develop sunflower germplasm with altered fatty acid composition to provide improved vegetable oils for the sunflower industry.

expand and diversify the ARS sunflower collection through additions of underrepresented species from Mexico and the U.S.

develop the means to improve the safety of peanuts by developing germplasm with improved resistance to aflatoxin contamination and acceptable agronomic performance.

develop alternative weed management systems for irrigated peanuts with less dependence on herbicides.

develop peanut germplasm with improved resistance to peanut root-knot nematode, a serious pathogen.

develop improved lines of soybean for yield and seed quality traits and release them to the public.

transfer new knowledge to the food and feed crop pollination industry to enhance food production through improved pollination of cranberries, blueberries, sunflowers, legume forage, oil seed crops, pears, apples, cherries, almonds, and other orchard crops by bee pollinators - alfalfa leafcutting bees, blue orchard bees, western bumble bees, sunflower leafcutting bees, southeastern blueberry bees, alkali bees, hornfaced bees, and mustached bees.

field test and transfer to cattle growers and others in the animal industry new knowledge on increased productivity through the use of integrated management methods for the control of gastrointestinal nematodes in pasture and range cattle.

continue to develop and test elite, heat resistant lines of pima cotton with outstanding fiber quality, resulting in the eventual release of improved germplasm for use by breeders to produce new varieties.

evaluate the effects of red plastic mulch in the field on the quality of cotton fiber. The mulch is known to alter the spectrum of light in the cotton crop canopy which results in increased fiber length. Studies in 2000 and 2001 will evaluate the utility of light change and begin to understand how this effect can be agronomically manipulated.

continue to transfer to the food and feed crop pollination industry new knowledge to enhance food production through improved pollination using native bees, e.g., blue orchard bees, sunflower leafcutting bees, and Southeastern blueberry bees.

continue to develop new and improved vaccines and immunomodulators for protection of animals against arthropod borne pathogens and reduction of diseases in animal populations resulting in increased animal productivity

provide recommendations regarding the use of old world bluestem grasses within native pastures in the Southern Plains.

provide workable solutions to the fescue toxicosis problem while developing methods to entirely eliminate losses which falls disproportionately on producers with limited resources.

Determine the impact of cattle breed on performance in the Southeast and make recommendations for the small producers of that region.

produce recommendations for the best way to provide supplements to calves grazing in subtropical areas of the U.S.

continue its five-year corn rootworm areawide IPM program in the Midwestern U.S. using attract and kill technology.

complete its five-year areawide IPM program to control codling moth on apples and pears using mating disruption in the Pacific Northwest U.S.

expand testing of naturally derived materials that reduce populations of blue-green algae in catfish ponds.

continue developing an attractant for Asian longhorned beetle for use as a survey tool to protect urban trees and forests from infestation.

expand testing of a new melon derived attractant for corn rootworm for use in attract and kill programs.

expand a new project using areawide pest management for post-boll weevil eradication of pests such as the tarnished plant bug using new insecticidal chemicals, pheromone traps, natural enemies and other IPM practices in the Mid-South.

field test novel selective algicides to prevent algae-related off flavors in catfish ponds.

make control measures available for tall whitetop, an exotic invasive weed that threatens temperate desert rangelands in the Western U.S.

acquire and test in quarantine a biological control agent for yellow star thistle, a widespread weed that is infesting western rangeland.

develop improved methods for biological controls of invasive weeds on rangeland.

demonstrate new methods to reduce leafy spurge, an invasive weed, on rangeland in the Central Great Plains to enable the native species to reestablish.

$1,750,000 to formulate and deliver pathogens for biocontrol of insects and weeds.

$1,000,000 for areawide IPM programs demonstrating alternatives to at-risk pesticides.

$1,100,000 to develop new biological information and species discovery.

$1,500,000 to increase support of the USDA Office of Pest Management and Policy.

$620,000 to develop alternatives to methyl bromide for floriculture crops.

$417,000 for development of IPM component technology for fruits, vegetables, and other crops treated with organophosphates and carbamates, and for pests under large-scale action agency radication or control programs.

