Analysis of Results: This goal is the focus of much of ARS• research on a wide range of environmental issues related to agriculture. Under Goal IV, 42 Indicators are aligned under 12 Performance Goals. Because of the unique and dynamic nature of research, several Indicators were added to the Report that did not first appear in the Annual Performance Plan for FY 2000. This was done to ensure that significant accomplishments that were not anticipated last year were reported. While it is not possible to report research accomplishments numerically, the progress projected in 42 Indicators was completed or substantially completed during FY 2000.

OBJECTIVE 4.1: Balance agriculture and the environment: "Increase the long-term productivity of the U.S. agriculture and food industry while maintaining and enhancing the natural resource base on which rural America and the U.S. agricultural economy depend."

STRATEGY 4.1.1: Natural resource quality: Develop new concepts, technologies, and management practices that will enhance the quality, productivity, and sustainability of the Nation's soil, water, and air resources.

During FY 2000, ARS will

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: ARS is a partner in a multi-state, multi-institution project that focuses on direct seeding through mulch and standing stubble in unplowed fields. The partnership holds farmer meetings and produces fact sheets, how-to sheets, case studies of operating farms, etc. On the basis of long-term plots, ARS has shown that an early effect of direct seeding is to increase soil compaction (110 percent above that of conventional tillage), but that over time, this effect becomes much reduced (20 percent above conventional tillage after 17 years). A major problem with planting through heavy mulch is that of placing the seed properly to avoid poor stands. In 2000, ARS applied for a patent for a direct-seeding attachment that has been found to increase stand counts from 9 to 53 percent, depending on crop species, soil conditions and amount of crop residue. ARS is also currently researching the suitability of different crops to complement wheat production in direct seed systems.

IMPACT/OUTCOME: There are no firm data on the adoption rate of direct seeding in the Eastern Washington/Oregon area, but there is anecdotal evidence of considerable interest among producers in that region. At a recent meeting on the subject of air quality, publications were made available citing the direct seed experiences of about a dozen farm families. Four years ago, an equipment dealer in Northeast Oregon struggled to sell one direct-seed drill model while today, seven different drills are available. A newly developed drill attachment to plant seeds in conservation tillage systems has recently been announced. National and international machinery production companies have contacted ARS about it, and there are daily calls from other interested parties, including farmers.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Scientists at Kimberly, Idaho, showed that applying polyacrylamide (PAM) through this irrigation water after cattle, fish, or swine manures were applied to the soil decreased the number of microorganisms in the runoff water by 99 percent compared to the furrow irrigation practice where no PAM was added.

IMPACT/OUTCOME: The finding suggests that applying PAM into the irrigation water at 10 parts per million not only reduces soil erosion, but can reduce total fecal coliform and bacteria in both the soil and groundwater where manure is being applied to the land from animal feeding operations and aquaculture production systems.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Researchers at Florence, South Carolina demonstrated that site-specific fertilizer recommendations should be based on direct management of soil response, rather than estimates of soil variability.

IMPACT/OUTCOME: Despite the promise of variable-rate fertilizer and water applications through irrigation systems, it has been difficult to recommend precision irrigation on site-specific management because of limitations in the understanding of soil variability. These results show that improved measurements of soil variability will provide an increased ability to apply more accurately different amounts of fertilizer and water under irrigated agriculture.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: At Temple, Texas, researchers found that two-pass systems allow the use of conventional planters without special attachments, ballasting, etc., for adequate crop establishment and growth, making low-risk conservation tillage workable and manageable for row crops on high-clay soils. A Mandan, North Dakota, research team determined the influences of previous crop and crop residue on crop production and soil quality in no-till cropping systems. Crop production was reduced by up to 50 percent when 2 consecutive years of the same crop were grown compared to 2 years with a different crop. Scientists in Akron, Colorado, showed that legumes, corn and sunflower can be grown in the central Great Plains region, thereby improving soil quality, decreasing soil erosion, and enhancing economic returns. Ft. Collins, Colorado, scientists enhanced the cropping system/water quality model, RZWQM, to include winter freezing/thawing and a new pesticide process and developed a user-friendly interface. This model is now published. Researchers from Watkinsville, Georgia, evaluated cotton yield and N and P losses in runoff and leachate from a cotton/rye cropping system managed under either conventional- or no-tillage and fertilized with either ammonium nitrate or poultry litter. Results indicate that yield could be improved up to 50 percent water quality maintained by adopting no tillage and fertilizing with poultry litter.

IMPACT/OUTCOME: Alternatives are now available for producers in areas throughout the country to determine which potential crops, rotations, conservation tillage and soil management systems they can use to tailor cropping systems to their management needs. This will enable producers to develop economically advantageous and environmentally friendly production systems.

During FY 2000, ARS will

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: ARS scientists from University Park, Pennsylvania, and their cooperators have developed a predictive tool called a phosphorus index to identify areas in a pasture that are vulnerable to phosphorus losses.

IMPACT/OUTCOME: Producers, various support agencies (e.g., the NRCS and EPA), and consultants can use the index to determine areas in a pasture where manure can be safely applied and areas where special practices or precautions are required.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Researchers at Columbus, Ohio, have demonstrated that a new water management technology, called a wetland/reservoir subirrigation system (WRSIS), can reduce off-site losses of runoff water, including sediments and nutrients, by as much as 80 percent to lakes and streams.

