Location: Foreign Disease-Weed Science Research
Project Number: 8044-30400-001-024-I
Project Type: Interagency Reimbursable Agreement
Start Date: May 20, 2026
End Date: Dec 21, 2027
Objective:
The objective of this project is to improve management of the invasive rangeland weed yellow starthistle. The project will increase production capacity for the plant pathogenic biological control agent Puccinia jaceae, and results will be communicated to stakeholders and regulators.
Approach:
The USDA Agricultural Research Service will conduct experiments to enhance our pipeline for mass-production of Puccinia jaceae spores, improve methods for spore storage to prolong shelf life, and determine an appropriate method for verifying spore purity. Scientists will produce P. jaceae spores on live yellow starthistle, determine spore viability following different spore storage treatments, and use DNA sequencing to assay the purity of spores produced.