$1,000,000 for supporting registration of minor use pesticides as alternatives to methyl bromide.

$750,000 to research systematics of invasive weeds and insects.

$700,000 to develop integrated weed management systems for invasive weeds such as purple loose strife.

release and genetically characterize improved germplasm lines of grain crops designed to optimize their utility for specific feed, food, and health beneficial uses.

release and genetically characterize improved germplasm lines of grain crops with improved levels of resistance to important existing and emerging disease organisms.

acquire, preserve, characterize, document, evaluate, and enhance crop, microbial, and beneficial insect genetic resources so that U.S. crops and beneficial microbes are less genetically vulnerable, an optimal repertoire of genes are accessible for continual crop and microbial improvement through genetic gain.

continue studies using transgenic methods to incorporate antimicrobial disease resistant genes into crops (such as cottonseed) to protect pre- and postharvest seed products from microbial pathogens.

continue studies to exploit natural antifungal resistance mechanisms in corn kernels for protection of the crop from pre- and postharvest attack by microbial pathogens.

identify QTLs affecting meat production and reproductive traits.

identify and characterize useful germplasm in wild relatives of cultivated fruit and vegetable crops and develop efficient means for incorporation of valuable traits of these unadapted species into the cultivated gene pool. Genetic resources are critical to maintain and improve sustainable fruit and vegetable crop production.

identify sugarbeet breeding lines resistant to root knot nematode, and distribute seed to sugarbeet breeders in the U.S. and abroad.

begin greenhouse (preharvest) and storage (postharvest) evaluation of transgenic crops (such as cottonseed) for antimicrobial disease resistant activities incorporated in them for protection of the seed against pre- and postharvest microbial pathogens.

begin incorporation of natural antifungal resistant mechanisms into commercial corn hybrids for protection from pre- and postharvest attack by microbial pathogens, with the cooperation of ARS researchers.

develop superior quality lines of fruits and vegetables using genetic engineering with optimal characteristics for quality and shelf life.

collect wild types of white clover to develop populations adapted to the resource-poor Appalachian region.

develop tools for breeding trefoil to provide a legume for the acid-infertile soils of the humid East. This will benefit limited resource producers in the Southeast who need nitrogen fixing legumes that persist without the expense of soil amendments.

conduct approximately seven different foreign and domestic plant explorations to collect crop plant germplasm together with university and private sector partners. This germplasm will first be safeguarded in ARS genebanks and then distributed to plant scientists and breeders as sources of genes for resistance to environmental extremes, pests, and pathogens of potatoes, forage grasses, tropical fruits, and other crops.

release scores of more nutritious, more productive, healthier, disease-, toxin- and pest-free cultivars of grains, oilseeds, forages, vegetables, fruits, and ornamentals with university and private sector partners. This new germplasm will continue to provide secure and safe food, feed, fiber, ornamentals, and industrial products to U.S. consumers.

decode more than 100,000 Expressed Sequence Tags (EST) in soybean in cooperation with partners. Genes express themselves by producing a message which can be cloned and decoded. The decoded message is called an EST. Discovering the function of these genes will make them useful for more effectively improving soybeans.

apply bioinformatic tools, biological databases, and information technology to more effectively improve crops, microbes, and beneficial insects.

increase DNA markers on the poultry genetic map.

complete the DNA sequence of serotype 1 Marek s virus.

molecular characterization of new isolates of Avian Leukosis J virus.

sequence the gene associated with susceptibility to ESC disease, a major disease of catfish.

complete the whole genomic sequencing of Arabidopsis (a small mustard plant) together with its university and private sector partners, supported by the joint U.S. (NSF, DOE, USDA), European, and Japanese sequencing consortium. Information about the detailed structure of > Arabidopsis genes is already being used to identify similar or identical genes in major crops such as soybeans, maize, and canola that govern important traits such as disease and drought resistance, flowering and adaptation, etc. This new genomic knowledge thereby is accelerating the pace of discovery of agriculturally important genes and their incorporation into crops.

