CRADAs

...With Soil Technology, Fallbrook, CA, to test combinations of an enriched compost, a plastic mulch and beneficial microrganisms as possible alternatives to sterilizing strawberry fields with methyl bromide fumigant before planting. Methyl bromide kills soil-dwelling pathogens and weed seeds but is being phased out in the U.S. because it is thought to deplete the Earth's protective ozone layer. In experimental plots at research and commercial strawberry fields in California, ARS scientists and Soil Technology colleagues will test a plastic mulch and a compost enhanced with organic acids, enzymes and beneficial microorganisms and combined with corn gluten meal and mycorrhizal fungi. The growth and health of strawberry plants on plots with the compost, mulch and microbes will be compared to those of plants on plots sterilized with standard amounts of methyl bromide or methyl bromide plus chloropicrin. Strawberry growers are leading users of commercially produced methyl bromide. The average American eats about five pounds of strawberries in a year. The fruit is fat-free, low in calories and a source of vitamin C, folic acid, potassium and fiber. The 1998 crop of 869,350 tons was worth more than $1 billion to U.S. growers.
Crop Improvement and Protection Research Unit, Salinas, CA
Carolee T. Bull, (831) 755-2889.

...With DeKalb Genetics Corp., DeKalb, IL, to evaluate 50 experimental corn hybrids as a source of resistance to aflatoxin, including some developed by DeKalb from germplasm released by ARS. Contamination of corn grain with aflatoxin, a toxin produced by certain fungi, is a major food and feed safety problem. Currently, no aflatoxin-resistant corn hybrids are available to farmers. Corn with levels of aflatoxin greater than 20 parts per billion is drastically reduced in value because it is restricted from interstate commerce. Aflatoxin is a sporadic problem in the Corn Belt and a chronic one in the South. High levels of aflatoxin in corn harvested in 1998 in Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas and other southern states—together with increased corn acreage in the South—have underscored the need for resistant hybrids. Last year's high aflatoxin levels were due in part to higher-than-usual temperatures and severe drought.ARS will evaluate the hybrids for aflatoxin resistance. DeKalb will evaluate the hybrids for yield and other desirable agronomic qualities. The objective of the CRADA is to expedite the commercial availability of aflatoxin-resistant hybrids to U.S. farmers.
Corn Host Plant Resistance Research, Mississippi State, MS
W. Paul Williams, (601) 325-2735.

....With DeKalb Genetics Corp., DeKalb, IL, to evaluate corn hybrids that possess both natural and bioengineered sources of genetic resistance to the fall armyworm. The fall armyworm is a serious pest of corn, especially late-planted corn in the South. New commercial hybrids with greater resistance to the pests could reduce farmers' production costs and increase profits. In lab and field studies, ARS researchers evaluated worm-resistant and worm-susceptible hybrids developed by DeKalb. The company used germplasm that ARS developed and released as a source of the natural resistance in their hybrids. They added the Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) genes to both susceptible and naturally resistant hybrids. The genes command cells to produce a worm-killing protein. In research with DeKalb, ARS scientists found that combining Bt and natural resistance resulted in less damage to worms than using either Bt or natural resistance alone. Fall armyworm larval survival and growth were reduced in field tests and laboratory bioassays.
Crop Science Research Laboratory, Mississippi State, MS
W. Paul Williams, (601) 325-2735.

...With IPM Technologies, Inc., Portland, OR, to develop low-cost, environmentally safe, synthetically based chemicals for trapping crop pests. These chemicals mimic insect scents called pheromones. In ARS laboratory and field experiments, lures containing a special blend of pheromones to attract cabbage looper and beet armyworm moths—laced with a minute quantity of insecticide—successfully drew the pests to their death. This suggests that attract-and-kill lures can control these and probably other insect pests in the field on a large scale. Attract-and-kill lures reduce pesticide sprayings to control crop-feeding insects because they target only pests. Lures also help save beneficial insects that would normally be killed with area-wide pesticide spraying.The insects targeted—fall and beet armyworm, cabbage looper, diamondback moth, tobacco budworm and corn earworm—are among the most destructive U.S. crop pests. Corn earworm and armyworms attack a wide variety of crops, including cotton, corn, sorghum, peanuts, lettuce, tomatoes and peppers. Other pests such as the diamondback moth and cabbage looper are more limited in the range of plants attacked, but they can totally destroy crops such as cabbage, collards and broccoli.
Center for Medical, Agricultural and Veterinary Entomology, Gainesville, FL
Everett Mitchell, (352) 374-5710.

LICENSE

... To Spectrum Electrostatic, Inc., San Antonio, TX, to make and sell ARS-patented nozzles for an aerial spray system. The system is designed to reduce crop production costs by reducing pesticide spray drift. With the nozzles and electrostatically charged chemicals, the prototype system demonstrated reduced pesticide spray rates while providing good insect control against whiteflies and boll weevils in cotton. Other benefits of the aerial spray system: a time-saving and safe operation with less risk to the applicator and the environment.
Areawide Pest Management Research, College Station, TX
Ivan W. (Buddy) Kirk, (409) 260-9584.

PATENTS

An anticancer drug, taxol, could become more plentiful in the future, thanks to a new process for mass producing this and related compounds called "taxanes." Taxol, known generically as paclitaxel, is a potent chemotherapy drug for breast, ovarian, lung and other cancers. But its natural plant source, Pacific yew trees, is scarce, and current extraction procedures cannot provide enough paclitaxel to meet demand. About 6,700 pounds of yew tree bark are needed to produce a pound of the drug. ARS scientists invented the new process with colleagues at Washington State University and the Cornell Research Foundation, Inc., Ithaca, NY. ARS has applied for patent protection on the new process, which uses lab-cultured yew cells to produce paclitaxel and other related taxanes that can be used for taxol semi-synthesis. The team used the process to screen multiple cell lines of all five known yew species for their ability to produce paclitaxel. They also developed a technique for using a compound called methyl jasmonate to greatly increase paclitaxel yield from the cell lines.With this technique, scientists and industries working on plant cell culture processes will be able to identify and select more productive yew tree cell lines. Medical use of the new tissue-derived source of paclitaxel would require approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Anticancer drugs based on the process could be available within a few years. (PATENT APPLICATION 09/126,229).
U.S. Plant, Soil and Nutrition Research Laboratory, Ithaca, NY
Donna M. Gibson, (607) 255-2359.