Agriculture Commons^™

Advantages Of Understanding The Lady Beetle Diet, Jonathan Lundgren

Agricultural Research Magazine

Understanding the feeding behavior of lady beetles will help agronomists develop cropping systems that best use these important beneficial insects as biological controls of insect pests, such as aphids and Colorado potato beetles.

Agricultural Research Service entomologist Jonathan Lundgren at the North Central Agricultural Research Laboratory in Brookings, South Dakota, and former ARS entomologist Michael Seagraves were part of a team of ARS and university scientists that examined how lady beetle diets alter their feeding patterns and physiology.

Appreciated for their ability to eat insect pests, lady beetles also consume nectar, pollen, and other plant tissue. Indeed, most beneficial predators …

Corn Cobs On Deck For Cellulosic Feedstock, Brian J. Wienhold, Ann Perry

Agricultural Research Magazine

When energy officials proposed using crop residues to produce cellulosic ethanol, concerned soil scientists took to the fields to learn more about how these residues protect soil from erosion and enhance soil quality. Agricultural Research Service soil scientist Brian Wienhold focused on a single component of residue— the corncob.

“We didn’t have data on how postharvest cob residues might protect soil quality,” says Wienhold, who works in the ARS Agroecosystem Management Research Unit in Lincoln, Nebraska. “But corncobs make up 20 percent of residue by weight, which means that the average U.S. production of corn could provide 40 to 50 …

The Real Dirt On Biosolids As Soil Amendments, Eton Codling, Ann Perry

Agricultural Research Magazine

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that more than 60 percent of dry biosolids—treated wastewater solids that can be recycled or stored—are applied to land, composted, or used to cover landfills. The biosolids have been processed to kill pathogens, and EPA strictly regulates biosolid use to ensure the materials don’t harm the environment, human health, or animal health.

Farmers who follow pre- and post-application management regulations can obtain permits to use biosolids for amending fields where food and feed crops are grown. Now, research by an Agricultural Research Service scientist is helping to clarify the long-term effects that biosolid …

With Hot Air Treatment, Bacteria Fly The Coop, Rosalie Marion Bliss, Mark E. Berrang

Agricultural Research Magazine

While being transported in hauling coops on trucks, poultry that have been colonized with bacteria such as Campylobacter can contaminate, through fecal shedding, pathogen-free poultry. Those pathogens can also be passed on to the next group of birds during the next trip, and so forth, unless the cycle is broken.

That’s where Agricultural Research Service microbiologists Mark Berrang and Richard Meinersmann and colleague Charles Hofacre at the University of Georgia in Athens come in. The team has reported a treatment that reduces poultry cross-contamination from transport-cage flooring.

Campylobacter are foodborne pathogens that can be present in raw or undercooked poultry. …

Drainage Ditch Research Reveals Opportunities For Cleaning Up Runoff, Ann Perry

Agricultural Research Magazine

There is no typical drainage ditch,” says Agricultural Research Service ecologist Matt Moore. “And until recently, farmers just thought of them as something they need to drain water off their fields. But we can use these ditches to minimize pesticide and nutrient losses in runoff—and it can be done without taking any cropland out of production.”

Moore, who works at the ARS National Sedimentation Laboratory in Oxford, Mississippi, has been wading through edge of- field drainage ditches since he was a boy planting rice on his family’s farm in Arkansas. The ditches—as common in agricultural landscapes as the fields they …

Going Beyond The Barnyard To Stop Stable Flies, David B. Taylor, J.J. Zhu, Sandra Avant

Agricultural Research Magazine

Livestock producers may not be able to see the difference between stable flies and other flies at a distance, but they can definitely see the stable flies’ effect on their cattle as the animals stop grazing and bunch together to minimize the number of bites they’re getting.

Stable flies are among the most important arthropod pests of cattle in the United States. Their painful bites can reduce milk production in dairy cows, decrease weight gain in beef cattle, and reduce feed efficiency.

