Life Sciences Commons^™

A High-Oleic-Acid And Low-Palmitic-Acid Soybean: Agronomic Performance And Evaluation As A Feedstock For Biodiesel, George L. Graef, Bradley J. Lavallee, Patrick Tenopir, Mustafa Tat, Bruce Schweiger, Anthony J. Kinney, Jon H. Van Gerpen, Thomas E. Clemente

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Phenotypic characterization of soybean event 335-13, which possesses oil with an increased oleic acid content (> 85%) and reduced palmitic acid content (< 5%), was conducted across multiple environments during 2004 and 2005. Under these conditions, the stability of the novel fatty acid profile of the oil was not influenced by environment. Importantly, the novel soybean event 335-13 was not compromised in yield in both irrigated and non-irrigated production schemes. Moreover, seed characteristics, including total oil and protein, as well as amino acid profile, were not altered as a result of the large shift in the fatty acid profile. The novel oil trait was inherited in a simple Mendelian fashion. The event 335-13 was also evaluated as a feedstock for biodiesel. Extruded oil from event 335-13 produced a biodiesel with improved cold flow and enhanced oxidative stability, two critical fuel parameters that can limit the utility of this renewable transportation fuel.

Apoyo Del Intsormil Incrementa La Produccion Y Productividad Del Cultivo De Sorgo En America Central, Intsormil

INTSORMIL Impacts and Bulletins

El INSORMIL ha apoyado, las actividades de investigación y transferencia de tecnología de sorgo desde 1981, con énfasis en Nicaragua y El Salvador pero en los ultimos años se viene expandiendo a otros países de America Central. Estadísticas del Ministerio de Agricultura y Ganadería de El Salvador, indican un signifi cativo incremento en la producción nacional de grano de sorgo en la misma superfi cie sembrada desde hace 9 años, debido principalmente al incremento en el rendimiento por unidad de superfi cie, tal como se presenta en el gráfi co. En este gráfi co puede verse que desde 1999 al …

Intsormil Support Contributes To Increased Sorghum Yields In Central America, Intsormil

INTSORMIL Impacts and Bulletins

INTSORMIL has supported sorghum research and technology transfer activities in Central America since 1981. Emphasis has been on El Salvador and Nicaragua but now the program is expanding to other Central American countries. Statistics provided by the Ministry of Agriculture indicate a significant advance in sorghum production in El Salvador. As shown in the graph below surface area in ha sown to sorghum during the period 1999-2009 did not increase (about 105,000 ha). However, during that same period grain production increased from 140,000 MT to 186,000 MT, an increase of 33%. This is due to the dramatic yield increase per …

Altos Costos Del Trigo: El Caso De La Harina De Sorgo En La Industria De La Panifi Cacion De El Salvador, Intsormil

INTSORMIL Impacts and Bulletins

El programa de tecnología de alimentos del CENTA, con el apoyo del INTSORMIL ha estado desarrollando recetas de pan a base de harina de sorgo y probándolas en pequeñas y medianas panaderías de El Salvador por muchos años. Ahora con los precios de harina de trigo a $0.57 por libra, los panaderos de El Salvador han demostrado un creciente interés en el uso del sorgo a un costo de $0.32 por libra como un sustituto parcial de la harina de trigo en sus productos. Los tecnólogos de alimentos del CENTA han estado promoviendo el uso y consumo de harina de …

Epithelial And Mesenchymal Cells In The Bovine Colonic Mucosa Differ In Their Responsiveness To Escherichia Coli Shiga Toxin 1, Ivonne Stamm, Melanie Mohr, Philip S. Bridger, Elmar Schröpfer, Matthias König, William C. Stoffregen, Evelyn A. Dean-Nystrom, Georg Baljer, Christian Menge

United States Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service / University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Faculty Publications

