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An easy-to-use test kit for fruits and vegetables can verify that
residues of a fungicide, thiabendazole, are at or below safe levels.
The fungicide protects potatoes, apples, bananas, lemons, oranges and
other produce from microorganisms that cause molds and rots. ARS
researchers and colleagues from Millipore/ImmunoSystems, Bedford, MA,
developed the test kit that Millipore will begin selling this spring. The
kit will simplify testing by regulatory agencies, food processors or
retailers who run their own safety checks of produce. Growers, too, could
use the test to ensure that thiabendazole levels in dips or sprays are
adequate to safeguard the harvested crop without leaving excess residue.
Proteins called monoclonal antibodies are the basis of the experimental
kit, and are exposed to a liquid containing bits of peel that have been
pre-soaked in methanol and water or homogenized in a blender. The
proteins seek out and bind to the fungicide, revealing its presence by a
color change. To prepare the peels and run the test doesn't require
expensive lab equipment, and only takes about four hours, making the test
faster than other methods for detecting the chemical.
Food Safety and Health Research, Albany, CA
David L. Brandon, (510) 559-5783
Two new flowering shrubs have raced from laboratory to market on the
heels of their unusual colors. ARS scientists imported and tested the
two Loropetalum ornamentals, "Blush" and "Burgundy," which they released
in 1993. Related to witch hazel, Loropetalum is a large evergreen shrub
with graceful, arching branches. In place of the creamy white flowers and
dark green foliage common to the species, "Blush" and "Burgundy" have
shocking pink flowers in late winter to early spring and red-brown
foliage. In warmer climates, the plant is evergreen but can lose its
leaves in northern areas of USDA hardiness zone 7, the southern-tier
United States. About 40 U.S. nurseries and gardens propagated the shrubs.
Since their introduction, they have become a financial success within two
years. Generally, newly introduced plants take three or four years to
reach the marketplace. One South Carolina nursery that propagated 30,000
plants reported that income from 1995 sales should reach $500,000.
Yearly, U.S. retail sales of shrubs total about $1.2 billion.
U.S. National
Arboretum, Washington, DC
Tom Elias, (202) 245-4539
Patent licenses
...To Trécé Inc., Salinas CA, to commercialize synthetic versions of
natural attractants to trap pepper weevils. Monitoring weevil
populations by checking trapped weevils can help growers decide if and
when to apply insecticides. Pepper weevils can seriously reduce yields of
nearly all types of peppers in the southern-tier states and throughout
Mexico and Central America. The trap system--including ARS-patented
attractants--was developed by ARS and Trécé Inc. under a cooperative
research and development agreement. (PATENT 5,393,522)
Bioactive Constituents Research,
Peoria, IL
Robert J. Bartelt, (309) 681-6237
Cooperative Research and Development Agreements
...With Z Corp of Albuquerque, NM, for developing absorbent materials
from low-cost, high-volume agricultural waste, like soybean, cotton seed
and rice hulls. The materials would solve two problems: what to do
with agricultural waste and how to get rid of industrial waste. The
materials, called granular-activated carbons (GACs), are similar to the
black granules used in filter water in fish tanks. ARS researchers found
GACs effective in removing toxic metals from certain industrial
wastewaters. Current methods of removal are expensive, making it hard for
small- and medium-sized businesses to adequately remove the toxic
substances.
ARS Contact: Wayne E. Marshall, Environmental Technology Research,
New Orleans, LA (504) 286-4356
...With Bio-Con Systems, Mentone, CA, to test a lighter, sturdier trap
for capturing destructive fruit flies, including the dreaded Mediterranean
fruit fly. Bio-Con's patented trap updates a device called the
McPhail trap, a heavy, bell-shaped glass bottle that breaks more easily
than Bio-Con's plastic product. The Bio-Con model, called the Merrill
trap, could also save time and labor. It holds more of the bait-and-water
mixture for attracting and drowning fruit flies, so it doesn't need to be
refilled as often. In California, Florida and Texas, McPhail traps and
others are hung from trees and shrubs as sentries to detect fruit flies
before their populations can build up. California maintains more than
18,000 McPhails in traplines. ARS researchers are testing the device in
outdoor experiments on the islands of Hawaii and Kauai where the Medfly
and relatives, such as the Oriental and Malaysian fruit fly and the melon
fly, are already established. These flies pose a threat to mainland
fields and orchards because they can attack more than 300 different kinds
of fruits and vegetables.