IMPACT/OUTCOME: A cost benefit analysis of the WRSIS Technology based on current economic values, was used to compare operation and investment costs with benefits such as improved crop production, improved water quality, increased residual land value, decreased tax liability, and wetland mitigation payments for this new water management technology. The results suggest that many farmers will not be able to adopt the system unless a mitigation payment or subsidy is received for the environmental benefits that are provided.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: A jet test device suitable for measuring stream bed erodibility in the field or laboratory was developed at Stillwater, Oklahoma.

IMPACT/OUTCOME: There was no previously established or accepted procedure for measuring stream bed erodibility, but this new device will be able to ensure optimum placement of stream stabilization methods.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: The National Sedimentation Laboratory at Oxford, Mississippi, has developed technologies and procedures for characterizing both quality and quantity of sediment impounded in aging hydraulic structures.

IMPACT/OUTCOME: Since more than 10,000 flood control structures built by NRCS are being adversely affected by sediment buildup, the procedures are needed for assessing whether these structures need to be rehabilitated or decommissioned.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Scientists at Baton Rouge, Louisiana, demonstrated that controlled subsurface drainage, using underground plastic pipes to maintain the water table at a shallow 2-foot depth, can reduce nitrate-nitrogen losses in the discharge waters by over 20 percent.

IMPACT/OUTCOME: This finding has the potential to reduce nitrogen loadings from a large portion of the Mississippi River Basin to the Gulf of Mexico. Concerns still exist in terms of the high cost of controlled subsurface drainage systems. However, consideration should be given to providing increased funding, under the EPA cost-sharing programs and the USDA conservation program, for this best management practice that may be one of the most feasible alternatives for reducing the hypoxic zone (low level of dissolved oxygen) in the Gulf of Mexico.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Previous studies have shown that grass buffers can reduce the amount of a herbicide (such as atrazine) being carried to a stream, but new information from Ames, Iowa has shown that the grass buffers can also reduce leaching of the herbicide to groundwater.

IMPACT/OUTCOME: Grass buffers, planted to switchgrass, big bluestem or eastern gamagrass, may have an added advantage of reducing the losses of herbicides to groundwater, over other forested or mixed tree and grass buffers that require a long period of time to establishments. Further research is needed to confirm these results at other locations.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: The techniques were demonstrated to ranchers in Arizona.

IMPACT/OUTCOME: These monitoring strategies and interpretive methodologies will provide ranchers and public land managers with new approaches for improving the management of rangelands.

STRATEGY 4.1.2: Global change: Increase understanding of the responses of terrestrial ecosystems to manmade and natural changes in the global environment.

During FY 2000, ARS will

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Identification and quantification of practices that help maintain soil organic matter are necessary to delineate management systems for sustaining crop production without degrading the environment. Long-term experiments are important to assess changes in soil organic matter due to soil and crop management. Carbon was measured in semi-arid soils of the Pacific Northwest where crop management experiments have been conducted by ARS for 30 to 65 years. Most systems lost soil organic matter when rotations included summer fallow. Reducing tillage or adding nitrogen fertilizer to increase crop growth decreased losses of soil carbon.

IMPACT/OUTCOME: Based on these long-term plots, ARS scientists project that soil organic matter can be maintained or increased only if crop residues are returned to soil, erosion is kept below 2-4 tons per hectare, moldboard plowing is avoided, and fallowing is eliminated or practiced one year or less in four or five. These experiments allow development of crop management criteria to maintain soil quality and achieve maximal carbon sequestering capability. Such criteria help guide managers and inform policymakers on development of agricultural resource conservation programs.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Researchers from Ft. Collins, Colorado, determined that across a 13 State region in the Great Plains the average rate of soil carbon sequestration was 500 to 900 pounds per acre at Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) sites. Soil conditions in cropland, nearby native grassland, and replanted grasslands (CRP) were compared by Bushland, Texas, researchers. Soil carbon contents were lowest in cropland using plow tillage and fallow periods and highest in native grassland. Higher soil carbon contents improved soil aggregation and other soil properties. Planting grass on cropland improves soil conditions, but crop production is lost. More residue and, therefore, more carbon was added to soil in Colorado and North Dakota when nitrogen fertilizer was used. This data is important to understanding the impact of fertilization on soil carbon. ARS scientists at St. Paul, Minnesota, demonstrated that conservation tillage, corn residue return, and nitrogen fertilization were all required for net increases in soil carbon storage. Scientists at the National Soil Tilth Laboratory documented the relative contributions of surface residue and roots under simulated no-tillage management to the formation of soil organic matter. After a 1-year incubation, 66 percent of the carbon in surface residue had been lost as carbon dioxide, 11 percent was still on the surface, and 16 percent was in new soil organic matter. In comparison, 56 percent of the root derived carbon was respired as carbon dioxide, and 42 percent was in new soil organic matter. ARS researchers in St. Paul, Minnesota, using newly developed chemical characterizations, have developed indicators that humic substances and current soil management play a critical role in the deep formation and persistence of the soil carbon sink below the tillage zone. In Florence, South Carolina, researchers demonstrated that long-term conservation tillage practices will result in a build-up of soil organic carbon in Coastal Plain soil. Soil organic matter levels in the surface 2 inches continue to increase at a rate of 0.1 percent per year in long-term conservation tillage plots that include corn, wheat, and soybean in rotation. In Kimberly, Idaho, scientists found that soil organic carbon was greatest in irrigated pastures, less in conservation tilled crops, less in native sagebrush, and least in plowed fields. Grazinglands, because of their vast areal extent, have a large potential for sequestration of carbon in soil. In El Reno, Oklahoma, scientists showed stocking rate affected the amount of carbon stored in the soil differently for a lighter textured soil than for a heavier textured soil. Soil properties, therefore, must be considered if grazinglands are to be used as a site to store carbon. Pasture management impacts soil C sequestration potential according to research conducted at Watkinsville, Georgia, where researchers determined the amount of carbon in surface residue and soil in grazed versus nongrazed systems. Findings are supportive of the concept of using grazinglands for soil carbon storage.