Bovine colonic crypt cells express CD77 molecules that potentially act as receptors for Shiga toxins (Stx). The implication of this finding for the intestinal colonization of cattle by human pathogenic Stx-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) remains undefined. We used flow cytometric and real-time PCR analyses of primary cultures of colonic crypt cells to evaluate cell viability, CD77 expression, and gene transcription in the presence and absence of purified Stx1. A subset of cultured epithelial cells had Stx receptors which were located mainly intracellularly, with a perinuclear distribution, and were resistant to Stx1-induced apoptosis and Stx1 effects on chemokine expression patterns. In …

Usaid/Mali Awards $5 M Associate Cooperative Agreement To Intsormil For Food Insecurity Mitigation In Mali, West Africa, Kimberly Christiansen

INTSORMIL Impacts and Bulletins

Dr. John Yohe, Program Director of the “Sorghum, Millet and other Grains Collaborative Research Support Program” (INTSORMIL) announces receipt from the USAID Mission in Mali, West Africa, of a $5 million grant to expand the activities of the current project “Transfer of Sorghum, Millet Production, Processing and Marketing Technologies in Mali.” Subsistence and resource poor farmers in West Africa are dependent on sorghum and millet as they serve as basic human foods and livestock feed. There continues to be a shortage of sorghum and millet grain in Mali, especially in the north. Mali’s ‘Hungry Season’ has been described as “that …

University Of Nebraska Selected To Manage The New Sorghum/Millet And Other Grains Crsp, John Yohe, Kimberly Christiansen

INTSORMIL Impacts and Bulletins

Dr. John Yohe, INTSORMIL CRSP Program Director, has announced that the University of Nebraska (UNL) has been selected as the Management Entity for the new Sorghum/Millet and Other Grains CRSP. The award was based on national competition among U. S. universities. This CRSP is funded through a Leader with Associates Cooperative Agreement instrument as opposed to a grant under which INTSORMIL was funded since 1979. The INTSORMIL CRSP, Managed by UNL in partnership with Kansas State University, Purdue University, Texas A&M University, UNL and West Texas A&M University, ends June 30, 2007. The Leader with Associates Cooperative Agreement is effective …

Convergence Of Agriculture And Energy: Iii. Considerations In Biodiesel Production, Jon Van Gerpen, Allan Gray, Brent H. Shanks, Beth Calabotta, Drew Kershen, Alan Weber, Richard Joost, Todd A. Peterson

United States Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service / University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Faculty Publications

Concern about rising prices and unstable sources of petroleum fuels is driving the search for U.S. domestically produced, renewable transportation fuels, such as biodiesel. Federal incentives of up to $1.10 per gallon have been supplemented by additional incentives and mandated biodiesel use in many states. The Renewable Fuel Standard in the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 requires the domestic use of 1 billion gallons of biomass-based diesel fuel by 2012, most of which likely will be biodiesel.
U.S. biodiesel production is primarily from soybean oil, but recent high prices have forced many producers to use lower-cost feedstocks such …

Early Attachment Sites For Shiga-Toxigenic Escherichia Coli O157:H7 In Experimentally Inoculated Weaned Calves, Evelyn A. Dean-Nystrom, William C. Stoffregen, Brad T. Bosworth, Harley W. Moon, Joachim F. Pohlenz

United States Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service / University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Faculty Publications

Weaned 3- to 4-month-old calves were fasted for 48 h, inoculated with 10¹⁰ CFU of Shiga toxin-positive Escherichia coli (STEC) 0157:H7 strain 86-24 (STEC 0157) or STEC 091:H21 strain B2F1 (STEC 091), Shiga toxin-negative E. coli 0157:H7 strain 87-23 (Stx^- 0157), or a nonpathogenic control E. coli strain, necropsied 4 days postinoculation, and examined bacteriologically and histologically. Some calves were treated with dexamethasone (DEX) for 5 days (3 days before, on the day of, and 1 day after inoculation). STEC 0157 bacteria were recovered from feces, intestines, or gall bladders of 74% (40/55) of calves 4 days after …

