ARS Posts Latest of Quarterly Report of Progress

By Hank Becker
September 14, 2000

The Agricultural Research Service has posted a new issue of the Quarterly Report of Research Progress for April 1 to June 30, 2000, on its website at:

/is/qtr/

The Quarterly contains the latest ARS research findings in Soil, Water and Air Quality; Food Safety and Quality; Animal Production and Protection; Human Nutrition; Crop Productivity; Industrial Products; Crop Diseases and Pests; IPM/Biocontrol, and Plant Genetic Resources, as well as New Products, Cooperative Research and Development Agreements, Licenses and Patents.

In this issue:

• ARS researchers have signed a cooperative research and development agreement with Durand-Wayland, Inc., LaGrange, GA, to develop special tree sprayers to manage trunk-feeding insect pests of peaches and other stone fruits.

• A first-of-its-kind study of the transport and fate of two pesticides in vegetated agricultural drainage ditches suggests that ditches are valuable tools for reducing chemical runoff.

• Lactic acid, commonly used in foods as a flavoring or preservative, can help reduce Salmonella in two important organs of broiler chickens--the chicken esophagus and the ceca. Both organs are prone to bacterial contamination.

• By scrutinizing the chromosomes that store cow DNA, ARS animal scientists are helping lay the groundwork for a genetic roadmap of the animal’s traits.

• Popular Latin American and Caribbean beans may offer new opportunities for U.S. bean growers, thanks to a collaboration between ARS and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture, or CIAT, in Cali, Colombia.

• ARS and Louisiana Tech University scientists have found that a fungus that grows on the sicklepod plant effectively controls kudzu.

ARS is the chief research agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Contact: Hank Becker, ARS Information Staff, Beltsville, Md.; phone (301) 504-1624, fax (301) 504- 1641, hbecker@ars.usda.gov.