Seed for RoadCrest, a new perennial turfgrass for planting along roadsides or highways in the western states, is now on sale. A low-maintenance crested wheatgrass, RoadCrest is also suitable for planting at summer cabins, in roughs on golf-courses, or at sites disturbed by mining, construction or wildfire. Three companies are licensed to sell RoadCrest and are now marketing a small, initial seed supply. They are Wheatland Seed, Inc., Brigham City, UT; Bruce Seed Farm, Inc., Townsend, MT; and Round Butte Seed Growers, Inc., Culver, OR. ARS scientists and colleagues from Utah State University developed this cold- and drought-tolerant plant during a 15-year period. It is a descendant of parent plants grown from seeds collected in Turkey and sent to ARS for testing. Tests in Utah, Colorado, Washington and Wyoming showed RoadCrest should thrive in regions of the Intermountain and Great Plains states that have mild summer temperatures and about 10 to 20 inches of precipitation a year. RoadCrest greens up earlier in spring than some other crested wheatgrasses tested. Like other cool-season grasses, that is, plants that put on most of their growth in cool weather, RoadCrest becomes dormant and brown in mid-summer. But it greens up again in late summer and fall. The plant's comparatively short stature means it may need mowing only two or three times during summer.

Forage and Range Research Unit, Logan, UT
Kay H. Asay, (435) 797-3069, khasay@cc.usu.edu

Licenses

...To Small Potatoes, Inc., Madison, WI, to use ARS-developed genes to lower levels of natural but bitter-tasting chemicals called glycoalkaloids. High levels of glycoalkaloids can cause researchers to exclude from their breeding programs otherwise promising experimental tubers that might offer appealing texture or color or natural resistance to insects or disease. As a result, efforts to expand the biological diversity of the commercial potato crop are constrained. In preliminary experiments conducted under a cooperative research and development agreement, Small Potatoes scientists and ARS researchers found that the antiglycoalkaloid genes significantly lowered glycoalkaloid production in potatoes in field tests. An ARS team in Albany, CA, built the new genes, which have also been tested in Idaho and Wisconsin. The genes are a backward, or antisense form of a natural gene. In nature, the unaltered gene cues potato plants to form an enzyme critical to production of a key glycoalkaloid. The antisense genes undermine production of this critical enzyme, which has the tongue-twisting name of solanidine UDP-glucose glucosyltransferase. Potatoes are America's favorite vegetable. The 1998 U.S. crop of 21 million tons was worth $2.5 billion to growers. (PATENT NO. 08/797,266)

Western Regional Research Center, Albany, CA
William R. Belknap, (510) 559-6072, wrb@pw.usda.gov

Cooperative Research and Development Agreements

...With Ajay North America, LLC, Powder Springs, GA, to further improve strategies for controlling diseases in strawberries, blackberries and muscadine grapes. ARS researchers will evaluate the effectiveness of two new fungicides developed by Ajay to control major fungal diseases of strawberry, blackberry and muscadine grape. Small fruit growers suffer huge losses annually from crops thwarted by diseases such as anthracnose of strawberry, rosette of blackberry and berry rot diseases of muscadine grapes. These diseases limit production of high-quality fruits in these crops. Anthracnose is the most important fungal disease of strawberries in the U.S. southeastern region. It is caused by a species of the plant fungus Colletotrichum. Rosette, caused by the fungus Cercosporella rubi, is first apparent in a field in early spring when new vegetative growth emerges. Berry rot diseases include bitter rot (Greeneria uvicola), ripe rot (Colletotrichum sp.) and Macrophoma rot (Botryosphaeria dothidea). Regular fungicide applications during the growing season will reduce both fruit and foliar diseases.