IMPACT/OUTCOME: Many scientific and policy discussions are currently occurring both at domestic and international levels on the potential for using crop and grazinglands to sequester carbon. Both soil conservation and greenhouse gas reduction benefits can result from using soils to store carbon. As a result of ARS research, such as that provided above, sound scientific information will be available for decision makers and land managers to base their decisions on. For example, this information will be used by an ARS Task Force to provide advisories to farmers and environmental policymakers on the potential for reduction of atmospheric carbon dioxide related to agriculture and to develop soil carbon credit products.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Knowing the current soil carbon stock, the rate of accumulation, and the total storage potential is important to managing soil resources and advising policy makers. Using land-use data and an internationally accepted method of "carbon accounting," ARS scientists estimated that U.S. crop lands and grazing lands are accumulating 20 million metric tons of carbon per year. In related studies, ARS researchers projected that another 180 million metric tons of carbon might be stored in these soils over the next several decades if production practices best for carbon accumulation were used.

IMPACT/OUTCOME: Management of crop lands and grazing lands in ways that enhance carbon sequestration can have benefits to soil, water, and air quality on and off the farm. These estimates of sequestration rate and storage potential also figured prominently in the U.S. Government•s negotiations concerning possible international agreements to limit greenhouse gas emissions. A book was also published to inform the science and policy communities about the potential of U.S. grazing lands to sequester carbon and mitigate the greenhouse effect.

During FY 2000,ARS will

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: The concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has been increasing steadily since the mid-1800s. In addition to its possible influence on agriculture through the "greenhouse effect," carbon dioxide affects crop and grazing plants directly through its effect on photosynthesis and other physiological functions. ARS scientists exposed sorghum plants throughout the growing season to ambient or approximately 1.5X ambient carbon dioxide in a free-air carbon enrichment experiment. Effects of increased carbon dioxide on plant biomass and grain yield were minimal if the plants were kept well irrigated. However, carbon dioxide stimulated growth (by 13 percent) and grain yield (by 17 percent) if the plants were drought-stressed.

IMPACT/OUTCOME: When soil moisture is ample, carbon dioxide is projected to have little impact on sorghum growth and yield. However, sorghum is produced in areas of the U.S. and Africa where drought conditions are common, and in those areas, increased carbon dioxide is projected to increase productivity, assuming no other environmental factors attenuate the stimulation. Food security is an important issue facing the world as both the human population and atmospheric carbon dioxide continue to increase therefore, the results of this research will be important in projecting food supplies and developing food production and management policies around the globe.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: "Global change" encompasses many changes in the environment, including long-term alterations in temperature, moisture, and the chemical characteristics of the atmosphere. ARS researchers have conducted experiments to examine some of these interactions. Averaged over four years of experiments, a 50 percent increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide increased seasonal above-ground biomass of wheat plants by 11 percent when plants were adequately irrigated and given nitrogen fertilizer. However, when plants were subjected to drought stress, the growth stimulation by elevated carbon dioxide increased by an average of 15 percent; when the plants were nitrogen-deficient, the growth stimulation by extra carbon dioxide dropped 8 percent. Because increased carbon dioxide causes partial closure of pores on corn and soybean leaf surfaces, less water vapor is lost from leaves in high-carbon dioxide conditions; ARS modeling results showed that the decreased evaporative cooling of the leaves causes increased temperature and decreased relative humidity above the crop and could cause feedback interactions among carbon dioxide, temperature, water loss, and crop response.

IMPACT/OUTCOME: Complex changes in many aspects of the environment make projecting future food production very uncertain. These uncertainties can be reduced only through measuring crop responses to multiple factors in complex experiments. Results of ARS research provides data for crop response models and economic models so that policymakers and resource managers can have greater confidence in projections of agricultural production in the future when environmental change and variability could be greater than it is today.

STRATEGY 4.1.3: Cropland and grazingland sustainability: Develop cropland and grazingland management strategies that will improve quality, quantity, and sustainability of food and fiber products needed for U.S. competitiveness.

During FY 2000, ARS will

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: The tests were successful.

IMPACT/OUTCOME: The simulation model will provide a repeatable means to quantify the soil/site stability component of the rangeland health assessment methodology.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: At St. Paul, Minnesota, scientists have isolated two genes involved in the production of organic acids that provide the energy for symbiotic nitrogen fixation in alfalfa root nodules. They also found another gene that regulates root nodule formation. Knowledge of these genes is being used to develop alfalfa varieties that are more efficient nitrogen fixers and more useful in phytoremediation of nitrate-contaminated sites. At Logan, Utah, scientists have made available a cultivar of crested wheatgrass, called RoadCrest, that will increase soil conservation along roadsides and similar sites.

