Agriculture Commons^™

Recognizing The Threat Of Leptospirosis, Sandra Avant

Agricultural Research Magazine

“The disease in humans can often be an acute infection,” says lead scientist Richard Zuerner, a former microbiologist with the Agricultural Research Service’s National Animal Disease Center (NADC) in Ames, Iowa. “In areas where it is endemic, like Brazil, it occurs on a periodic basis, and a portion of those infected will experience pulmonary hemorrhage, which can lead to a very rapid and painful death.”

Leptospirosis in livestock can cause abortions, stillbirths, reduced milk production, and lower fertility, Zuerner says. In horses, it can also result in uveitis, a potential cause of blindness.

Less is known about leptospirosis in wildlife, …

Comparing Light-Conversion Efficiency Of Plants And Manmade Solar Cells, Donald R. Ort, Sharon Durham

Agricultural Research Magazine

When it comes to using light energy, how do manmade photo cells compare to plants’ photosynthesis? An Agricultural Research Service scientist participated in a study comparing how efficiently plants and photovoltaic cells convert sunlight into energy. The study, published in Science, could help researchers improve plant photosynthesis—a critical first link in the global supply chain for food, feed, fiber, and bioenergy production.

Comparing the two systems is a challenge. Although both processes harvest energy from sunlight, they use that energy in different ways. Plants convert the sun’s energy into chemical energy, whereas solar cells produce electricity.

Scientists know that …

January 2012- Locations Featured In This Magazine Issue

Agricultural Research Magazine

San Joaquin Valley Agricultural Sciences Center, Parlier, California

3 research units ■ 117 employees

Eastern Oregon Agricultural Research Center, Burns Oregon

1 research unit ■ 44 employees

The Vegetable and Forage Crops Research Unit, Prosser, Washington

1 research unit ■ 39 employees

Northwest Irrigation and Soils Research Laboratory, Kimberly, Idaho

1 research unit ■ 40 employees

Logan, Utah

3 research units ■ 100 employees

Las Cruces, New Mexico

2 research units ■ 54 employees

Ames, Iowa

8 research units ■ 535 employees

Little Rock, Arkansas

9 research units ■ 67 employees (1 ARS employee, 66 university employees)

National Center for …

Building Baby’S Tiny Bones: Formulas And Mother’S Milk Analyzed In Animal Study, Marcia Wood, Jin-Ran Chen, Aline Andres

Agricultural Research Magazine

For millions of American infants, a bottle of warm, soy-based baby formula is what’s for dinner. It’s also what’s for breakfast, lunch, and all those between-meal feedings, as well.

At least, that’s the routine for a healthy, soy-fed baby’s first few months of life. After that, baby may be ready to handle solid food—puréed fruits and vegetables, for instance.

At the USDA-ARS Arkansas Children’s Nutrition Center in Little Rock, principal investigator Jin-Ran Chen, M.D., is taking a close look at the effects that soy formula, cow’s-milk formula, and mother’s milk have in regard to development of strong, healthy bones. As …

Nutrient Data In Time For The New Year, Rosalie Marion Bliss, Joanne Holden

Agricultural Research Magazine

Federal rules published in 2010 require specific meat and poultry products to carry new nutrition information starting January 2, 2012. USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) announced that the new rules will make important nutrition information readily available to consumers on 40 of the most popular cuts of meat and poultry. Two timely data sets provided by the Agricultural Research Service’s Nutrient Data Laboratory (NDL) in Beltsville, Maryland, are being used by the beef and pork industries to provide the new Nutrition Facts labels for their products.

Previously, NDL researchers, in collaboration with representatives of the beef and pork …

Back Matter Agricultural Research Magazine January 2011

Agricultural Research Magazine

U.S. Department of Agriculture

Agricultural Research Magazine

5601 Sunnyside Ave.

Beltsville, MD 20705-5128

A Search For The Sweet Spot In Sugar Beet Production, Ann Perry

Agricultural Research Magazine

The whole point of growing sugar beets is to produce sugar. But once the beets are harvested and stored for processing—usually in huge piles that can weigh thousands of tons—they slowly start to decay, which lowers their sucrose levels.

Roots store sugar even more poorly if they originate from fields infested with the virus that causes rhizomania, a disease that also severely affects yield. Resistance genes in sugar beet help protect the plant from rhizomania, but some strains of the virus have evolved to overcome one of the resistance genes, Rz1.