ARS Contact: Nicanor J. Liquido, Tropical Fruit and Vegetable Research
Laboratory, Hilo, HI, (808) 959-9138
...With Rhone Merieux, of Lyon, France, to refine an ARS-invented
method using vegetable and other non-petroleum oils to formulate safer and
less costly vaccines for Newcastle disease in poultry. Current
inactivated vaccines use petroleum-based mineral oils as a vehicle to
suspend tiny encapsulated droplets of vaccine antigen. An inactivated
vaccine uses a "dead" virus as the antigen, the component that induces
disease immunity, compared to vaccines that use live virus antigens.
Inactivated vaccines made with mineral oil cannot be given to poultry
within 42 days of slaughter, because of possible side effects, including
skin and muscle lesions that make poultry unfit for processing. Now,
synthetic, animal and many vegetable oils could replace mineral oil. An
ARS researcher also found a combination of three compounds--modified
castor oil, a diglycol and a triglyceride --that can encapsulate vaccine
antigens in the oils. In studies, Newcastle vaccines made with various
non-mineral oils protected chickens from the disease with little or no
side effects. The approach may have potential with other vaccines for
poultry, livestock and humans. Newcastle viruses can be highly contagious
to poultry and other domesticated and wild birds. Exotic forms are
considered among the most dangerous foreign diseases threatening the U.S.
poultry industry. A California outbreak in 1972 took two years and $56
million to eradicate. (PATENT APPLICATION 08/384,184)
ARS Contact: Henry D. Stone, Southeast
Poultry Research Laboratory, Athens, GA, (706) 546-3431
...With Maine Biological Laboratories, Inc., Waterville, ME, to
commercially develop a "dead" or inactivated virus vaccine for injecting
into chicken eggs to protect hatched chicks from Newcastle disease.
Vaccinating an embryo inside the eggshell, a common practice in the
poultry industry, was pioneered by ARS scientists over 10 years ago. But
today's in-egg or in ovo vaccines are live. Now an ARS scientist has
proved effective an in ovo Newcastle vaccine that uses killed virus
suspended in a conventional emulsion of mineral oil. This is safer for
chickens. It will not cause disease symptoms--unlike live vaccines that
sometimes do so. Plus, the dose is smaller than that given to hatched
chicks. In tests, ARS scientists vaccinated embryos of White Leghorn
chickens three days before they were due to hatch. Two months later, the
grown birds were challenged with an exotic strain of Newcastle virus.
Exotic strains are the deadliest form that potentially threaten U.S.
poultry. No vaccinated chickens in the study showed disease signs. But
the exotic virus strain killed all chickens in a group that was not
vaccinated. The scientists also found that the killed-virus, Newcastle
vaccine can be incorporated with in ovo vaccines available for avian
influenza, Salmonella bacteria and other poultry pathogens. Each year,
the poultry industry spreads about $16 million on inactiviated vaccines to
protect flocks from Newcastle and other diseases. (PATENT APPLICATION
08/269,325)
ARS Contact: Henry D. Stone, Southeast
Poultry Research Laboratory, Athens, GA, (706) 546-3431
...With Calgene, Inc., of Davis, CA, to evaluate the commercial
potential of cotton hybrids that the company's scientists bioengineered to
stop destructive caterpillars from eating cotton plants. If the
hybrids pass muster, farmers could get a new alternative to insecticides.
The new hybrids are called transgenic because their new pest-killing gene
comes from a different organism--the Bacillus thuringiensis
bacterium, or Bt. In the bacteria and the plants, this gene produces a
protein that makes cotton-bollworm caterpillars stop feeding. They
eventually starve. The protein doesn't harm people or the environment.
In lab and field studies, ARS scientists are measuring how well the
transgenic plants resist heavy infestations of cotton bollworms. They're
also comparing the hybrids with commercial varieties in yield and quality
of cotton lint and in other important traits. Caterpillars such as
bollworms and tobacco budworms cost cotton growers millions of dollars
annually in chemical controls and lost yields.
ARS Contact: Johnie N. Jenkins, Crop Science Research
Laboratory, Mississippi State, MS, (601) 323-2230
...With Suggs Machine and Welding of Butler, GA, for building automated
peanut grading machines designed to reduce sampling, equipment and human
errors. The ARS-patented equipment removes debris from a five-pound
sample taken from a five-ton shipment of peanuts. Then it removes the
shells and sorts the peanuts by size. If the equipment fails to remove
some peanuts' shells, those unshelled peanuts are separated by weight and
sent back through the sheller. Workers using the current equipment must
hand-pick the sample, and either remove the shells by hand or put the
unshelled peanuts back into the sheller. Sorting prevents this problem
and saves on labor costs. (PATENT APPLICATION 08/015,978)
ARS Contact: Floyd E. Dowell, National Peanut Research
Laboratory, Dawson, GA, (912) 995-4441, ext. 7432
Last updated: November 15, 1996
Return to: Quarterly Report
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