IMPACT/OUTCOME: Improving the adaptability, establishment, persistence, productivity and quality of forage plants for livestock production improves profitability by reducing costs, increasing animal performance, and conserving natural resources. Using improved forage plants for other uses such as phytoremediation and turf grasses helps lower the costs of conservation and environmental improvements.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: At Las Cruces, New Mexico, researchers released a manual on desert rangeland monitoring for range conditions and ecological health. Workshops have been held to train public and private land managers to use the manual which is now being evaluated in the field and revised as needed.

IMPACT/OUTCOME: Provide land managers and other interested parties with useable, simple, affordable and sustainable technologies for monitoring and assessing desert rangeland conditions so that timely action can be taken to improve management practices.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: The shift in eastern gamagrass from sexual to asexual (apomixes) reproduction is correlated with chromosome number. Sexual reproduction occurs with 36 chromosomes while apomixes usually occur with a higher number. However, ARS scientists have produced two hybrid plants with 72 chromosomes that reproduce sexually and produced sufficient seeds for inheritance studies to help isolate the genes controlling asexual reproduction. Such complexity in chromosome numbers indicates that the genetic control of apomixes may be more indirect than thought and isolating and characterizing the responsible genes will be challenging.

IMPACT/OUTCOME: While genetically characterizing apomixes is high-risk research, success would have profound consequences by providing a low-cost way of stabilizing the genetic constitution of improved varieties and allowing hybrid vigor and uniformity to be faithfully transmitted to subsequent generations of forages, corn and other cereal crops.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: The completion of long-term grazing trials has provided information on the relationships between grazing management and ecological conditions. A 60-year grazing trail on the Central Plains Experimental Range near Nunn, Colorado found that plant biodiversity was greatest under moderate and heavy stocking rates. Under light grazing, the plains prickly pear cactus dominated. A 10-year project at Woodward, Oklahoma determined that a sustainable carrying capacity for all resource values on sandy grasslands in the Southern Great Plain was about 17 acres per cow-calf production unit. A key tool in managing vegetation and ecological condition is controlling where animals graze. Water and salt placement have long been used to influence the distribution of beef cattle. Experiments at Burns, Oregon using global positioning system collars in the northern Great Basin found that water can be used effectively but salt is not effective as a distribution tool. A problem in the southeast is the seasonal limitations of the tropical warm-season grasses commonly used. These grass are well adapted to the region but do not grow well during the winter season, have relatively low nutritional value and require high levels of nitrogen fertilization. One solution is to grow a tropical forage legume, Leucaena, with the grasses. However, Leucaena will cause toxicity problems in both livestock and zoo animals unless the right mix of rumen bacteria are present. ARS researchers at Brooksville, Florida, worked with the University of Florida and Walt Disney World•s Animal Kingdom to find safe ways to transfer bacteria cultures into wildlife and livestock that lacked them. They compared transferring cultures donated from previously colonized animals with preserved (frozen) pure cultures. The pure cultures worked satisfactorily and opens the way to transferring cultures without the risk of also transferring disease. While this is important to livestock producers, it is vital when there is a need to transfer a culture to endangered species maintained in zoos.

IMPACT/OUTCOME: Understanding the interrelationships between livestock, forages and ecosystems is vital to designing practical management systems that are simultaneously profitable, environmentally sound, and provide options for dealing with disease, pest and climatic risks.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Quantified herbage productivity, seasonal distribution, and botanical composition of a mixture of sown grasses and legumes growing in a light gradient under an established stand of conifers (mixed species). Mature sheep grazed the existing understory of the coniferous tree site, were used to tread in surface applied seed and grazed the canopy as part of a rotational grazing system. Herbage was extremely low in nonstructural carbohydrates and relatively high in total nitrogen suggesting possible nutritional concerns for growing livestock.

IMPACT/OUTCOME: Findings will serve as a basis to optimize land-use efficiency and develop multiple-use options for wooded sites on pasture-based livestock farms.

OBJECTIVE 4.2: Risk management: "Improve risk management in the U.S. agriculture industry."

STRATEGY 4.2.1: Economic and environmental risks: Reduce economic and environmental risks through improved management of agricultural production systems.

During FY 2000,ARS will begin integrating remotely sensed data with crop growth models. This information will be used to increase the accuracy of decision support tools for crop production and profitability.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: New indices and sensors were combined and tested at Phoenix, Arizona, and Lincoln, Nebraska, to improve opportunities for the precision application of fertilizer and water, to enhance groundwater quality. At Phoenix, the researchers used a combination of a new canopy chlorophyll content index and a refined crop water stress index to detect nitrogen and water deficiency, while researchers at Lincoln, Nebraska updated the chlorophyll index to improve estimates of crop nitrogen and grain yield predictions.

IMPACT/OUTCOME: The ability to convert remotely-sensed data into treatment maps for fertilizer applications on irrigated and dryland crops and for irrigation water application on irrigated crops, provides agricultural producers with a powerful and cost-effective management tool.

