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, 70 Indicators are aligned under 14 Performance Goals. Because of the unique and dynamic nature of research, several Indicators were added, deleted, or modified in this Report that did not first appear in the Annual Performance Plan for FY 2001. 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 70 Indicators was completed or substantially completed during FY 2001.

OBJECTIVE 4.1: Balance agriculture and the environment: "Increase the long-term productivity of the United States agriculture and food industry while maintaining and enhancing the natural resource base on which rural America and the United States 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 2001, ARS will

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Large quantities of fertilizer are used to maintain turfgrass on golf courses, and operation of turfgrass systems for water quality protection has been hampered by a lack of models or decision support systems sensitive to enhanced turfgrass management practices. Data to quantify surface water nutrient loads from turfgrass systems was collected, and the Agricultural Land Management Alternatives with Numerical Assessment Criteria (ALMANAC) model was developed at Temple, Texas, to evaluate fertilization strategies.

IMPACT/OUTCOME: This model provides a new tool for assessing turfgrass fertilization from the scale of a single golf course to that of an entire watershed.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Scientists at Burns, Oregon, started an experiment in 1936 to compare ecosystem responses to alternative management practices on badly overgrazed sagebrush-bunchgrass rangelands. Some areas where not grazed and others were moderately grazed. They found that both ungrazed and grazed areas recovered just as quickly in terms of abundance of plant cover and variety of plant species present. Year-to-year weather effects were found to be more significant on ecosystem function and structure than the moderate grazing or no grazing options.

IMPACT/OUTCOME: This experiment is being continued and provides long-term insight on ecosystem response to grazing, cultural practices, and climatic variation. Understanding these interrelationships is vital to designing practical management systems that are simultaneously profitable, environmentally sound, and comply with national goals and policies.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Conditions affecting the germination and establishment of native plants are proving to be extremely complex. Researchers at Reno, Nevada, found that the establishment of several grass species is promoted by seed caching by small native animals, and in some cases, this interrelationship is species specific. For example, Merriam?s Kangaroo rat is a key dispenser of Indian rice grass in low-elevation salt desert communities. A combination of greenhouse and field research has shown that exposing the seeds of a number of grasses to the smoke of burning sagebrush results in faster seeding growth rates and greater survival. Research at Lincoln, Nebraska, found that establishing several key species of native grasses efficiently on land invaded by exotic weeds required using a herbicide to suppress the completion.

IMPACT/OUTCOME: Restoration of the Nation?s millions of acres of degraded rangeland ecosystems is essential to protecting critical values including wildlife habitat, water quality and availability, livestock forages, and community stability. Understanding of the interrelationships between environmental factors and seed germination and seedling vigor is essential for successful and affordable ecosystem restoration.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Research completed at Cheyenne, Wyoming, has shown that cultural practices including soil management, mulching, and seeding rates all affect the establishment of Wyoming Big Sage on disturbed lands. (1) Greater success was achieved through the direct-placement of topsoil compared to stockpiling topsoil. (2) Using either a stubble mulch or surface mulch. (3) By reducing the companion grass seeding rate and increasing the sagebrush seeding rate to 2 to 3 kg per hectare instead of the recommended rate of 0.5 to 1kg, desired density of sagebrush plants can be achieved on the disturbed lands. Despite the cost of higher seeding rates and the other cultural practices, direct seeding of sagebrush was less than 10 percent of the cost of using nursery-grown transplants.

IMPACT/OUTCOME: Restoration of rangelands disturbed by mining is essential to restoring and protecting critical values including wildlife habitat, water quality and availability, and livestock forages. Effective and affordable technologies for establishing sagebrush are critical links in reclaiming mined lands and ecosystem restoration.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Soils containing high levels of salts cause water loss from seeds and plants that create drought-like conditions that inhibit the establishment of new vegetation. Sawmill residues (wood chips, bark, and sawdust) and gypsum have long been recommended and used as amendments to revegetate abandoned mine spoils. Research by scientists at Cheyenne, Wyoming, evaluated sites that had been reclaimed using these amendments 10 to 15 years earlier and found that the soil problems has been effectively corrected.

