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Locations Featured In This Magazine Issue April 2012

Agricultural Research Magazine

Locations Featured in This Magazine Issue

Davis, California

Stillwater, Oklahoma

Center for Grain and Animal Health Research

Southern Regional Research Center

Oxford, Mississippi

West Lafayette, Indiana

Athens, Georgia

U.S. Vegetable Laboratory

Robert W. Holley Center for Agriculture and Health

Henry A. Wallace Beltsville Agricultural Research Center

Sorghum Flour Production Manual For Compatible Technology International (Cti) Burr Grinders, Kris Emillee Duville

INTSORMIL Scientific Publications

The importance of sorghum in human nutrition and food security

The grinders of Compatible Technology International (CTI) were brought to El Salvador in 2009, for a project of CENTA-INTSORMIL/USAID to promote the grinding of sorghum for human nutrition. In 2011, ten of these grinders had been installed in small bakers associations, individual bakers, or persons producing ethnic drinks based on roasted and ground cereals. These people had been trained in sorghum use for human nutrition at the food technology laboratory of CENTA. The grinders are being used in areas were the access to other foods is limited and were sorghum …

Utilizacion De Molinos Cti Para La Produccion Artesanal De Harina De Sorgo, Vilma Ruth Calderón De Zacatares, Lily Marisol López, Kris Emillee Duville, Carla Elizabeth Bermúdez

INTSORMIL Scientific Publications

El aprovechamiento del sorgo para la alimentación humana permite agregar valor al cultivo y aumentar su rentabilidad, especialmente para pequeños y medianos productores, contribuyendo a la seguridad alimentaria y nutricional en El Salvador. El CENTA esta promoviendo el cultivo del sorgo como una alternativa para la produccion de alimentos en las areas rurales y urbanas. Desde 2010 cuando el trigo bajo de precio nuevamente, dejo de ser una alternativa para la sustitucion por sorgo en ciertos tipos de alimentos, pero se esta utilizando en mercados mas estables, como personas alergicas al gluten, personas diabéticas y para corregir deficiencias nutricionales como …

Growing South Dakota (Spring 2012), College Of Agriculture &. Biological Sciences

Growing South Dakota (Publication of the College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences)

[Page] 2 Powerful Potential: Growing Global Population Spurs Need for Agbioscience
[Page] 4 Spring College News
[Page] 6 Enhanced Education: Students Complement Coursework With Extra-Curricular Opportunities
[Page] 8 Gaining Global Perspective: SDSU Delegation Visits Argentina
[Page] 9 Creative Collaboration: Students, Landowners & Industry Professionals Pair Up for a Positive Experience
[Page] 10 Wondrous Wheat: New Research Agreement & Wheat Varieties Announced
[Page] 12 Here and There
[Page] 14 New Era Underway: SDSU Extension Re-Energizes Programs, Delivery [Page] 16 iGrow Continues to Grow
[Page] 18 Focused on the Future: Field Specialists Strive to Serve Changing Landowner Needs
[Page] 19 Connecting with …

An Hsus Report: Food Safety Risks Associated With U.S. Horse Slaughter, The Humane Society Of The United States

Impact of Animal Agriculture

Meat originating from U.S. horses may contain residues from substances banned by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the European Union for use in animals intended for consumption. Phenylbutazone, for example, is commonly administered to U.S. horses and has been associated with life-threatening reactions in humans. Requiring a thorough drug history for each U.S. horse intended for human consumption may help circumvent human health risks.

Agricultural Research Magazine April 2012

Agricultural Research Magazine

Tuning In to Technology

Benefits of Biotech,
Computational Tech,
and Nanotech

Delicious-Ology: The Science Of Delicious Food, Sasha Yan

Undergraduate Theses—Unrestricted

You can read this book two ways. If you want to “just cook,” flip to the recipe index, pick a recipe, and skip straight to that page. The surrounding text will explain some aspects of the science behind the recipe. While the recipes in this book are chosen to complement and provide examples of the science, they’re also recipes that are fantastic in and of themselves.

Evaluating Ceres Fair Food As An Urban Sustainable Food Initiative: A Comparison Of Retail Pricing, Wholesale Pricing And Food Miles For A Healthy Food Basket, Stella Chung

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

CERES Fair Food, an organic food delivery system in Melbourne, VIC was evaluated in terms of its transportation resource consumption, ability to enhance food security, and support of local organic farmers, which are key factors in sustainable food systems for urban areas.