STRATEGY 4.2.2: Weather and environmental risks: Develop concepts and technologies for predicting and reducing the socio-economic costs and resource damages associated with extreme weather variability.

During FY 2000, ARS will demonstrate a technology to provide geographically site-specificradar-based precipitation estimates for public and private lands that lack on-site precipitation measurements, enabling producers and resource managers to better cope with extreme weather variability in scheduling vegetation management and cropping and grazinglands operations.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Building on other agencies• efforts enables ARS scientists to develop ways to predict and manage water resources in the face of weather and climate variability. ARS researchers developed new coefficients for a model used by the National Weather Service to convert data obtained by radar to estimate precipitation. The ARS coefficients improved the accuracy of a models• estimates of precipitation that falls during storms in the Inter-mountain West.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Scientists at the Northwest Research Center at Boise, Idaho, developed a new and improved model that will enable the National Weather Service to improve radar-precipitation estimates in the Inter-mountain West.

IMPACT/OUTCOME: The National Weather Service operates the NEXRAD Doppler radar systems at more than 150 sites across the west. The computer model used to improve estimates of precipitation and provide advance prediction for weather hazard assessments, which was developed at the Boise NEXRAD radar location can likely be extended to other sites in the Northwest.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: An analysis of the rainfall records of the Great Plains by scientists at El Reno, Oklahoma, showed that the ability to predict actual precipitation values at some specific location remains quite limited.

IMPACT/OUTCOME: These findings indicate that it is extremely difficult to predict the long-term effects of drought for both agricultural and rural communities. The lack of predictive capability leaves the potential impact of future agricultural productivity and the potential for meeting the water requirements of the rural communities in doubt.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Research conducted at Coshocton, Ohio, on groundwater conditions showed that stable estimates of average and median concentrations can be achieved if 10 wells were used with a well density of one well per acre.

IMPACT/OUTCOME: While these results may not have general application, they document that the natural variability of water quality in underlying aquifers must be considered when characterizing specific conditions, determining sampling needs, and assessing the effectiveness of measures to protect these resources.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Scientists in Oxford, Mississippi, saved the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers an estimated $3.4 million by performing an extensive topographic evaluation of the Yalobusha River Basin which reduced the number of required grade control structures the Corps would have to use.

IMPACT/OUTCOME: The potential for catastrophic flooding along the downstream reaches of a River Basin has increased dramatically since the 1960s because of channel dredging, straightening, and resulting natural processes. The evaluation system that was used could work in other stream systems and save a significant amount of time and money in remediation efforts, disaster cleanup, and disaster relief.

OBJECTIVE 4.3: Safe production and processing: "Improve the safe production and processing of, and adding of value to, U.S. food and fiber resources using methods that maintain the balance between yield and environmental soundness."

STRATEGY 4.3.1: Environmentally safe pest management: Develop environmentally safe methods to prevent or control pests (insects, weeds, pathogens, etc.) in plants, animals, and ecosystems.

During FY 2000, ARS will

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: ARS scientists at the Biological Control and Mass Rearing Research Unit in Starkville, Mississippi, have developed a new rack for holding Lygus species (such as tarnished plant bug) egg packets for parasitization by Anaphes iole that is 43 percent more efficient than the previously used rack, allowing semi-automated harvesting of eggs. The scientists also developed: an artificial diet, which contains no insect components, and techniques that support in vitro development of A. iole to the prepupal stage; and a mechanized device for preparing Gelcarin oviposition packets for rearing of Lygus species.

Developed an improved artificial diet for rearing of the coffee berry borer.

Developed artificial diet (patent pending) for phytophagous and zoophytophagous stinkbug insects (e.g., Lygus species) that allows production of species that could not previously be reared on artificial diets, and reduces costs of producing these insects by 95 percent.

Developed new technique ("dimple method") for packaging/delivering artificial diets for lacewings and other predatory bugs (tested by ARS and by a CRADA partner, Beneficial Insectary). Approved by Patent Committee for patent application.

IMPACT/OUTCOME: Improved diet for the insect predator Geocoris punctipes, including discovery of anti-nutrients and ways of ameliorating them. Also, discovered sources of dietary degradation and methods of preserving diets, and diet-borne factors that reduce oxidative stress.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: First found in the U.S. infesting trees in New York in 1996 and in Chicago in 1998, Asian longhorned beetles (ALB) have been intercepted at ports in 17 states. ARS scientists at Newark, Delaware, have discovered new information never before recorded on ALB feeding behavior. The scientists and colleagues at the State University of New York in Syracuse have been developing a feeding noise recognition system. It generates an acoustic "fingerprint" as the beetle larvae feed within the two different tree tissues that they commonly inhabit - inner bark and inner wood. A functional prototype detection system should be available within a year.

IMPACT/OUTCOME: An acoustical Asian longhorned beetle detection system should give scientists and the regulatory agencies effective technology to detect trees which are infested so control measures can be implemented in a timely manner to help mitigate the spread of this destructive pest.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Three insect species were received into the Containment Facility at Temple, Texas for biological control of saltcedar: Diorhabda elongata from China and Kazakhstan, Psectrosema noxium from Kazakhstan, and Cryptocephalus sinaita from Israel. Field-cage studies of D. elongata were conducted at ten sites across six western states. A native true bug, Tupiocoris notatus, was found to induce chlorosis on tropical soda apple. Additionally, common fungi (Fusarium and Colletotrichum) were found to infect tropical soda apple.