Small Fruits Research Unit, Poplarville, MS
Barbara J. Smith, (601) 795-8751, bjsmith@ag.gov

...With Bernard's Apiaries, Inc., Breaux Bridge, LA, to raise queens of Russian honey bees which are resistant to varroa mites. Queens will be delivered to customers early in 2000. Beekeepers will use them to produce more queens for populating hives with mite-resistant offspring. The Russian bees' genetic resistance will provide beekeepers with a tool—in addition to chemical pesticides—to control varroa mites. The mites, eight-legged parasites that are 1/16-inch long, have attacked bees in almost every state. They can destroy a hive of tens of thousands of bees in as little as 6 months. The Russian bees, from the Primorsky region of Russia's far east, are the same species as the Apis mellifera honey bee used in American hives but are more than twice as resistant to mite attack. ARS researchers in Louisiana were the first to discover the mite-resistance trait in the Russian bees and, in 1997, became the first to bring them to America. Additional trips to Russia to collect more queens are planned as part of an on-going breeding program to boost mite resistance and forestall inbreeding. Besides producing honey, honey bees pollinate dozens of crops, from apples to zucchini, worth $8 to $10 billion a year.

ARS Honey Bee Breeding, Genetics and Physiology Research Unit, Baton Rouge, LA
Thomas E. Rinderer, (225) 767-9280, trinderer@asrr.arsusda.gov

...With Rohm and Haas Company, Philadelphia, PA, to help develop new fungicides, harmless to humans or animals, that specifically target fungi which infect agricultural plant species. ARS and Rohm and Haas researchers discovered a new class of sphingolipids, lipids unique to a particular group of fungi, called Oomycetes. Oomycete fungi include species such as Phytophthora infestans, the fungus that causes potato late blight—the most destructive potato fungal disease—and fungi that cause other plant diseases. The researchers are hoping to discover compounds, either natural or synthetic, that inhibit the ability of Oomycetes to produce sphingolipids. This could help them develop new classes of safe fungicides. Because of safety concerns, many currently approved fungicides are being taken off the market. So, farmers need new nontoxic, economical alternatives to help control major fungal diseases. The scientists hope this collaborative research will aid in discovering compounds that meet these criteria.

Eastern Regional Research Center, Wyndmoor, PA
Robert A. Moreau, (215) 233-6428, rmoreau@arserrc.gov

....With PhycoGen, Inc., Portland, ME, to evaluate a natural compound made by a seagrass as a nontoxic control for fungal diseases such as fruit and crown rot of strawberries. Scientists are exploring the compound, zosteric acid, as an environmentally safe alternative to chemical fungicides. This natural product is made by eelgrass (Zostera marina L.), which grows in many saltwater bays and harbors. Fungal pathogens rely on spores to infect a plant or fruit, but the spores must first attach to a leaf or fruit surface and then germinate to cause infection. Unlike chemical fungicides, zosteric acid doesn’t kill fungi; rather, it may act as a shield, preventing spores from attaching. This approach should be environmentally safe and sidestep the risk of fungi’s developing chemical resistance. Most research to develop fungicides is done by industry and focuses on major crops. A zosteric-acid product will benefit small farmers who grow so-called minor crops. Though grown on relatively few acres, such crops are worth some $31 billion annually to U.S. growers. ARS scientists will conduct lab and greenhouse studies with strawberries and blueberries and examine zosteric acid's antifungal properties. PhycoGen, which manufactures zosteric acid, will cooperate with ARS to develop a product to protect stored seeds from fungi. The company also is exploring zosteric acid as a marine antifouling agent for boat hulls and in other applications.

National Center for Natural Product Development, Oxford, MS
David Wedge, (601) 232-1137, dwedge@olemiss.edu

...With Northwest Tech LLC, Fairview, OK, to provide new and improved ways to develop commercially useful inbred corn lines for the nation’s growers. The partnership could lead to superior corn lines that possess characteristics for tolerating aluminum toxic soils, growing in dense waterlogged soils and increasing insect tolerance, specifically to corn rootworm. ARS scientists will breed corn chromosomes into the cytoplasm of Eastern gamagrass (Tripsacum dactyloides), a distant corn relative that is common to southern states. Selected inbred lines of commercial field corn, sweet corn and popcorn will be used to transfer their maize chromosomes into the Tripsacum cytoplasm. These hybrids will be evaluated throughout the central United States to determine the influence of Tripsacum cytoplasm containing corn chromosomes on adaptation, drought tolerance, phenotypic responses and disease and insect tolerance across a wide variety of soil conditions. This cooperative research will determine the advantages or disadvantages of having corn chromosomes in a gamagrass cytoplasm, compared to having those same chromosomes in normal corn cytoplasm. This could widen the range of adaptability of corn or improve its suitability for a wider range of soils and lead to development of a new crop for agricultural producers.