Protecting Sorghum Grain From Pests In Africa, Intsormil

INTSORMIL Impacts and Bulletins

Insect pests destroy more than 35% of stored grain worldwide and probably even more in Africa. Considering the current global food shortage this is a tremendous loss. To mitigate losses caused by insects in stored sorghum grain, INTSORMIL scientist Bonnie Pendleton of West Texas A&M University is collaborating with African entomologists to develop management strategies. Storage conditions are critical in preventing losses due to pests. A survey in Mali by IER scientist Niamoye Yaro Diarisso found that farmers in the Koulikoro and Ségou regions thresh sorghum and millet and store it in the form of grain. However, in the Sikasso …

Intsormil And Iiam Collaborate To Promote Sorghum Production In Mozambique, Intsormil

INTSORMIL Impacts and Bulletins

Sorghum is a major cereal grain in Mozambique with a cultivated area of 2.7 million hectares. It is considered as a food security crop in most of the provinces in the country, especially in regions where rainfall is a limiting factor for maize and rice production. However, due to a lack of seed and poor distribution of improved sorghums farmers continue to use their local varieties which have low productivity potential (0.2 - 0.6 ton/ha). To increase productivity and provide food security there is an urgent need for (1) the development of varieties with higher yield potential, (2) improved crop …

Intsormil Scientists Develop Insect Resistant Sorghum And Pearl Millet For Africa And The Usa, Intsormil

INTSORMIL Impacts and Bulletins

The aphids Melanaphis sacchari (sugarcane aphid) in Africa and Schizaphis graminum (greenbug, see above) in the United States; panicle bugs; sorghum midge, Stenodiplosis sorghicola; stalk borers and termites infest and reduce yields of sorghum. The millet head miner, Heliocheilus albipunctella, reduces grain yield and quality of pearl millet.

INTSORMIL entomologist Bonnie Pendleton, West Texas A&M University, collaborates with African scientists to develop management strategies for sorghum and millet insects. Emphasis is on developing plants resistant to pests. Hundreds of sorghum and pearl millet genotypes have been evaluated by INTSORMIL scientists for grain yield and quality and resistance to …

‘Sureño,’ Dual Purpose Grain And Forage Sorghum For Central America, Intsormil

INTSORMIL Impacts and Bulletins

Sureño sorghum- the white grain makes great tortillas and the forage and grain are a preferred livestock feed. Whereas most sorghum cultivars are gown for either silage or grain, Sureño sorghum is used for both. Because of its dual purpose qualities as a good grain for livestock and human consumption and as a forage for cattle, Sureño is popular with cattle producers and the bakery industry and is spreading throughout Central America.

The sweet ensilage of Sureño sorghum is preferred by the Central American cattle producers because of its high nutritious value, high energy value and high production of 71 …

High Wheat Prices: The Case For Sorghum Flour In The El Salvador Baking Industry, Intsormil

INTSORMIL Impacts and Bulletins

The INTSORMIL supported CENTA Food Technology program has been developing sorghum based bakery recipes and testing them at small and medium sized bakeries in El Salvador for several years. Now, with imported wheat prices at US$ 57 per 100 lb., El Salvador bakers are showing increased interest in using sorghum, at US$ 32 per 100 lb., as a partial replacement for wheat flour in their bakery products. CENTA food technologists have recently been promoting sorghum flour via TV and newspapers and, as a result, bakers and food processors have requested training (large photo below) in the milling of sorghum and …

Pasteurellosis Transmission Risks Between Domestic And Wild Sheep, Michael W. Miller, Donald P. Knowles, Marie S. Bulgin, Billy R. Clay, Walter E. Cook, Subramaniam Srikumaran, A. David Scarfe, Dale Layfield

United States Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service / University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Faculty Publications