Generally, insecticide sprays are used to help keep stable flies off animals, especially their legs, where the flies …

Citrus Greening: A Puzzle With Many Pieces, Gail Wisler

Agricultural Research Magazine

Finding the solution to some crop diseases is like solving a jigsaw puzzle. The solution has many pieces, and fitting them together can be a challenge. Citrus greening, also known as “Huanglongbing” (HLB), is just such a disease. HLB is costing Florida citrus growers millions of dollars each year in lost revenue from unproductive trees. It continues to spread and is the most serious threat to the U.S. citrus industry in history. The disease was recently confirmed in commercial groves in Texas and in a homeowner’s yard in California. Both states are important citrus producers, and if HLB spreads in …

Helping Citrus Growers Deal With A Nasty Invader, Dennis O’Brien

Agricultural Research Magazine

Growers battling a devastating citrus disease may soon benefit from a one-two punch from Florida researchers. Two Agricultural Research Service scientists at the U.S. Horticultural Research Laboratory in Fort Pierce are using two very different strategies to help citrus growers and processors deal with Huanglongbing (HLB), a disease that poses a major threat to the survival of the citrus industry and is costing it millions of dollars each year.

Elizabeth Baldwin, research leader of the Citrus and Subtropical Products Research Unit, is leading a team developing technology that orange juice processors can use to determine whether their product has the …

Crop-Friendly Bacteria Tapped To Battle Fungal Marauders, Patricia Okubara, Jan Suszkiw

Agricultural Research Magazine

Soil-dwelling bacteria that depend on wheat and barley roots for their “room and board” could soon make good on their debt. Researchers are investigating the microbes’ potential to biologically control root-rot fungi that cause crop yield losses of 10-30 percent annually in the U.S. Pacific Northwest and other parts of the world.

The bacteria are members of the genus Pseudomonas and include 11 strains that stymie the growth of Pythium and Rhizoctonia fungi, which are responsible for dampingoff and root-rot diseases of wheat and barley. The pathogens thrive in cool, moist soils and can reach especially high levels in crop …

New Technology For Harvesting The Power Of Beneficial Fungi, Mark Jackson, Jan Suszkiw

Agricultural Research Magazine

Biopesticides containing beneficial fungi are often grown on grains or other solids, but Agricultural Research Service scientists have found that a liquid diet might be cheaper and better. The approach, known as “liquid culture fermentation,” offers several advantages, including lower material costs and increased yields of certain forms of pestkilling fungi like Isaria or Metarhizium that can be sprayed directly onto crop plants or applied to soil as a biological alternative to using synthetic pesticides.

For decades, biopesticide makers have cultured fungi like these on moistened grains or other solid substrates to prompt them into churning out billions of specialized …

January 2013- Locations Featured In This Magazine Issue

Agricultural Research Magazine

The Agricultural Research Service has about 100 labs all over the country.

Locations Featured in This Magazine Issue

Plant Gene Expression Center, Albany, California 1 research unit ■ 12 employees

Corvallis, Oregon 3 research units ■ 133 employees

Davis, California 3 research units ■ 114 employees

San Joaquin Valley Agricultural Sciences Center, Parlier, California 3 research units ■ 125 employees

U.S. Salinity Laboratory, Riverside, California 2 research units ■ 36 employees

Pullman, Washington 6 research units 136 employees

Fort Collins, Colorado 7 research units ■ 141 employees

Northern Plains Agricultural Research Laboratory, Sidney, Montana 2 research units ■ 72 employees …

Orange Juice Amino Acids May Reveal Secrets To Quelling Citrus Greening Disease, Andrew P. Breksa Iii, Marcia Wood

Agricultural Research Magazine

Amino acids in orange juice may hold clues to the mostly secret, highly successful attack strategy of a powerful plant pathogen. Recent studies of these compounds may pave the way to a safe, effective, environmentally friendly way to vanquish this orchard enemy.

Known as Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus, this microbe causes citrus greening disease, also called “Huanglongbing,” or “HLB.” (See article on page 4).

Agricultural Research Service chemist Andrew P. Breksa III and University of California-Davis professor Carolyn M. Slupsky have compared the amino acid composition of juice from commercially grown oranges. They used nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy to study juice …