IMPACT/OUTCOME: These results verify that earlier recommendations on soil amendments have stood the test of time and that technology used on thousands of acres (over 14,000 in Wyoming) will result in sustainable vegetation.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: The ARS published a 91-page report, Eighty Years of Vegetation and Landscape Changes in the Northern Great Plains ? A Photographic Record. This report compares photographs and written descriptions of the same range sites over the last 80 to 90 years. Analysis of this data indicates that in most places there have been only minor changes in the rangelands of this region, but in general, there has been an increase in woody vegetation, an increase of nonindigenous species, and more direct human intervention such as road building and agricultural tillage and haying.

IMPACT/OUTCOME: This information will help land managers and the public to have a better understanding of the resilience and vulnerabilities of the rangeland ecosystems in the region. This greater understanding will enable all stakeholders to work more closely together to develop management strategies for these lands to ensure future economic and environmental sustainability.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: At Las Cruses, New Mexico, the ARS and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) co-authored a technical reference manual, Interpreting Indicators of Rangeland Health, that also involved collaboration with the U.S. Geological Survey and the Natural Resources Conservation Service. This manual will enable ranchers and land managers to do a preliminary evaluation of soil stability, hydrologic function, and biotic integrity to identify areas at risk of degradation. At Cheyenne, Wyoming, ultra-light aircraft operated at very low altitude to acquire very large scale photographs for monitoring range condition on private lands at low cost are being evaluated. Traditionally, aerial surveys require a pilot and a navigator, but by integrating a Global Position System (GPS) unit into the aircraft and camera systems, researchers have demonstrated there is no longer a need for the navigator to fly surveys safely and accurately. At Ft. Collins, Colorado, researchers are developing high-altitude remote sensing tools for monitoring the quantity, quality, and distribution of plant biomass across large areas of public rangelands. In the second year of this project, they developed a vegetation classification and index system that indicates the biomass present regardless of its color (brown or green) instead of using the traditional focus on green plants. This will provide for better estimates of plant biomass present year round.

IMPACT/OUTCOME: Simple, low cost, and accurate monitoring tools are essential to assess the status of rangeland resources under alternative management strategies. The information provided by these tools is needed on both private and public lands to enable land managers and producers to make timely adjustments to their management practices to ensure environment and economic sustainability and compliance with national goals and policies.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Summer grazing trials at Raleigh, North Carolina, evaluated the potential of three native warm-season grasses (switchgrass, gamagrass, Caucasian bluestem) to persist in grazed pastures during the summer stress period. During the research period, there were two years of below normal rainfall and switchgrass remained significantly more productive than the other two native grasses and bermuda grass, an introduced warm-season grass most commonly used in the region.

IMPACT/OUTCOME: Identifying and establishing native warm-season grasses like switchgrass that remain productive during dry periods will improve risk management and profitability by providing grazing opportunities for livestock that would otherwise not be available. Increasing grazing opportunities reduces the need to feed hay and can significantly lower the cost of production. Native grasses also improve wildlife habitat and reduce soil erosion.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: The integration of geospatial technologies such as the Global Positioning Systems (GPS), Geographic Information Systems (GIS), remote sensing, and variable-rate fertilizer application technologies has fostered site-specific nutrient applications based on nutrient deficiency measurements of the crop itself. ARS researchers in Ft. Collins, Colorado, Lincoln, Nebraska, Columbia, Missouri, and Beltsville, Maryland, have developed procedures using remote sensing to measure crop nitrogen deficiency which can then be used to generate maps of nitrogen status and ultimately control spatial applications of fertilizer.

IMPACT/OUTCOME: To date, the site-specific application of nitrogen fertilizer has reduced the total amount of nitrogen applied, increased yields for both irrigated and nonirrigated cropping systems, and reduced the potential for excess nitrogen loadings to surface and ground waters.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Research was conducted by the Lang Management and Water Conservation Research Laboratory in Pullman, Washington, to modify the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) and other erosion prediction models to account for interactions of crop management with soil freezing and thawing. Crop management was found to have a greater effect on soil erosion than water runoff, indicating the benefits of having crop materials in contact with the soil surface. A significant improvement to RUSLE was the addition of below-ground plant biomass to reflect late-season cropping practices.

IMPACT/OUTCOME: The RUSLE will help producers and land managers select best management practices to reduce erosion and sediment production on roughly 10 million acres of cropland where most runoff and erosion occurs as a result of winter processes.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: The movement of nutrients and pathogens associated with livestock grazing on karst topography is being studied at Beaver, West Virginia. Researchers found that the absence of filtering on karst soils resulted in significant levels of nitrogen, phosphorous, and pathogens moving into the ground water, particularly near sink holes.

