Fresh from the Field, Nov. 30, 2017

New Technology Makes Oak Wilt Detection Faster, More Affordable

Oak wilt fungus is an invasive plant pathogen that often goes unnoticed, until it’s too late. Not anymore. New technology developed by University of Minnesota (UMN) College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences offers a simple, affordable diagnostic test utilizing nanotechnology and gold.

The U.S. Forest Service estimates that some 266,000 oak trees in Minnesota were infected by oak wilt fungus between 2007 and 2016, making oak wilt the second greatest invasive disease threat to the state’s plants.

There are currently only two ways to detect the disease: visually – two or three weeks after infection onset – or with lab tests, that may take weeks to complete and cost up to $120 per sample. UMN’s new hand-held reader can detect the disease within 30 minutes at a cost of $5 per sample.

NIFA supports this project through Hatch funding.

Read the full story in the Echo Journal. Photo courtesy of University of Minnesota University of Minnesota College of Food, Agricultural, and Natural Resource Sciences and Abbas Lab.

NCSU Team for Methyl Bromide Helps Growers Maintain Yields While Improving the Ozone Layer

With the help of extension specialists at NC State University, farmers in the Tarheel State are helping to reduce the size of the ozone hole over the South Pole.

NC State staff are working with farmers to incorporate integrated pest management (IPM) strategies into their operations as they transition away from the toxic fumigant methyl bromide, which accounts for a large portion of ozone depleting halogens above Antarctica.

Nothing can replace the effectiveness of methyl bromide on a one-to-one basis, but IPM offers solutions by addressing insect, disease, and weed problems separately. The NC State working group experimented with drip and fumigant pesticides, soil improvement tactics, and covering the ground after planting and while fumigating. They focused on pest management in strawberry, tomatoes, and peppers.

Although successful overall, results varied; drip irrigation proved effective with tomatoes and peppers; adding mustard meal before planting helped strawberry yield but was less effective for tomatoes; and vigorous rootstocks using grafted tomatoes suppressed bacterial wilt, Southern stem blight, and root knot nematodes and increased yield similar to or better than fumigants.

NIFA supports the research with a Methyl Bromide Transition Program grant.

Read the full article in IPM in the South. Photo courtesy of Rosemary Hallberg.

Wood Pellets Outperform Fossil Fuels, Natural Gas in Reducing Greenhouse Gases

Researchers at the University of New Hampshire (UNH) have found a way to cut greenhouse gas emissions from home heating by more than 50 percent. The research team of UNH and Spatial Informatics Group in Pleasanton, California, discovered that using wood pellet fuel reduces greenhouse gas emissions by 54 percent vs. home heating oil, and by 59 percent vs. natural gas.

The findings are especially important for New York and the five New England states, where residents account for about 88 percent of the entire U.S. consumption of home heating oil.

NIFA supported the program through a McIntire-Stennis grant. 

Read the full article in University of New Hampshire News. USDA photo.

Davis Researchers Find Genes to Resist Stem Rust

Wheat accounts for more than one fifth of the calories and protein consumed by humans – still, production must increase to feed the projected population of 9.7 billion by 2050. A University of California – Davis research team led by Dr. Jorge Dubcovsky used an Agriculture and Food Research Initiative grant to identify a gene from pasta wheat that confers resistance to the new virulent races of the stem rust pathogen that appeared in Africa at the beginning of this century. Their discovery may reduce yield loss and contribute to the necessary production increases.

NIFA supports this project through an Agriculture and Food Research Initiative grant.

Read the article online from the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Photo courtesy of Jorge Dubcovsky.

Something Fishy is Going on in Maine

U.S. production of Atlantic salmon has dropped more than 35 percent since 2000, due to an increase in the death rate of salmon embryos. AFRI-funded research at the University of Maine shows that female salmon with high levels of two types of hormone produce eggs that achieve an 80 percent survival rate. Researchers are now determining patterns of steroid deposition into the eggs. Raising the salmon embryo survival rate will make fish farming more profitable and improve the economy in Maine.

NIFA supports this project with an AFRI grant.

Read the full article and watch the video at University of Maine News to see researchers describe the project.