$1,450,000 to provide genomic approaches to elucidating and manipulating the function of important genes in crops.

$1,800,000 for bioinformatic tools, biological databases, and information management technology.

$1,500,000 for improving economically important traits in livestock and poultry.

$600,000 for pathogenic microoganisms, beneficial microbes, and their products.

use genetic crosses and breeding methods to combine genes for mite and disease resistance into a single honey bee stock. It will be tested and the genetically resistant bee germplasm transferred to commercial queen breeders for use by beekeepers and the pollination industry for enhancing U.S. crop, fruit and vegetable production.

genetically improve crop, microbial, and beneficial insect varieties and strains that are less genetically vulnerable, which will enable producers and processors to maximize yields of high quality products, and minimize environmental degradation and production costs.

introduce a muscat flavored seedless white table grape bred to replace Italiz, a seeded muscat flavored table grape. This introduction is a specialty item in the U.S. and very desirable in Europe and South America where Italia is the number one table grape cultivar.

release a blue/black seedless Concord flavored grape for farmers markets. This new grape provides a seedless type suitable for production in California where Concord grapes do not now grow well.

release new strawberry and blueberry germplasm with improved traits.

utilize new gene transfer technologies together with conventional breeding systems to maximize efficiency in development of new fruits, vegetables, and sugar crops having improved pest resistance and fresh market and processing quality attributes. Enhanced quality and genetic resistance to disease and insects will reduce pre- and postharvest chemical inputs. Candidate releases include new improved blueberry and sugarcane varieties, powdery mildew resistant sugarbeet breeding lines, lettuce selections resistant to lettuce mosaic and big vein diseases, and new carrot germplasm with disease resistance and improved flavor.

release an oat cultivar with a higher beta-glucan concentration than any currently in produced in collaboration with North Dakota State University.

release durum wheat germplasm carrying the waxy starch (low amylose) trait in collaboration, with North Dakota State University.

release two cultivars of red clover, two of birdsfoot trefoil, and one of kura.

release a new cultivar of a native plant species called bluebunch wheatgrass.

make available native Canadian Wildrye and Switchgrass cultivars developed from plant material collected on remnant Midwest prairies.

release five white clover cultivars with improved disease resistance for the Southeast U.S.

release improved bermuda grass and pearl millet germplasm for use in the Southeast U.S.

$5,600,000 for plant genetic resource acquisition and distribution, maintenance and characterization, and evaluation and enhancement.

$1,000,000 to maintain biodiversity in livestock, poultry, and microbes.

complete construction of a catfish genetic linkage map with at least 250 markers.

implement the 'Test Day Model' for the genetic evaluation of the U.S. dairy herd.

begin to combine novel technology (e.g., microarray or chip assays of gene activity) with conventional screens of standard agricultural traits (yield, adaptation, stress resistance) to identify coincident patterns of gene expression, occurrence of nucleic acids and proteins, and variation in the preceding agricultural traits. This information will help uncover the function of newly discovered genes so they can be manipulated and regulated in crops.

develop gene markers for coccidiosis which will lead to genetic strategies to control against this poultry disease.

expand the cadre of genes known to interact with food borne bacterial pathogens and develop high throughput genotyping of these genes.

produce large quantities of chicken and pig leptin and evaluate the biological function of this hormone in controlling feed intake.

utilize mutants of pollen development to improve understanding of the signaling process that controls reproductive specificity. This knowledge is expected to lead to the development of processes that will enable geneticists to make much wider crosses than is currently possible, which will result in a vast array of new genes becoming available for 'conventional' breeding purposes.

complete the process of transferring genes of the technology protection system into cotton in order to evaluate its value and biosafety.

continue to develop knowledge about the effect of spatial variability in soils on cotton fiber quality, and to determine how to manage fields to improve overall quality and reduce quality variability.

provide genetic-based flavor profiling that will impact peanut variety releases.

test new and improved economic selection tools and use them in the national dairy cattle genetic evaluation program.