Disease has contributed significantly to the decline of bighorn sheep (Ovis Canadensis) populations throughout much of western North America, decreasing many native herds to less than 10% of their historical size and imperiling some populations and subspecies (Valdez and Krausman 1999). According to historical accounts (e.g., Grinnell 1928; Honess and Frost 1942; Shillinger 1937; Warren 1910), epidemics in some locations coincided with the advent of domestic livestock grazing in bighorn ranges, suggesting that novel pathogens may have been introduced into some bighorn populations beginning in the 1800s.
Native North American wild sheep species—bighorn sheep and thinhorn (Dall’s and …

Intsormil Scientist On Voa Reports A New Approach To Combat Witchweed, A Killer Of Sorghum Crops In Africa, Intsormil

INTSORMIL Impacts and Bulletins

In a May 19, 2008 interview on the Voice of America INTSORMIL scientist Mitch Tuinstra, a Purdue University sorghum breeder, reported on sorghum seed that he and his colleagues have produced that can protect sorghum crops from a weed called Striga. Although their target weed has a pleasant looking purple flower it’s action is far from pleasant. Striga causes six or seven billion dollars in crop damage every year to African grain sorghum.

Striga, called ‘witchweed’ in Africa, is parasitic on sorghum, stealing water and nutrients from sorghum roots. Witchweed has an unusual quality, it requires chemical signals …

Intsormil And Care Join Hands To Promote Sorghum Production And Utilization In El Salvador, Intsormil

INTSORMIL Impacts and Bulletins

An agreement between CARE International and INTSORMIL was signed in San Salvador on May 27, 2008. The 24 month agreement signed by Ms Ligia Elizabeth Alvarenga, CARE El Salvador and René Clara Valencia, INTSORMIL Regional Coordinator for Central America, promotes collaboration in the Pilot Phase of PRONORTE, an initiative oriented toward the development of improved dairy production technologies in the Northern Region of El Salvador. Under this memorandum CARE and INTSORMIL agree to:

1st- Join efforts to benefi t small and medium sized dairy producers in the Department of Morazan, El Salvador.

2nd- CARE and INTSORMIL will provide inputs to …

Sorghum Technology And Marketing Strategies Increase Farm Income In West Africa, Intsormil

INTSORMIL Impacts and Bulletins

The INTSORMIL Production-Marketing Project with support from the USAID Africa’s regional program collaborated with national programs, local NGOs and farmers’ organizations to introduce new technology and marketing strategies for sorghum farmers in Mali, Niger and Senegal. The project involved 300 ha of sorghum and worked with approximately 400 sorghum producers in the three countries. The three component program consisted of (1) a technology component aimed at increasing output through the use of improved technologies (the combination an improved variety, inorganic fertilizers, water harvesting techniques and other agronomic improvements), (2) a marketing component aimed at getting a price premium for grain …

Sorghum Yields Doubled In Farmers’ Fields In Three West African Countries, Intsormil

INTSORMIL Impacts and Bulletins

To increase sorghum and millet production, improved technologies must be introduced to farmers and new markets developed to avoid price collapses from increasing output levels. To promote this productivity increase INTSORMIL conducted on-farm demonstrations of existing technology in collaboration with the national extension agencies and agricultural research programs in Senegal (ISRA), Mali (IER) and Niger (INRAN). Improved seed, inorganic fertilizer and improved agronomic practices, often including tied ridges for water harvesting, were introduced on one ha farmer plots in the three countries. Farmers following agronomic recommendations consistently doubled yields with the best farmers obtaining 2 to 2.5 tons of sorghum/ha …

Intsormil/Centa Sorghum Breeder Wins Pccmca Award, Intsormil

INTSORMIL Impacts and Bulletins

INTSORMIL/CENTA El Salvador scientist Salvador Zeledon (left with Rene Clara and Vilma Calderon) won fi rst place for his paper presented at the 53rd annual meeting of the PCCMCA (El Programa Cooperativo Centroamericano para el Mejoramiento de Cultivos y Animales) held in San José, Costa Rica April 14-18, 2008. The theme of the meeting was “Global Changes, Tendencies, Effects and Perspectives for Agriculture in Mesoamérica and the Caribbean Towards 2020.” The meeting was attended by scientists from Asia, Africa, South and North America with most participants coming from the Caribbean Basin, i.e., Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Costa …

