A laboratory test could trim years off the time it takes to pinpoint new wheat varieties whose flour produces the most bread. The automated lab test--called reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography--can reveal within 8 hours the chemical makeup of dozens of flour samples. Researchers say hard red winter wheats that are rich in gamma gliadin proteins produce more loaves of bread per pound of flour. This gamma gliadin-loaf yield link holds true only in hard red winter wheats, the scientists note. The test can be run years before breeders typically can grow enough seeds of experimental wheat varieties to begin milling and baking tests. Milling companies might someday use the test to identify potential wheat purchases that would produce the best flour. Also noted: Growing environment as well as genetics affects wheat's protein composition.
Biomaterials Processing Research, Peoria, IL
Floyd R. Huebner, (309) 681-6357

A new gooseberry variety named Jahn's Prairie could give most of today's Americans a chance to enjoy this plump, tart native fruit. Many wild gooseberry plants in the United States were destroyed decades ago because they can harbor a disease that threatened the pine industry. Jahn's Prairie, which resists the white pine blister rust, was selected from the wild by ARS and Candian experts. Gooseberries are high in vitamin C and are popular in pies and preserves in England. They ripen the first week in July, and could spark new life into a developing commercial gooseberry industry in the United States. The industry was largely abandoned here in the 1940s when a federal law called for eliminating gooseberries and their cousins, currants, because of the rust. The law was repealed in 1966 but some states still prohibit growing the fruits. Gooseberries grow well in the Pacific Northwest, Midwest, the East and in Canada. The new variety also resists powdery mildew, a fungal disease of the leaves, stems and berries.
National Clonal Germplasm Repository, Corvallis, OR
Kim E. Hummer, (541) 750-8712, hummerk@bcc.orst.edu

A new germplasm line of great northern bean withstands both the rust fungus and bean common mosaic viruses. It also resists another disease, bean common mosaic necrosis. Scientists with ARS, Michigan State University, and the University of Nebraska developed the new line, called BelMiNeb-RMR-3. It is now available to plant breeders for developing new, high-yielding commercial varieties. The fungus and virus are culprits behind diseases that can claim 30 to 90 percent of a susceptible bean crop. Commercial varieties bred from the new line would be the first with resistance to all 87 available races of the rust fungus Uromyces appendiculatus, plus all 23 known strains of these mosaic viruses. Bean common mosaic necrosis is a destructive new virus that was accidentally introduced into the United States several years ago from Africa. The scientists developed the new line by selecting the most promising plants from a series of crosses using desirable, great northern bean cultivars or lines. In field tests, yields of large, white BelMiNeb beans nearly matched those of another popular variety, Starlight. The new line grows as an upright plant. This makes it less prone to attack from soilborne Sclerotinia fungi that cause white mold disease, particularly in recumbent bean plants.
Molecular Plant Pathology Laboratory, Beltsville, MD
J. Rennie Stavely, (301) 504-6600

Rice mills could someday collect more cash for their bran and broken kernels by extracting valuable protein from these low- value products. Bran is polished off brown rice kernels to produce white rice. Typically, the bran is sold as a feed additive for an average of two cents per pound. But a pound of rice bran contains about 60 grams of protein. Rice protein is used in foods as a flavor and nutrition enhancer. Only a handful of companies worldwide now produce rice protein, with rice flour or grain rather than bran as their source. ARS scientists in New Orleans, LA, are exploring ways to retrieve the protein from rice bran--even from broken rice kernels, which typically sell for about seven cents per pound, compared with 24 cents per pound for whole kernels. One possibility: using enzymes to extract the protein. The extracted protein could be whipped into frothy textures that blend easily into food products such as dessert toppings to boost nutritional value. Another plus: Scientists speculate that rice protein may be hypoallergenic.
Food Processing and Sensory Quality Research, New Orleans, LA
Elaine Champagne, (504) 286-4353

Domestic peanuts could borrow resistance to diseases and pests from hardy wild peanut varieties, thanks to a new method of producing hybrid peanut plants. Earlier attempts were hampered by the sudden death of embryonic plants from apparently successful crosses. The new technique nurtures the plant embryo on a high- nutrient growth medium. Using this method, researchers have crossed domestic peanut lines with hardy wild varieties from Mexico.
Market Quality and Handling, Raleigh, NC
Harold Pattee, (919) 515-6745

Plants don't have bones, but they do contain a substance called lignin that helps them stand up straight. Unfortunately, tough, stringy lignin poses problems in feed quality and paper production. Now ARS researchers have discovered a gene that could change the structure of corn lignin so it disintegrates more easily. This information could be useful in developing plants that are more digestible as feed, yet still retain their natural lignin-linked pest resistance (more lignin means it's tougher for pests to munch). Researchers suspect the corn gene has a counterpart in pine trees used in making paper. Pine lignin that breaks down more easily could reduce the paper industry's current dependence on chemicals that can damage water quality.
Plant Science Research Unit, Raleigh, NC
Paul Sisco, (919) 515-3309

Telling good soldier flies from the bad ones just got easier. Many species of soldier flies are beneficial to agriculture because they help decompose plant material. But other species are pests of sod and wheat. For the first time, ARS scientists have compiled detailed descriptions of 33 genera of the subfamily Beridinae of the soldier fly family Stratiomyidae. The ARS monograph also proposes nine new genera, describes two new species and properly classifies many misplaced species for the first time. Each of the 33 genera described is diagnosed and a catalogue of world species and their geographic distributions is presented. The scientists present a hypothesis on the evolutionary relationships between genera and the placement of the subfamily with respect to other groups of flies. The monograph contains a comprehensive key to the genera as well as several regional keys to facilitate soldier fly identification. The publication includes illustrations of the head and genitalia of species of each genus for ease of identification. The monograph will be useful to scientists studying these flies and also will aid agents at U.S. ports of entry who monitor immigrant species that may be potential pests.
Systematic Entomology Laboratory, Museum of Natural History, Washington, DC
Norman E. Woodley, (202) 382-1802

Last Updated: April 25, 1997
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