IMPACT/OUTCOME:Diorhabda elongata was found to be host-specific to saltcedar, and it caused up to 90 percent defoliation in field-cage studies. Successful host range testing and overwinter survival fulfilled requirements of Fish and Wildlife Service (F&WS) and APHIS, and release permits from the field cages into the open field were issued by APHIS for test sites for spring 2001. This will initiate the 2-year experimental monitoring required at the sites before F&WS/APHIS reviews and gives final approval for full release. The soda apple bug lowered biomass and seed production of tropical soda apple in greenhouse tests. In small outdoor test plots, mortality of tropical soda apple infected with Fusarium and Colletotrichum was 80 percent. Because the bug and fungi are native or already have become established in the U.S., quarantine clearances are not required for release of the organisms.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: ARS scientists at Stillwater, Oklahoma, have developed a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) system for six species of Great Plains cereal aphids and demonstrated that it can be used to distinguish two closely related aphid species, the corn leaf aphid and bird cherry oat aphid, in the guts of ladybird and lacewing predators. This enables ecological investigations of the feeding preferences of these important biological control agents. Similarly, the group developed a PCR system for cereal aphid parasitoids of two wasp families and demonstrated their use in detecting parasitization. A PCR system was developed for separating closely related parasitoids of the Russian wheat aphid, and used it for the first time to demonstrate the establishment of an exotic parasitoid released in a classical biological control program.

IMPACT/OUTCOME: A subfamily-specific monoclonal antibody was used to study egg predation on the Old World bollworm.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: ARS scientists in Yakima, Washington and University of California collaborators have made four natural enemy explorations to Kazakstan and China, as well as into Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. Six parasites of codling moth were collected and imported to the U.S.; three of these natural enemies have been released into the States of Washington and California. One parasite species (Mastrus ribibundus) has been provided to ARS collaborators for release in Colorado, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, and Arkansas. A cooperative agreement with a scientist in Kyrgyzstan is ongoing and designed to evaluate the parasitoid complex of apple-feeding leafrollers.

IMPACT/OUTCOME: Imported parasite species from Kazakstan have become established in numerous organic orchards where they were released. Parasitism of codling moth runs as high as 50 percent, thus significantly reducing populations of the pest and apple damage.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: ARS scientists at Stillwater, Oklahoma, have preliminary data that indicate that the spectral reflectance of three bands of light (green, visible red, and near infrared) differ among wheat plots infested with differing population levels of greenbugs. This may lead to improved remote sensing of aphid populations in wheat and other crops.

IMPACT/OUTCOME: Stillwater scientists completed development and validation of a computer simulation model for the Russian wheat aphid on susceptible and resistant wheat varieties. This will serve as an aid in determining deployment strategies for resistant varieties that have been developed and as a pest management decision-making tool.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: The Systematic Entomology Laboratory provided over 12,000 identifications of pest and beneficial insects to State, Federal, and private users in the last year. A major taxonomic treatment of pest armyworms was completed along with an identification key and an on-line database.

IMPACT/OUTCOME: The identifications provided have helped APHIS/PPQ stop new pests from entering the U.S. and mitigated the impact of pests already present. The identification key to armyworms is aiding pest managers and regulators to control these harmful pests on farms.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: ARS scientists, working with a large and diverse array of national and international agencies and scientists, received for the control of: coffee berry borer • one parasitoid from Latin America; for tropical soda apple • plant feeding Gratiana sp. from South America; for plant bug pests • Campoletis sp. and Leiophron sp. from Argentina; for Formosan subterranean termite • pathogens from Asia; for saltcedar • leafbeetles from China, and four other natural enemies from Eurasia; for eucalyptus psyllid and melaleuca - natural enemies from Australasia; for cape Ivy • a gall fly and stem-boring moth from South Africa; for giant reed • new natural enemies from India and Nepal; for yellow star thistle • two natural enemies from Eurasia. The Newark lab, alone, collected or received 21 species, successfully reared 11 species, sent eight of these latter species to other investigators, and screened three species for host specificity.

IMPACT/OUTCOME: Parasitoids received for coffee berry borer have been released from quarantine for initial lab studies. Plant bug parasitoids are in initial culture stage. Tropical soda apple control agents are being reared in the greenhouse for efficacy studies. Certain pathogens isolated for termites show high efficacy in the laboratory. ARS received final state and federal approval for the open field release of saltcedar leafbeetles in spring 2001. Field cage studies in summer 2000 demonstrated total defoliation of test saltcedar plants in multiple sites across six western states. Based on the safety shown in the ARS tests, University of California-Berkeley scientists are now making open field releases in Southern California of a natural enemy of eucalyptus psyllids.