“The economic loss from damage to stored beets …

Ars Scientists Rally 'Round The Range, Dennis O’Brien, Ann Perry, Tony Svejcar, Jeremy James, Mary Lucero

Agricultural Research Magazine

Rangelands in the western United States provide essential grazingland for hundreds of thousands of cattle and other livestock as well as a home for a vast array of native plants and animals. And since these rangelands make up a large part of the U.S. public land system, taxpayers often foot the bill for upkeep of the hardscrabble holdings. So Agricultural Research Service scientists across the West are collaborating to make sure the money used to sustain and repair these arid ecosystems is spent on programs that work.

A Burning Issue

For millennia, periodic wildfires have been an integral part of …

A Rough, Tough Forage For Rangeland Cattle, Ann Perry

Agricultural Research Magazine

Forage kochia (Kochia prostrata) is a shrubby Asian native that has found a new home on western U.S. rangelands. And although it is not invasive, it is still sometimes more resilient than the North American native plants.

“In some rangeland soils, it’s difficult to successfully reseed with native plants,” says geneticist Blair Waldron, who works at the Agricultural Research Service’s Forage and Range Research Laboratory in Logan, Utah. “But we’ve shown that forage kochia can be established to enhance rangelands and compete with cheatgrass successfully. It can even protect against wildfires. Some people said that livestock won’t eat …

Model Tractor Teaching Tool, Blair L. Stringam, Benjamin G. Swan

Agricultural Education and Communication

A model tractor was developed to teach students about power consumption and wheel slip of farm tractors. The model was selected because of safety and resource issues. Using this model in the lab provided a safe and quiet atmosphere where the principals of power consumption and wheel slip could be demonstrated and learned. The students that participated in the lab appeared to grasp the concepts that were presented.

Maine Learns To Love Dairying, Erin Love

Historical Ecology Atlas of New England

The transition from subsistence to commercial farming is a defining trend in Maine dairying that continues today. Technological advances that often caused large landscape scale changes were catalysts in the division between small and large farmers. The industry developed in a relatively short time period—the last thirty years of the 19th century—but the characteristic divide between large and small farmers has continued to be exacerbated.

Live 2012 Meeting Minutes, Live (Low Input Viticulture & Enology)

LIVE (Low Input Viticulture & Enology) Collection

This document is a compilation of LIVE (Low Input Viticulture & Enology) meeting minutes from 2012. Topics covered in the meeting minutes include the Carbon Reduction Challenge, the WAWGG (Washington Association of Wine Grape Growers) report, and certification program updates.

Varietal Release History (2006-2012) Of Intsormil-Supported Nars Breeding Programs, Intsormil

INTSORMIL Scientific Publications

Spreadsheet of varietal release history for sorghum and pearl millet, by year, of INTSORMIL-supported national agricultural research systems breeding programs. Includes country, name of variety, on-farm yield, yield of local check variety, amount of seed produced (including breeder and whether Basic/Foundation certified), qualities other than yield (such as drought tolerance, forage quality, food type, etc.), and additional comments, such as whether birds will attack the crop at a particular time during the growing process, etc.

Country data for: Ethiopia, Mali, Mozambique, Niger, Uganda, Zambia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua.

Sorgo Sureño Normal: El Sorgo Tradicional De Honduras De Doble Proposito, Alberto Morán Araujo, Miriam Villeda

INTSORMIL Scientific Publications

Origen: En Honduras, el Sorgo Sureño Normal ingresó a la estación experimental La Lujosa, en Choluteca, en el año de 1982, por medio del vivero de resistencia a l a i n t e m p e r i e , d o n d e s e seleccionó por su rendimiento, adaptación y calidad tortillera.

El Sorgo Sureño Normal fue liberado por la Secretaría de Recursos Naturales (SRN) y el Programa Internacional de Sorgo y Mijo (INTSORMIL) en 1985.

Adaptación: Sureño Normal se adapta a climas secos y calientes, suelos pobres, en condiciones de sequía y exceso de humedad …

Igrow Wheat: Best Management Practices For Wheat Production, David C. Clay, C. Gregg Carlson, Kevin Dalsted

Agronomy, Horticulture, and Plant Science Books

No abstract provided.

Teens: Smoking, Alcohol & Drugs, Javiette Samuel

Extension Publications

No abstract provided.

Early Adolescence: Eleven/Twelve To Fourteen, Javiette Samuel

Extension Publications

No abstract provided.

Early Childhood: Three To Five, Javiette Samuel

Extension Publications

No abstract provided.

Late Adolescence: Fourteen To Eighteen, Javiette Samuel

Extension Publications

No abstract provided.

The Importance And Benefits Of Play, Javiette Samuel

Extension Publications

No abstract provided.