use in preparation of the 2007 OAQPS Staff Paper, Review of the National Air Quality Standards for Ozone: Policy Assessment of Scientific and Technical Information and 2012 Ozone Integrated Scientific Assessment draft document.

• Information was provided to the USDA Agricultural Air Quality Task meeting at the EPA in Research Triangle Park in 2010 on plant responses to ambient ozone pollution.

• UNECP ICP Vegetation program participants were provided ozone-sensitive and tolerant clover and snap bean lines for biomonitoring and modeling of ambient ozone effects on vegetation in North Americaand Europe ( http://icpvegetation.ceh.ac.uk/).

 

Patents and Licensing

• Patent Number 6,146,880:  "Methods for Lyophillizing and Using Ericoid & Mycorrhizal Fungi".
• Several Plant Variety Protection patents are pending.

Cooperative Research and Development Agreements (CRADAs)

• Two agreements are nearing completion with bakeries in North Carolina and Virginia for development of locally-produced wheat varieties with hard, white grain.

USDA-ARS Partnering Opportunities