Transportation resource consumption was analyzed by calculating the food miles for a selection of Fair Food’s products and comparing them to data on typical products consumed in Victoria. Most of Fair Food’s products had similar or lower food miles, particularly the fresh produce. But many assumptions had to be made in the calculations due to limited information. Food …

Strawberry Growth, Yield, Fruit Nutrition, And Control Of Verticillium Wilt With Pre-Plant Soil Fumigants, Ozone, And Biological Control, Justin J. Scurich

Master's Theses

Verticillium wilt is a widespread soilborne disease of strawberry historically controlled by soil fumigation with methyl bromide (MB). MB was banned by the United Nations in 1995 and will be completely phased out by 2015. Research has concentrated on alternative methods of disease control without finding a single alternative able to replace MB in widespread disease control and yield increase. For the current study, strawberries were greenhouse grown in container pots filled with soil from both infested and non-infested areas of a commercial strawberry field in Watsonville, CA. Treatments included pre-plant soil fumigation with commercially available formulations of methyl bromide, …

An Investigation Of Current Practice In Management Rotations In Dietetic Internships, Emily K. Vaterlaus

Theses and Dissertations

Background: Leadership and management skills are critical to moving the dietetics profession forward; acquisition of those skills begins in the Dietetic Internship (DI). This study examined DI program components related to higher mean scores on the Foodservice and Management domain of the Registration Examination for Dietitians and compared Program Director and Preceptor perceptions of management rotation structure.

Methods: All 242 DI Program Directors (excluding sponsoring institution) received a 47-item electronic questionnaire. Directors provided contact information for up to three DI management rotation primary preceptors. Preceptors received a 35-item electronic questionnaire regarding their perception of interns' management skill development. …

Pathogenicity Of Treponema Denticola Wild-Type And Mutant Strain Tested By An Active Mode Of Periodontal Infection Using Microinjection, Jacques Izard, Hajime Sasaki, Ralph Kent

Department of Food Science and Technology: Faculty Publications

The available passive mode of periodontal infections in mice requires high efficiency of bacterial attachment and invasiveness and is not always suitable to test the pathogenicity of genetically engineered mutant strains. We developed an active mode of oral infection, using microinjection in the marginal gingiva of mice, to test the pathogenicity of a genetically engineered Treponema denticola mutant strain deficient in intermediate-like filaments, compared to the wild-type strain. This targeted mode of infection inoculates the bacterial strain to be tested directly at a lesion site (needle entry point) located at the future periodontal lesion site. The efficiency of T. …

The First Step—Monitoring What We Eat, Rosalie Marion Bliss, James M. Harnly

Agricultural Research Magazine

Nestled in the Maryland suburbs outside northeast Washington, D.C., is arguably the world’s largest and most diversified agricultural research complex—the Henry A. Wallace Beltsville Agricultural Research Center (BARC). Among its 7,000 acres of fields, farmland, and science buildings is the Beltsville Human Nutrition Research Center (BHNRC)—the oldest and most comprehensive of six human nutrition research centers within the Agricultural Research Service. Two new buildings— totaling more than 100,000 square feet of research space—were added to BHNRC in 2003.

“The first human nutrition research conducted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture dates back to the late 1890s,” says Allison Yates, the …

Table Of Contents March 2012 Agricultural Research Magazine

Agricultural Research Magazine

Table of Contents

4 Monitoring Best Practices For Food Analysis The First Step- Monitoring What We Eat

8 Monitoring Food-Supply Nutrients The Second Step- Conservators Of The National Nutrient Database

16 Monitoring The US Population's Diet The Third Step- The National "What We Eat In America" Survey

22 The Stealth Sodium Revolution

23 ARS National Program For Human Nutrition Monitoring

Agricultural Research Magazine March 2012

Agricultural Research Magazine

Agricultural Research Magazine March 2012 whole issue

Monitoring America's Nutritional Health

Forum: Monitoring America's Nutritional Bottom Line, Rosalie Marion Bliss

Agricultural Research Magazine

U.S. healthcare costs in 2009 reached an estimated $2.5 trillion, yet America still ranks below several countries in life expectancy and many key indicators of healthy living. “These statistics underscore the vast potential of a healthful diet and lifestyle to prevent chronic diseases before they begin and to reduce healthcare costs,” says Molly Kretsch, Agricultural Research Service Deputy Administrator for Nutrition, Food Safety and Quality.

