Cooperative Research and Development Agreements

...With Morse Enterprises, Ltd., of Miami, FL, to evaluate and/or enhance natural citrus proteins that help plants ward off insects, nematodes and microbial pathogens. Using natural plant compounds that also provide nutrients will reduce pesticide use and costs. By enhancing defensive systems already present in plants, scientists hope to reduce production and postharvest losses. The cooperative effort will investigate methods to apply the compounds, which may be an alternative to fumigation with methyl bromide. The proteins, discovered in citrus by ARS scientists, may also work in other crops.
ARS Contact: Richard T. Mayer, U.S. Horticultural Research Laboratory, Orlando, FL, (407) 897-7304

...With Northrup King Company of Golden Valley, MN, to develop preparations of beneficial microorganisms to protect corn seed and seedlings from pathogenic fungi. Northrup King and ARS researchers are studying beneficial bacteria (Pseudomonas spp.), fungi (Trichoderma spp.) and other microorganisms as natural alternatives to chemical fungicides. These organisms protect corn seeds from infection by Fusarium spp. and Pythium spp., soil-dwelling fungi that are serious corn pests in the Midwest and other regions. Fusarium causes root rot of young corn plants during dry conditions. Pythium causes seedling diseases that can destroy up to 60 percent of a crop when conditions are cool and wet. Researchers are testing a liquid fermentation process containing nutrients on which the beneficial organisms grow. These are added to powdered preparations that can be coated onto corn seeds using technologies developed by Northrup King.
ARS contact: Jack A. Lewis, Biocontrol of Plant Diseases Laboratory, Beltsville, MD, (301) 504-5356

...With Axis Genetics, Ltd., Cambridge, England, to bioengineer wheat to fend off Russian wheat aphids, reducing growers' dependence on insecticides. Axis scientists will collaborate with ARS researchers, who streamlined methods for giving wheat new genes. Since invading the United States in 1986, the green, 1/16-inch-long aphids have caused more than $850 million in insecticide costs and related losses. Conventional breeding has produced aphid-resistant wheat varieties, but they aren't yet grown commercially.
ARS Contact: J. Troy Weeks, Crop Improvement/Utilization Research, Albany, CA, (510) 559-5673

...With EcoScience Corp. of Worcester, MA, to produce edible coatings for whole and lightly processed fruits and vegetables. The coatings will improve shelf life, reduce spoilage loss and extend the distances that produce can be shipped. Made of natural ingredients that give an attractive sheen to fruits like pears, apples, papayas and mangos, these coatings are more effective than other commercial coatings at slowing ripening. That's because the new coatings allow more ripening-related gasses to disperse through the fruit's peel. Other edible coatings will be used on lightly processed cut apples and peeled carrots to delay discoloration, dehydration and microbial-induced spoilage.
ARS Contact: Elizabeth A. Baldwin, Citrus and Subtropical Products Labaoratory, Winter Haven, FL, (813) 293-4133

...With Rogers Seed Company, Nampa, ID, to breed snap beans with genetic resistance to golden mosaic virus disease. Until 1993, this disease was confined to Central America, Mexico and the Caribbean. But in 1994, whiteflies spread the disease to South Florida, where it wiped out many snap bean fields. Effective chemical controls aren't available. So ARS researchers will try to find genetic markers linked to disease resistance. Breeders can then use these markers to develop snap beans that withstand the disease in South Florida.
ARS Contact: Phillip N. Miklas, Tropical Agriculture Research Station, Mayaguez, Puerto Rico, (809) 831-3435

...With Ag Industrial Manufacturing, Inc., of Lodi, CA, to develop mobile equipment for automated measuring and mapping of destructive salt buildup--called salinization--in farm soil. Too much salt from fertilizer, irrigation water and other sources can kill crops, ruin farmland and pollute groundwater. Scientists intend to streamline a small, tractor-like vehicle, equipped with sophisticated instruments that sense and map salinity. Farmers and irrigation specialists could use the monitoring system to help halt salinization.
ARS Contact: Lyle Carter, U.S. Cotton Research Station, Shafter, CA, (805) 746-6391

...With Smucker Manufacturing Company of Harrisburg, OR, to develop a sprayer and an adhesive for applying eggs of lacewings and other beneficial insects to plant leaves for pest control. The sprayer does not damage eggs and the adhesive sticks eggs to foliage without suffocating the eggs. The eggs hatch and the young lacewings devour pests like aphids, whiteflies, leafhoppers, mites and scales that might harm the plant. Developed by an ARS entomologist, this biocontrol could replace insecticide sprays on various agricultural and horticultural crops.
ARS Contact: W.L. Tedders, Southeastern Fruit and Tree Nut Research Laboratory, Byron, GA, (912) 956-5656

Last Updated: December 12, 1996
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