Antibodies developed by ARS scientists may lead to a test to help poultry producers protect chickens against a major chicken disease, while reducing the potential for antibiotic residues in poultry. Each year, coccidiosis costs U.S. poultry producers an estimated $600 million in treatment and low carcass weights. Nicarbazin, a pharmacological agent that controls coccidiosis, is usually added to chicken feed. Nearly all commercial poultry feed contains some type of medication. The problem: No method exists to monitor the levels of the antibiotic in feed. So producers could be paying for feed that may not contain enough nicarbazin to protect the birds, or too much of the drug may result in nicarbazin residues in meat products. International Diagnostic Systems (IDS) Corporation in St. Joseph, MI, is using the antibodies in a laboratory enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kit. An ELISA kit could be ready for use by the quality control departments of feed manufacturers by the spring of 2001. ARS has applied for a patent on the antibodies, which were developed under a cooperative research and development agreement with IDS. Such a test could also help USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service officials be sure that producers have complied with federal Food and Drug Administration regulations preventing residues in meats.

Food and Feed Safety Research, College Station, TX
Ross C. Beier, (979) 260-9411, rcbeier@ffsru.tamu.edu

Fantesk, a mixture of starch, water, and oil made by an ARS-patented process, is now being marketed as a seed coating. Development of other new agricultural, food, industrial, medical, and cosmetic products may not be far behind, considering the high level of commercial interest in the product. The first commercialization of Fantesk was rooted in a 1994 cooperative research and development agreement (CRADA) between ARS and Seedbiotics, Inc., of Caldwell, ID, a company that obtained an exclusive license for seed-coating applications and later independently developed specific product formulations. Under one of the latest agreements with ARS, Azure Waves Seafood, Inc., Cincinnati, OH, is developing seafoods seasoned with herbs and spices in Fantesk breading. Other food applications on the horizon include cheeses with less than 3 percent fat, soft-serve ice cream with about 1.1 percent fat, and cookies and muffins with fewer fat calories than typical baked goods. ARS scientists are producing 1,000-gallon lots of Fantesk that a new CRADA partner, Hy-Gene Biomedical Corporation, Ventura, CA, needs for research. Hy-Gene holds an exclusive license for all topical therapeutics and drug delivery, as well as skin- and wound-care medical applications. Working under a CRADA with Shrieve Chemical Products, Inc., Woodlands, TX, ARS scientists invented a way to use a Fantesk formulation as a water-based, drilling-mud additive to reduce drill bit wear. Fantesk is a versatile material, formed first as a gel when starch and an oil, such as soy oil, are processed in pressurized steam. Whether the gel is melted into a liquid, frozen and then thawed, or drum-dried into a solid, flaky material and then milled into a powder and redispersed in water, 0.1- to 10-micron-diameter droplets of oil remain well distributed in the starch with no greasy feel.

National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research, Peoria, IL
Craig J. Carriere, (309) 681-6551, carriecj@ncaur.usda.gov

Although they have different end uses, red and white wheat varieties look very similar. So ARS researchers helped standardize an old test and made it reliable enough to consistently distinguish red from white wheat. It's an important advance for export markets, because baking and milling characteristics of hard red and white wheat varieties differ. Wet weather and other environmental factors can add to the difficulty. For instance, red wheat that's been rained on can look white. Red wheats are typically used for baking breads, but white wheats are used to produce bright-yellow noodles for Asian consumers. The new test uses a dilute sodium hydroxide solution to accentuate color differences between the reds and the whites. Perten Instruments in Springfield, IL, has already turned the test into a kit. With it, grain elevator operators can determine correct color class in as little as 10 minutes and at a cost of only pennies per sample. Several grain elevator managers in Kansas used the kit during the 2000 winter wheat harvest season, and more elevator operators in Oklahoma and Nebraska have indicated they may use it during the 2001 harvest season. This project was funded by the Kansas Wheat Commission and administered through the Grain Industry Alliance under a cooperative research and development agreement. The research may help expand export markets for hard white wheat, which is becoming more popular with Great Plains wheat farmers.

Grain Marketing and Production Research Center, Manhattan, KS
Floyd Dowell, (785) 776-2753, fdowell@usgmrl.ksu.edu

Cooperative Research and Development Agreements

...With The Rice Foundation, Houston, TX, to determine whether changing the way rice bran is processed may make bran's healthful compounds—such as fiber and antioxidants—more available for the body to absorb and use. Bran is the nutritious, light-brown layer covering the white rice kernel. Using a standard piece of food-processing equipment known as an extruder, scientists are making adjustments in the amount of time, mechanical energy, and heat used to process the bran. The researchers are collaborating with scientists from the University of California, Davis, Medical Center. In earlier studies, the ARS-UC Davis team showed that laboratory rats fed extruder-processed wheat bran had a lower incidence of a colon cancer indicator—aberrant crypt foci (ACF)—than rats fed raw wheat bran. The animals were injected with a compound that stimulates ACF formation. The new rice bran research will include similar ACF tests.

Western Regional Research Center, Cereal Product Utilization Research Unit, Albany, CA
Wallace H. Yokoyama, (510) 559-5695, wally@pw.usda.gov

...With Scenturion, Inc., Clinton, WA, to develop dispensers for a new, ARS-developed lure for cutworms, armyworms, and fruitworms. The bertha armyworm, spotted cutworm (Lacanobia fruitworm), and true armyworm attack potatoes, corn, flax, canola, apples, and numerous vegetables. Recent losses of apples from the fruitworm have been as high as 25 percent in some orchards. The new lure is the first to attract females of these pests (Patent Application No. 09/156,348). It will help growers more accurately predict when to use pesticides or other control measures to directly eliminate the egg-laying females. Other integrated pest management techniques have relied on sex pheromones produced by the females to attract male moths. The lure consists of acetic acid and one or more alcohols. When mixed, the compound produces a vapor attractive to the moths. Under the CRADA, the team will also develop insecticide-loaded traps that use the lure to attract the moths and then kill trapped females. The team hopes to have the first commercial product available within 2 years.

Yakima Agricultural Research Laboratory, Wapato, WA
Peter J. Landolt, (509) 454-6551, landolt@yarl.ars.usda.gov