Monitoring the amount and type of food consumed by the U.S. population is important to researchers who track related health biomarkers and to policymakers who evaluate nutrition policies. One key reason for monitoring what we …

Back Matter Agricultural Research Magazine March 2012

Agricultural Research Magazine

U.S. Department of Agriculture

Agricultural Research Magazine

5601 Sunnyside Ave.

Beltsville, MD 20705-5129

Ars National Program For Human Nutrition Monitoring

Agricultural Research Magazine

The ARS human nutrition monitoring program helps watch over the healthfulness of the country’s food supply and diet. This includes determining the food consumption and dietary patterns of Americans as a whole and for a variety of subgroups based on characteristics such as age, gender, ethnicity, and income.

Unique national resources that contribute to the success of the ARS human nutrition monitoring program include the National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference and the national “What We Eat in America” survey, which is the dietary intake survey component of the broader National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, commonly referred to as …

The Third Step—The National “What We Eat In America” Survey, Rosalie Marion Bliss, Alanna J. Moshfegh

Agricultural Research Magazine

In 2010, landmark health legislation— the Affordable Care Act—was passed, leading to a national strategy crossing both private and public sectors and led by the National Prevention, Health Promotion, and Public Health Council of the Surgeon General. The plan is called the “National Prevention Strategy.”

Science-based dietary-intake data from the Agricultural Research Service provides a key foundation for multiple public health policy publications, including the council’s strategy report, published in June 2011. The report cites the ARS national dietary-intake survey data to underscore the ability of everyday people to improve their health through healthy eating and other preventive measures.

Collecting …

The Second Step—Conservators Of The National Nutrient Database, Rosalie Marion Bliss, Joanne Holden

Agricultural Research Magazine

For more than 115 years, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has provided data on the nutrient composition of foods in the American diet. Over time, a series of USDA institutions responsible for providing this data evolved, and today the data comes from the Beltsville Human Nutrition Research Center (BHNRC), part of USDA’s Agricultural Research Service.

“Our mission is to ensure that science based nutrient profiles exist for the U.S. food supply,” says nutritionist and research leader Joanne Holden, who heads the Nutrient Data Laboratory (NDL) at the nutrition center, which is located in Beltsville, Maryland. “We work with other BHNRC, …

The Stealth Sodium Revolution, Rosalie Marion Bliss

Agricultural Research Magazine

Salt has become one of a handful of sensitive nutrients in the public spotlight, according to major food company executives who attended the 2011 National Nutrient Databank Conference in Bethesda, Maryland. The conference is supported annually by the Agricultural Research Service’s Nutrient Data Laboratory (NDL) and Food Surveys Research Group (FSRG) and other organizations. Both ARS groups are part of the Beltsville Human Nutrition Research Center in Beltsville, Maryland.

Salting is an ancient food-preservation practice still in use today to help preserve some foods. While salt-cured country hams and corned beef are still crowd pleasers, 80 percent of our dietary …

Exporting United States' Whey Products To The Chinese Market, Rebecca Mellema

Dairy Science

The objective of this research project was to determine the potential for the increase of U.S. whey exports to the Chinese market. The research was gathered from various locations including the United States Dairy Export Council as well as Euromonitor International. From this research the amount of whey that the US produces was compared with the amount of whey that China imports, then analyzed to determine the increased amount that can be exported by the US to China. An analysis of the current and historical situation for dairy products in China was also included to help determine the market potential …

Hybrid And Environment Effects On Popcorn Kernel Physiochemical Properties And Their Relationship To Microwave Popping Performance, Jess C. Sweley, Devin J. Rose, David S. Jackson

Department of Food Science and Technology: Faculty Publications

The objective of this study was to characterize the effect of hybrid and environment on physical and chemical characteristics of popcorn kernels that have shown importance in predicting end-use quality. Three popcorn hybrids grown in three different environments were tested for physiochemical attributes and popping performance. Hybrid had a significant effect on kernel sphericity, time-to-grind, dietary fiber, sugars, and starch. Environment effect alone affected total mineral content. Hybrid and environment main effects influenced test weight, tangential abrasive dehulling device index, thousand-kernel weight, total carbohydrates, and kernel protein content. Oil adherence to the bag averaged 15.8% and was proportional to oil …