The cape ivy gall fly (Parafreutreta regalis) and a stem-boring moth (Acrolepia sp.) have the potential to significantly reduce the damage caused by Cape Ivy. New natural enemies of saltcedar and giant reed have the potential to significantly reduce the damage caused by these pest plants, and the testing currently underway both in the Albany quarantine and overseas will verify the safety of these agents. After host screening, a tachinid fly was released against gypsy moth in Maryland. Four species of parasites were released against the papaya mealybug, a new pest in Florida and Puerto Rico during 2000. Three species of pink hibiscus mealybug parasites released during 1998-2000 in the Virgin Islands are now established, and their efficacy is being evaluated by APHIS. In addition, 14 species of natural enemies were sent to cooperating scientists in ARS, Forest Service, state agencies, universities, and industry for further study during 2000.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: The southeastern and western parts of the U.S., particularly Florida and California, are subject to periodic introductions of exotic pests, such as the silverleaf whitefly and pink hibiscus mealybug. These exotic pests spread because of a lack of effective natural enemies to keep them in check. Exploration for candidate biological control agents has been ongoing for both of these pests by ARS scientists in Montpelier, France, in collaboration with the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS). Improvements in rearing pink hibiscus mealybug and its natural enemies have increased the capacity for large-scale rearing of parasitoid wasps and widened their distribution throughout infested areas of the Caribbean and the Americas by ARS scientists at Ft. Pierce, Florida. The foreign exploration for natural enemies of silverleaf whitefly is largely completed. However, evaluation of the spread and establishment of exotic natural enemies released in the U.S. continues as a cooperative effort between ARS, APHIS, and the universities across the southern tier of the U.S.

IMPACT/OUTCOME: Research by scientists involved in a consortium effort from Texas, Florida, Arizona, and California shows that several introduced exotic parasitoids have survived over the years and are showing signs of establishment and control of silverleaf whitefly. The improved rearing methods for pink hibiscus mealybug have been transferred to USDA-APHIS and the Puerto Rico Department of Agriculture, who have been able to substantially increase their production of natural enemies for release and evaluation of control agents for this serious pest.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Scientists at Weslaco, Texas, used serial photography with global positioning systems to detect and map the invasive weeds in the Rio Grande River of south Texas caused by drought and weather variability.

IMPACT/OUTCOME: These invasive species maps are useful to water districts and wildlife management personnel, who are responsible for developing and implementing programs to control noxious weeds.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: More than two-thirds of the weed science research budget has been shifted to programs pertaining to insects and diseases.

IMPACT/OUTCOME: Studies on insects and diseases may lead to development of biological control of weeds.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Long-term management plans, including assessment of biological control agent impact, revegetation, and nontarget effects have been prepared for Melaleuca, the paperbark tree, in the Florida wetlands, saltcedar, and weed of riparian areas, and for leafy spurge, an important weed of the Western Plains.

IMPACT/OUTCOME: Work to manage all three weeds is being coordinated with other Federal and State partners and university stakeholders.

STRATEGY 4.3.2: Integrated agricultural production systems: Develop knowledge and integrated technologies for promoting use of environmentally sustainable agricultural production systems.

During FY 2000, ARS will combine the most appropriate attributes of the SPUR (Simulation of Production and Utilization of Rangelands) and WEPP (Water Erosion Prediction Program) models to produce an advanced simulation model SPUR-2000 that range management specialists can use to assist ranchers, and improve resource conservation and management at ranch and watershed scales in cooperation with NRCS.

IMPACT/OUTCOME: The model has been used by NRCS in Nebraska to evaluate the impacts of conservation practices on land and water resources of Major Land Resource Area 106.

During FY 2000, ARS will

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Research has been completed on grazing management and water quality effects using a multi-objective decision support system developed at the Southwest Watershed Research Center in Tucson, Arizona. Sixteen years of measured and calculated data from four experimental watersheds showed that brush control and grazing management can be evaluated with the decision support system to reduce runoff and sediment losses and maximize production of vegetation.

IMPACT/OUTCOME: The decision support system is now being used by NRCS to evaluate the sustainability of rangeland health. In the future, ARS will be delivering a modification of this decision support system to NRCS and other customers to improve conservation planning and water quality protection for the croplands in the Midwest.

IMPACT/OUTCOME: Seven major improvements have been made to the model. They are described on the above web site. The model will provide improved estimates of runoff flood peaks and soil erosion rates for designing efficient flood control structures and evaluating erosion control strategies.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: ARS scientists at the National Soil Tilth Laboratory, in cooperation with NRCS and CSREES, successfully completed a pilot study documenting how the NRCS National Resources Inventory framework can be used to monitor soil quality at a regional scale. The results demonstrate that it is possible to monitor changes in surface soil properties at the regional scale, but the ability to detect significant changes will vary depending on the soil property being evaluated. Also developed was a flexible framework for indexing soil quality. This framework was used to provide preliminary information to organic and sustainable agriculture farmers in the Central Valley of California. Akron, Colorado, researchers in cooperation with NRCS, quantified how rotation sequence and decrease in fallow periods affects soil quality. Soil health was improved by eliminating summer fallow and using conservation tillage, and was influenced by crop rotation sequence. Soil quality assessments done by ARS researchers in Lincoln, Nebraska, demonstrated the utility of no-tillage management in maintaining soil quality and conservation benefits when CRP grasslands are returned to cropland.

IMPACT/OUTCOME: Maintaining and enhancing the soil resource is critical for sustainable food and fiber production and environmental quality. ARS has provided an understanding of relationships among inherent soil properties and dynamic soil biological, chemical and physical processes--especially with regard to carbon storage, soil aggregation, nitrogen and phosphorus cycling, and nitrogen use efficiency under different management systems. It has also led to the development of management practices to mitigate the off-site movement of pesticides into soil and water resources. The research and soil quality indexing techniques have generated substantial interest both in the U.S. and around the world. ARS has provided significant international leadership toward development and implementation of tools on soil quality for assessing the sustainability of agricultural and other soil management practices.