Intsormil/Centa Food Technologist Awarded Prize At Pccmca, Intsormil

INTSORMIL Impacts and Bulletins

INTSORMIL/CENTA El Salvador scientist, Vilma Calderon (right), won third place for her paper presented at the 53rd annual meeting of the PCCMCA (El Programa Cooperativo Centroamericano para el Mejoramiento de Cultivos y Animales) held in San José, Costa Rica April 14-18, 2008. Vilma’s paper entitled “Nutritional Quality of Whole Sorghum in Different Food Applications” demonstrated how people from different cultures utilize sorghum as a human food and how sorghum is a nutritional alternative for inclusion in the diet of people in developing countries. With INTSORMIL support Vilma has been conducting research on the utilization of sorghum for human consumption at …

The Potential For Crop-To-Wild Gene Flow In Sorghum In Ethiopia And Niger: A Geographic Survey, Tesfaye Tesso, Issoufou Kapran, Cecile Grenier, Allison Snow, Patricia Sweeney, Jeffrey F. Pedersen, David B. Marx, Gurling Bothma, Gebisa Ejeta

United States Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service / University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Faculty Publications

Information about the potential for crop–wild hybridization is needed to understand how crop genes, including transgenes, affect the population genetics and ecology of sexually compatible relatives. Transgenic sorghum is under development for use by traditional farmers in Africa, the center of origin for sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench], but systematic surveys of the current extent of contact with wild and weedy relatives are lacking. We studied wild and weedy sorghums that are interfertile with the crop and constitute a crop–wild–weed complex. The survey was conducted in 2005 in areas of traditional sorghum cultivation in three regions of Ethiopia and …

Heterosis In Switchgrass: Spaced Plants, Juan M. Martinez-Reyna, Kenneth P. Vogel

United States Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service / University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Faculty Publications

Population and specific hybrids were made between populations and genotypes of switchgrass, Panicum virgatum L., and their progeny were evaluated for heterosis in space-transplanted fi eld trials in eastern Nebraska for a 3-yr period. ‘Kanlow’ (lowland tetraploid) x ‘Summer’ (upland tetraploid) hybrids exhibit midparent heterosis for second- and third-year biomass yields for both population and individual plant hybrids. These data and previously reported molecular marker data indicate that lowland-tetraploid and upland-tetraploid switchgrasses represent different heterotic groups that can potentially be used to produce F₁ hybrid cultivars. Hybrids produced from cultivars and experimental strains developed from upland-octaploid germplasm originating from …

Soil Carbon Levels In Irrigated Western Corn Belt Rotations, Gary E. Varvel, Wallace Wilhelm

United States Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service / University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Faculty Publications

Proposals promoting the use of massive amounts of crop residues and other lignocellulosic biomass for biofuel production have increased the need for evaluation of the sustainability of cropping practices and their eff ect on environment quality. Our objective was to evaluate the eff ects of crop rotation and N fertilizer management and their stover production characteristics on soil organic carbon (SOC) levels in a long-term high-yielding irrigated study in the western Corn Belt. An irrigated monoculture corn (Zea mays L.), monoculture soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.], and soybean–corn cropping systems study was initiated in 1991 on a uniform …

Promoting Market Driven Sorghum Production In Zambia, Intsormil

INTSORMIL Impacts and Bulletins

In the southern Africa region there is significant interest in using sorghum in the manufacture of value added food products. However, for sorghum to be commercially successful, quality grain at an affordable price must be available. Zambian food processing companies cannot consistently acquire sufficient quantities of high quality sorghum for processing. Market channels need to be improved so that sorghum varieties with the required quality to meet commercial consumer requirements are produced and supplied consistently. A strong need exists for strengthening the system of production, post–harvest handling and storage, marketing, and processing for human food and livestock feed. To meet …