add genetic evaluation for calving ease as a new trait in the national dairy cattle genetic evaluation program.

using molecular biology, complete cytogenetic analysis of the nine sources of germplasm used to develop all cultivated alfalfa varieties.

develop a modified live vaccine for Edwardsiella tarda to prevent a significant blood borne bacterial disease of farm raised foodfish.

compare marker vaccines for efficacy in protecting U.S. swine from swine fever.

conduct molecular epidemiologic studies of the ecology of vesicular stomatitis virus outbreaks in the Western Hemisphere.

improve vaccine delivery systems for exotic poultry diseases, such as avian influenza.

develop a DNA sequence database and diagnostic tools for avian leukosis J virus.

enhance control of transmissible spongiform encephalopathies through use of preclinical diagnosis.

develop control strategies for porcine viruses that cause reproductive losses.

develop knowledge of the life cycle of Neospora, the major cause of abortion in cattle that can be used as a management strategy to lower the incidence of abortions in cattle.

continue to clone and sequence genes that promote degreening of maturing seeds. Identify the genes, if possible, and characterize their mode of action, then begin transferring the genes into canola for evaluation.

begin evaluation and testing of cottonseed that carries the technology protection system.

evaluate the determinants of in-field variation of cotton fiber quality. Begin to analyze the data in a way that will make predictions of fiber quality variability possible.

determine factors that regulate u-calpain activity in postmortem muscle and develop strategies to control variation in meat tenderness.

develop national and international surveillance and diagnostic programs using the ARS sheep scrapie test.

study the effects of stress on neonatal pigs and their ability to respond to stress during early development.

develop molecular markers to distinguish karnal bunt from similar fungi.

determine what substances added to the diet of dairy cattle will effectively reduce the pH of their blood to prevent milk fever.

demonstrate that parathyroid hormone is not properly taken up by cell receptors when dietary potassium is elevated and that the mechanism is due to elevation of blood pH by dietary potassium.

complete the assessment of environmental risks associated with the use of copper sulfate to control diseases in aquaculture.

conduct target animal toxicity studies and efficacy testing to meet data requirements of FDA for approval of potassium permanganate to treat Ichthyophthirius multifiliis disease in aquaculture.

improve vaccine designs and delivery systems and conduct field evaluations of vaccines against the major aquaculture disease agents, flexibacter columnaris and streptococcus iniae.

continue testing various strains of catfish for natural resistance to columnaris disease which causes catfish industry losses of $50 to 80 million annually.

$10,000,000 to combat bioterrorism.

$608,000 to rapidly identify, prevent, and control emerging and exotic plant diseases.

$1,300,000 to prevent and control exotic emerging infectious diseases of livestock.

$900,000 to prevent and control emerging domestic infectious and zoonotic diseases of livestock and aquaculture.

$1,000,000 to develop vaccines for brucellosis in wildlife.

$550,000 to control livestock pests.

complete the development and transfer of information to regulatory agencies, such as APHIS Veterinary Service and FSIS, describing methods for on farm management of pigs to achieve a preharvest parasite free certification program to assure pork product safety.

develop a profile of pathogens present in biofilms on processing equipment. This information will be used to develop methods to reduce the presence of pathogens in biofilms on equipment in poultry processing plants.

develop techniques to improve the effectiveness of experimental and commercial sanitizers to further reduce pathogen levels in fresh fruits and vegetables and minimally processed products from them.

provide the research information necessary to obtain an Experimental Use Permit from EPA for use of competitive strains of Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus parasiticus to control preharvest aflatoxin contamination of peanuts.

provide the research information necessary to expand the provisions of the Experimental Use Permit from EPA for use of a competitive strain of Aspergillus flavus to allow treatment of 20,000 or more acres of cotton to control preharvest aflatoxin contamination of cottonseed.