STRATEGY 4.3.3: Waste management and utilization: Develop and transfer cost-effective technologies and systems to use agricultural, urban, and industrial wastes for production of food, fiber, and other products.

During FY 2000, ARS will

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Specially designed mixtures or composts of municipal biosolids and other readily available byproducts have been used by scientists at Beltsville, Maryland, to revegetate and restore barren, highly metal-contaminated soils. Hazards associated with excess soil levels of zinc, lead and cadmium were overcome and a favorable environment for plant growth created.

IMPACT/OUTCOME: This remediation method allows contaminated sites to be reclaimed at a cost of $2,000-$10,000 per acre while soil removal and replacement methods cost about $1,000,000 per acre-foot.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: ARS scientists at Clay Center, Nebraska have developed a predictive computer model, based on knowledge of nutrient transformation mechanisms, to estimate the amount of nutrients contained in beef cattle feedlot manure for cropland application.

IMPACT/OUTCOME: The model has been used to identify information gaps and has been modified to serve as a producer decision tool. Efforts to link the manure management model to a beef production model have been more difficult than initially envisioned therefore, this goal has not been completed. The eventual linkage of the two models will allow beef cattle diets to be designed to make efficient use of feed nutrients, while providing guidelines for safe and efficient use in cropping systems of the manure generated.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Treatment systems to manage nitrogen in wastewater depend on microbial transformations of nitrogen from ammonium to nitrate forms (nitrification) and from nitrate to nitrogen gas (denitrification). ARS scientists from Florence, South Carolina used a municipal wastewater treatment technology, based on immobilization of nitrifying bacteria inside permeable polyvinyl beads, to remove ammonia from swine wastewater. In a one year pilot test of the technology, the immobilized nitrifying bacteria could remove 500 grams of ammonia-nitrogen per cubic meter of reactor per day.

IMPACT/OUTCOME: This technology has the potential to treat large amounts of ammonia in swine wastewater that would otherwise volatilize and escape to the environment.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Producers need an estimate of the amount of nutrients in manure and the rate at which they will be supplied to crops. ARS scientists at Beltsville, Maryland have found that chemical "quick" tests gave a reasonable estimate of ammonia nitrogen in manure, but not organic nitrogen. However, they were able to demonstrate that the instrumental technique, near infrared spectroscopy, could be used to determine both ammonia and organic nitrogen in dairy manure.

IMPACT/OUTCOME: The eventual development of a portable near-infrared based instrument would allow rapid testing of nitrogen in manure. This information would allow producers to apply manure at rates needed by crops, while avoiding excess application rates that would pose a threat to water and air quality.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: ARS scientists from Fayetteville, Arkansas found that treatment of poultry litter in commercial houses with alum (aluminum sulfate) could lower ammonia emissions and reduce the solubility of phosphorus in the manure. Field trials conducted in 15 states and on more than 30 million chickens demonstrated that the technology was cost-effective, that it reduced ammonia volatilization by up to 97 percent during the first four weeks of broiler production, and reduced runoff of phosphorus by 75 when alum treated litter compared to untreated litter was applied to pastures.

IMPACT/OUTCOME: This treatment technology improves broiler health while protecting air and water quality. Last year approximately 500 million broilers were produced on alum treated litter.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Scientists from Clay Center, Nebraska found that treatment of beef and swine manure with compounds such as essential oils and urease inhibitors reduced emissions of ammonia and other odorous constituents, and killed pathogens.

IMPACT/OUTCOME: Based on this research a commercially available product is now being marketed to control ammonia and odor emissions from beef and swine manure.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Researchers at Clay Center, Nebraska are developing methods for odor consumption using microbial communities found in feedlot soils and animal wastes. Their research, which is currently underway, involves identifying microorganisms responsible for odor consumption, stimulating the activity of these organisms, and using them in biofilters and biocovers to enhance their odor consumption capacity.

IMPACT/OUTCOME: This research should result in the development of reduced-cost, microbially-enriched treatment systems, which will metabolize odorous compounds to nonoffensive entities.

During FY 2000, ARS will

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Biomass contains a mixture of sugars: glucose, arabinose, galactose, and xylose. Normally, the presence of glucose inhibits the ethanol producing microorganisms from using the other sugars until glucose is exhausted. ARS scientists developed a series of recombinant ethanol producing microorganisms that use all of the above sugars in the presence of glucose (i.e., all sugars are consumed at equal rates despite the presence of glucose).

IMPACT/OUTCOME: These microorganisms have the potential of increasing ethanol yields, ethanol productivity, and lowering projected ethanol costs when using plant biomass as a feedstock.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: ARS scientists at Florence, South Carolina have developed a treatment system to more effectively remove solids from liquid manure. The system, based on injection of polyacrylamide polymers to increase solids flocculation and a Deskins sand filtration system, reduces suspended solids in the liquid phase by a factor of 60 and produces removable solids cakes within 48 hours.

IMPACT/OUTCOME: The solids/liquid separation system captures over 80 percent of the organic nitrogen and phosphorus in the solid phase, resulting in a more valuable product for agricultural or horticultural uses.