Intsormil Promotes Sorghum Production In Nicaragua, Intsormil

INTSORMIL Impacts and Bulletins

The INTSORMIL Central America Regional Program supports the efforts of national research programs to develop dynamic research programs that contribute to productivity, economic growth, natural resource conservation and improved diets. INTSORMIL supports a ‘network’ approach and promotes sorghum production in the region through the PCCMCA (Central Cooperative Program for Improving Crops and Animals) and other national and international organizations. PCCMCA serves as a forum for the international testing program for sorghum in Central America (CA). Rene Clara, INTSORMIL CA Regional Coordinator based at CENTA in El Salvador, coordinates the regional grain sorghum yield trials conducted on belhalf of the PCCMCA. …

Intsormil Promotes Sorghum Production In Nicaragua, Intsormil

INTSORMIL Impacts and Bulletins

The INTSORMIL Central America Regional Program supports the efforts of national research programs to develop dynamic research programs that contribute to productivity, economic growth, natural resource conservation and improved diets. INTSORMIL supports a ‘network’ approach and promotes sorghum production in the region through the PCCMCA (Central Cooperative Program for Improving Crops and Animals) and other national and international organizations. PCCMCA serves as a forum for the international testing program for sorghum in Central America (CA). Rene Clara, INTSORMIL CA Regional Coordinator based at CENTA in El Salvador, coordinates the regional grain sorghum yield trials conducted on belhalf of the PCCMCA. …

Quantitative Trait Loci For Resistance To Pre-Harvest Sprouting In Us Hard White Winter Wheat Rio Blanco, Shubing Liu, Shibin Cai, Robert A. Graybosch, Cuixia Chen, Guihua Bai

United States Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service / University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Faculty Publications

Pre-harvest sprouting (PHS) of wheat is a major problem that severely limits the end-use quality of flour in many wheat-growing areas worldwide. To identify quantitative trait loci (QTLs) for PHS resistance, a population of 171 recombinant inbred lines (RILs) was developed from the cross between PHS-resistant white wheat cultivar Rio Blanco and PHS-susceptible white wheat breeding line NW97S186. The population was evaluated for PHS in three greenhouse experiments and one Weld experiment. After 1,430 pairs of simple sequence repeat (SSR) primers were screened between the two parents and two bulks, 112 polymorphic markers between two bulks were used to screen …

Capacitan A Personas Intersadas Y Panaderos Sobre La Utilización De Harina De Sorgo: Más De 25 Personas Interesadas Entre Ellos Panaderos Son Capacitados Sobre El Uso De Harina De Sorgo, Roxana Ortiz, Eduardo Funes

INTSORMIL Impacts and Bulletins

El Ministerio de Agricultura y Ganadería (MAG) a través del Centro Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria y Forestal (CENTA), capacitan a un grupo de personas interesadas y panaderos sobre la utilización de harina de sorgo para la producción de pan y otros productos.

La ingeniera Margarita Alvarado, Coordinadora del Laboratorio de Tecnología de Alimentos del CENTA, expresó que se ha investigado el cultivo de sorgo a través del Programa de Granos Básicos, y también las bondades que el grano tiene para el uso de harina.

No-Till Corn After Bromegrass: Effect On Soil Carbon And Soil Aggregates, Ronald F. Follett, Gary E. Varvel, John M. Kimble, Kenneth P. Vogel

United States Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service / University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Faculty Publications

Grasslands in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) in the USA may be converted to grain crops for bioenergy. The effect of no-till conversion of a smooth bromegrass (Bromus inermis Leyss) grassland to no-till corn (Zea mays L.) production on soil organic carbon (SOC) in the western Corn Belt was monitored for over 6 yr. A different ¹³C/¹²C isotope signature is imparted to SOC by C4 plants including corn versus C3 plants such as bromegrass. Changes in C isotope ratios in SOC in three soil depths (0- to 5-, 5–10, and 10–30 cm) by particle size …