Agricultural Research Magazine, January 2013

Agricultural Research Magazine

Table of Contents

4 Helping Citrus Growers Deal With a Nasty Invader

7 Orange Juice Amino Acids May Reveal Secrets to Quelling Citrus Greening Disease

8 Drainage Ditch Research Reveals Opportunities for Cleaning Up Runoff

11 Crop-Friendly Bacteria Tapped To Battle Fungal Marauders

12 Advantages of Understanding the Lady Beetle Diet

13 New Uses for Sugar Beet Pulp

14 Going Beyond the Barnyard To Stop Stable Flies

16 The Real Dirt on Biosolids as Soil Amendments

17 With Hot Air Treatment, Bacteria Fly the Coop

18 ARS Works Toward Control of Brown Marmorated Stink Bug

21 New Technology for Harvesting …

New Uses For Sugar Beet Pulp, Linshu Liu, Rosalie Marion Bliss

Agricultural Research Magazine

More than 1 million tons of sugar beet pulp are generated annually by U.S. beet sugar industries. Finding profitable uses for the biodegradable pulp, which is the leftover residue from sugar extraction, is critical for the long-term economic viability of U.S. agribusiness.

Agricultural Research Service researchers and colleagues have long been studying the potential of sugar beet pulp utilization. Now, chemist LinShu Liu and plant physiologist Arland Hotchkiss, both with the Dairy and Functional Foods Unit at ARS’s Eastern Regional Research Center in Wyndmoor, Pennsylvania, and colleagues have found new uses for sugar beet pulp.

In collaboration with professor Jinwen …

Ars Works Toward Control Of Brown Marmorated Stink Bug, Sharon Durham, Dennis O’Brien

Agricultural Research Magazine

The brown marmorated stink bug (BMSB) is wreaking havoc in U.S. homes, gardens, and agricultural operations, causing personal and economic woe. Agricultural Research Service scientists are exploring various aspects of monitoring and control of this increasingly important insect pest, which is an invasive Asian species known as a sporadic pest of many tree fruit crops in China, Korea, and Japan. Along with being a household nuisance, it is a major economic threat to producers of orchard fruits such as apple, peach, and pear; garden vegetables and row crops; and many ornamental species.

Since its detection in the northeastern United States …

U.S. Drought Monitor, January 1, 2013, Richard R. Heim Jr.

United States Agricultural Commodities in Drought Archive

Drought map of U.S. for January 1, 2013 (1/1/13) plus: U.S. crop areas experiencing drought (map), Approximate percentage of crop located in drought, by state (bar graph), Percent of crop area located in drought, past 52 weeks (line graph) for: Hay, Cattle, Winter wheat.

B853: Cost Of Producing Milk In Maine: Results From The 2010 Dairy Cost Of Production Survey, Richard Kersbergen, Gary Anderson, George Criner, Anthony Davis

Bulletins

The present study reports on a survey conducted for the Maine Milk Commission to determine the cost of milk production for 2010. This assessment was undertaken sooner than the normal three-year update because of the difficult economic climate for dairy farms in Maine.

Maine's Kelp Highway, Catherine Schmitt

Maine Sea Grant Publications

No abstract provided.

Late Gestation Supplementation Of Beef Cows Differing In Body Condition Score: Effects On Cow And Calf Performance, D. W. Bohnert, L. A. Stalker, R. R. Mills, A. Nyman, S. J. Falck, R. F. Cooke

West Central Research and Extension Center, North Platte

A 2-yr study utilizing 120 mature, crossbred (Angus × Herford) cows/year, evaluated the influence of cow BCS and dried distillers grains with solubles (DDGS) supplementation during late gestation on cow performance and productivity of subsequent offspring. Treatments were arranged as a 2 × 2 factorial in a randomized complete block design with 2 BCS and with or without DDGS supplementation. Cows were nutritionally managed to enter the last trimester of gestation with a BCS of approximately 4 (LBCS) or 6 (HBCS) and were thereafter managed in a single herd (initial BCS were 4.4 and 5.7 for LBCS and HBCS treatments, …

Heifer Calving Date Positively Influences Calf Weaning Weights Through Six Parturitions, R. A. Cushman, L. K. Kill, Richard N. Funston, E. M. Mousel, G.A. Perry

West Central Research and Extension Center, North Platte

Longevity and lifetime productivity are important factors influencing profitability for the cowcalf producer. Heifers that conceive earlier in the breeding season will calve earlier in the calving season and have a longer interval to rebreeding. Calves born earlier in the calving season will also be older and heavier at weaning. Longevity data were collected on 2,195 heifers from producers in South Dakota Integrated Resource Management groups. Longevity and weaning weight data were collected on 16,549 individual heifers at the U.S. Meat Animal Research Center (USMARC). Data were limited to heifers that conceived during their first breeding season. Heifers were grouped …