Table Of Contents Agricultural Research Magazine February 2012

Agricultural Research Magazine

A New Way To Map Drought and Water Use Worldwide.........4

Multi-Pronged Fight Against Zebra Chip Disease in Potatoes .........8

Step-by-Step Strategies for Restoring Western Rangelands .........10

Battling Problem Pests in Paradise......... 12

A Dose of Selenium That Goes a Long Way .........14

Can a Prairie Teach Us About Agricultural Water Quality?......... 17

Nixing Nitrate Flow From the Farm......... 18

Infrared Heating: Hot Idea for Keeping Almonds Safe To Eat......... 20

Locations Featured in This Magazine Issue......... 23

Almond Hulls: Harvest Leftover May Offer A Health Connection, Gary R. Takeoka, Marcia Wood

Agricultural Research Magazine

Besides yielding about $1 billion worth of healthful, orchard-fresh nuts, California’s annual almond harvest also yields tons of leftover hulls. The hull is the tough, outermost layer that helps protect the shell—and the tasty nutmeat inside the shell—against attack by insects and disease.

Early studies by Agricultural Research Service chemist Gary R. Takeoka and colleagues have shown that hulls are a rich source of several interesting natural compounds that may have new applications for human health.

Using an array of sophisticated analytical techniques, including gas chromatography, high-performance liquid chromatography, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, and mass spectrometry, Takeoka’s team provided new …

Agricultural Research Magazine February 2012

Agricultural Research Magazine

Agricultural Research Magazine February 2012 whole issue

Fighting Nitrate in the Trenches

Forum: It Takes A Satellite To Feed The World, Feb 2012, Charles L. Walthall

Agricultural Research Magazine

It’s ironic that just when Earth monitoring satellites are needed more than ever to address the food and freshwater demands of a burgeoning global human population, we face an impending gap in coverage by the Landsat program. A series of Landsat satellites has been continuously in orbit since 1972, collecting an invaluable time sequence of global imagery that records decades of land-use and land-cover changes. The recent decision by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) to provide Landsat imagery free of charge has led to an explosion in applications, enabling unprecedented study of global deforestation, changes in cropping systems and irrigation …

Can A Prairie Teach Us About Agricultural Water Quality?, Ann Perry

Agricultural Research Magazine

One place to figure out how agricultural practices affect water quality is in a crop field that is being converted to native prairie vegetation. In Iowa, natural resource managers are conducting this type of landscape restoration at the Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge near Prairie City. So this is where Agricultural Research Service soil scientists Mark Tomer and Cynthia Cambardella partnered with colleagues from Grinnell College, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Iowa Geological Survey Bureau (part of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources) to describe changes in water quality during prairie establishment.

The ARS researchers work at …

Back Matter Agricultural Research Magazine February 2012

Agricultural Research Magazine

U.S. Department of Agriculture

Agricultural Research Magazine

5601 Sunnyside Ave.

Beltsville, MD 20705-5129

Infrared Heating: Hot Idea For Keeping Almonds Safe To Eat, Marcia Wood, Zhongli Pan, Maria T. Brandl

Agricultural Research Magazine

Crisp, crunchy almonds make a tasty and nutritious snack any time.

In Albany, California, investigators Zhongli Pan and Maria T. Brandl are collaborating in leading-edge studies that explore the use of a still-evolving technology, infrared heating, to help make sure almonds remain safe to eat.

The federal government, the U.S. almond industry, and food safety researchers are keeping an especially watchful eye on Salmonella enterica.

It’s generally thought that almonds are not naturally contaminated with high levels of this pathogen. Nevertheless, all almonds processed for sale in the United States today have to be pasteurized in order to zap …

Gene Helps With Multiple Leaf Diseases In Corn, Sharon Durham, Peter Balint-Kurti, Jim Holland, Matt Krakowsky

Agricultural Research Magazine

Corn is one of the most widely grown crops in the United States, which produces 40 percent of the world crop. But as with all crops, diseases threaten corn production.

Three diseases, southern corn leaf blight, northern leaf blight, and gray leaf spot, all cause lesions on corn leaves. In the U.S. Midwest Corn Belt, northern leaf blight and gray leaf spot are significant problems.

Agricultural Research Service scientists and university colleagues found a specific gene in corn that seems to confer resistance to all three of these leaf diseases. This discovery, published in 2011 in the Proceedings of the …