expand the capabilities of the multiplex PCR which was developed to specifically detect and identify E. coli O157:H7 in foods. The expanded assay will allow identification of the type of Shiga toxin (Stx1 or Stx2) produced and will make it possible to determine the presence of the H7 antigen (fliCgene which encodes the H7 flagellat antigen). An assay with these capabilities will be useful to the FSIS.

develop a monoclonal antibody-based method for concentrating and identifying Campylobacter jejuni and E. coli in food washes in collaboration with an industry partner. The same reagents will be used to aid in characterizing how C. jejuni attaches to chicken surfaces.

demonstrate the safety of the Brucella abortus RH51 strain in nontarget animal species as a step prior to initiation of a vaccination program of bison and elk within Yellowstone National Park and surrounding areas.

determine whether ballistic delivery of strain RB51 vaccine is a viable and efficacious method of vaccine delivery for bison.

determine the efficacy of a new bovine leptospirosis vaccine for use in the United States.

determine the role of a newly recognized virus in the etiology of poult enteritis and mortality syndrome in turkeys.

complete the development and conduct field trials for FDA approval of a defined competitive exclusion bacterial culture for control of Salmonella in commercial swine production.

complete the development of rapid immunoassays for the detection of Campylobacter, Listeria, and E. coli O157:H7, and residues of fluoroquinolone, tylosin and tilmycosin in foods in cooperation with industry partners.

complete studies to optimize the use of a commercial GRAS status herbal extract to reduce the pathogen load on poultry carcasses. This information will be used to develop intervention strategies that assist in reducing and/or eliminating the need to use chlorine.

demonstrate biologically based technology which can reduce the amount of fumonosins and other related mycotoxins accumulating in pre- and postharvest corn.

complete greenhouse evaluations of transgenic cotton that expresses antifungal disease resistant genes incorporated for protection of the seed against aflatoxin producing fungi.

use its experimental use pesticide registration of Aspergillus flavus (a nonaflatoxin producing strain of A. flavus) to develop areawide aflatoxin management programs. Design and develop procedures for the production of a toxigenic strain material by grower organizations for use in local areawide aflatoxin management programs.

obtain an accurate, reliable estimate of the geographic, demographic and seasonal occurrence of the zoonotic pathogen E. coli O157:H7 which can be used to design rational control strategies to reduce the infection in cattle.

develop antimicrobial processes to inactivate or significantly reduce fecal bacteria on beef trim without any reductions in quality attributes of the resulting ground product.

develop techniques to improve the effectiveness of washing technologies for pathogen decontamination of fresh fruits, vegetables and seeds. Determine if ionizing irradiation or a combination of it and subsequent washing with a sanitizer is more efficacious. Develop a profile of the environmental conditions required to minimize growth of pathogens on fruits and vegetables during storage.

complete a microbial evaluation of swine slaughter and carcass dressing and determine limits for the critical control points. Transfer this information to the FSIS for incorporation into the HACCP program.

complete risk assessment models for Listeria, Salmonella, and Campylobacter in poultry products and develop predictive simulation models that assist industry and regulatory agencies in making critical food safety decisions that affect the public health.

develop predictive models and transfer the information to regulatory agencies indicating the effect(s) of food additives on the thermal inactivation of Salmonella in beef or poultry at various fat levels and the effect of temperature on the ability of food borne pathogen spores to initiate growth in cured beef, pork, or poultry.

develop solvent sparing and/or supercritical fluid extraction multiresidue methods for illegal use of animal growth promoting agents, antibiotic residues, dioxins, and triazines in meat tissue and eggs. Transfer the methodology to regulatory agencies such as the FSIS for monitoring use.

$1,000,000 to research antibiotic resistance.

$600,000 to control pathogens during slaughter and transportation.

$900,000 to control plant toxins, heavy metals, and allergens.

$360,000 to control Salmonella Enteritidis infection in laying hens.

$400,000 to control pathogens in fruits and vegetables.

$900,000 to control pathogens in meat and poultry.

$1,000,000 to detect pathogens and residue during slaughter and processing.

$200,000 to create safety databases.

$360,000 to reduce Salmonella Enteritidis in shell eggs.