Rangeland and Pasture Research, Woodward, OK
Phillip L. Sims, (580) 256-7449, psims@ag.gov

...With Wildlife Management Technologies of Noank, CT, to develop a commercial prototype collaring unit for wildlife. An automatic device that collars white-tailed deer could reduce Lyme disease in the northeast United States and help control cattle fever ticks along the Texas-Mexico border. White-tailed deer are the primary host for blacklegged ticks, which harbor the bacteria that transmit Lyme disease. Cattle fever ticks transmit bovine babesiosis. Although white-tailed deer are not the primary host for cattle fever ticks, the deer and other large, domestic and exotic animals seriously compromise efforts to re-eradicate new infestations of these ticks along the U.S.-Mexico border. ARS scientists developed and patented a collaring unit that lures deer to a specially designed feeder filled with corn. To eat, the animal must place its neck near the collaring mechanism. The feeding deer activate the release of a self-adjusting, flexible collar. Collars are impregnated with amitraz, a pesticide approved for livestock that kills ticks on the deers’ hair and skin. If approved for use on deer, amitraz would be safe to use during the hunting season from October through December when most adult blacklegged ticks feed on deer. Lyme disease is the most prevalent tickborne human disease in the United States. About 90 percent of the cases reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention occur in the Northeast.

U.S. Livestock Insects Research Laboratory, Kerrville, TX
J. Mathews Pound, (830) 792-0342, jmpound@ktc.com

Patents

Barley plants of the future might be easier to genetically engineer, thanks to work by the University of California at Berkeley and ARS biotechnologists. Their lab experiments have shown that tissue taken from the growing tip of barley plants may be the best target for gene engineering. Barley biotech experiments typically target tissue from another source–the tiny embryo inside each developing kernel. But meristematic tissue, if cultivated with techniques developed by the scientists, is more likely to produce hardy plantlets. The researchers used a helium-powered device to propel test genes, coated on metallic particles, into the cultured meristematic tissue. The approach should help speed and simplify the task of giving barleys of the future new genes to boost the grain’s nutritional value or bolster the plant’s resistance to insect or disease enemies, for example. Using the process, the scientists raised healthy, fertile barley plants. They have also used the technique successfully with oats, corn and wheat and that it is likely to work with other cereals and grasses, as well. The researchers are now seeking a patent for the procedure. Barley is used primarily for animal feed and for malting and brewing. A small amount is used for flour and in foods. The nation’s 1998 barley crop of about 8 million tons, produced primarily in North Dakota, Idaho, Montana, Washington and Minnesota, was worth about $664 million to growers. (PATENT APPLICATION NO. 60/059,873)

ARS Small Grains and Potato Germplasm Research Unit, Aberdeen, ID
Phil Bregitzer, (208) 397-4162, pbregit@uidaho.edu

A new attractant of multiple ant species and a new repellent mean double trouble for pest ants, including fire ants that now also infest California and New Mexico. ARS researchers developed the patent-pending attractant, which degrades easily and has little environmental impact. It can be used in combination with water-soluble toxicants to create a bait. ARS entomologists conducted studies showing the bait attracted imported fire ants, Argentine ants, Pharaoh ants, little black ants, carpenter ants, ghost ants, big-headed ants, little fire ants, acrobat ants and crazy ants. Many of these pest ants are problems both indoors and outdoors and cause agricultural, structural or other damage. The ARS-developed, patent-pending repellent is a much-needed alternative to insecticides. Many regulations limit or ban insecticides for controlling insects, especially in populated areas. This repellent relies on chemical scents repugnant to ants, discouraging them from entering certain areas or forcing them to leave. (PATENT NO. 5,939,061)

Center for Medical, Agricultural and Veterinary Entomology, Gainesville, FL
David F. Williams/David H. Oi, (352) 374-5903
dwilliams@gainesville.usda.ufl.edu / doi@gainesville.usda.ufl.edu