IMPACT/OUTCOME: Rural communities need profitable livestock production systems to promote economic stability. These areas also need safe water supplies. Pathogens and nutrients moving into ground water from agricultural activities can create a risk for rural water supplies. These research findings indicate the need to develop best management practices for pasture-based livestock production that are specifically adapted to the unique features of karst topography to ensure economic and environmental sustainability.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Irrigated lands require leaching and drainage practices to reduce soil salinity which can result in the pollution of ground and surface waters. Scientists at the George E. Brown U.S. Soil Salinity Laboratory in Riverside, California, successfully coupled a GIS, spatial statistics, noninvasive salinity measurements taken from mobile equipment, and a model for mapping salt accumulation in soil and drainage waters.

IMPACT/OUTCOME: This technology can be used to measure and map the effects of salinity on soil and water resources for areas as small as farm fields to as large as major watersheds.

During FY 2001, ARS will

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Nutrient total maximum daily load (TMDL) assessments of the Suwannee River Basin of Georgia and Florida have indicated a need for nitrogen nonpoint source pollution reduction from agriculture. Forested lands adjacent to agricultural fields have been shown to reduce nitrogen concentration of water moving from the fields to adjacent streams and waterways. The Southeast Watershed Research Laboratory, in Tifton, Georgia, has determined that forested zones bordering agricultural fields can be harvested for lumber, fuelwood, or pulpwood and still function as filters for groundwater nitrate reduction.

IMPACT/OUTCOME: This indicates that these forested areas can be managed with long-term strategies to provide wood products or biofuels while maintaining water quality.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Maps of soil moisture over a broad range of spatial and temporal scales are needed to understand and predict hydrologic and atmospheric processes. The ARS Hydrology and Remote Sensing Laboratory in Beltsville, Maryland, has been a leader in an international effort to develop algorithms for satellite systems that can provide soil moisture information on an operational basis. A proposed soil moisture mapping algorithm for operational use with the Advanced Earth Observation Satellite (ADEOS) satellite data was tested and found to perform well. The results demonstrate the feasibility of satellite-based soil moisture mapping and provide the basis for an upcoming multi-year project to operationally map the soil moisture of the Southern United States.

IMPACT/OUTCOME: Maps of soil moisture will provide critically needed information for planning flood control, scheduling irrigation, assessing drought, and forecasting weather and climate.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Soil erosion from farm fields can be reduced by leaving some crop residue on the field following harvest. Tools to quantify crop residue cover are needed to assess the effectiveness of this conservation tillage practice. Reflectance spectra of green vegetation, crop residues, and bare soil were measured using ground-based and aerial hyperspectral sensors at Beltsville Agricultural Research Center. A spectral reflectance index was developed using these reflectance data that can separate soil from residue, and measure the amount of soil covered by residue.

IMPACT/OUTCOME: The results provide a means of mapping conservation tillage practices and assessing erosion susceptibility over large areas which can be used to further reduce soil erosion and improved water quality.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: The quality of water and nutrient transport during irrigation differs among irrigation methods and also influences the loss of nutrients to water bodies. Research on sub-irrigation of soybean on Midwest soils responding to sub-surface drainage was conducted by the Soil Drainage Research Laboratory, Columbus, Ohio, to test the effects of sub-irrigation water table management on drainage water nitrate levels and yields. End-of-growing season soil residual nitrate is minimal and the discharge of nitrate with sub-surface drainage water is lower, and yields higher, where sub-irrigation water table management is used than with free flowing sub-surface drainage during the entire year.

IMPACT/OUTCOME: Drainage water nutrient discharge to streams will be reduced and increased economic return will result when these irrigation techniques are employed by Midwest producers.

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

During FY 2001, ARS will

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Predicting future agricultural production requires experiments that will yield data that can be used to model production in a wide range of conditions. Those conditions include increased concentrations of greenhouse gases, changes in weather conditions and weather variability, and improvements in production technologies such as crop varieties, tillage practices, and fertilizer and irrigation application methods. ARS? leading scientists on crop response to carbon dioxide met in a workshop to identify the most important gaps in information essential to projecting crop production as atmospheric carbon dioxide continues to increase. Priorities were identified for designing experiments focused on interactions of carbon dioxide with other important environmental factors such as pests, water availability, and soil fertility in crop and grazing systems.

IMPACT/OUTCOME: Key locations in the ARS global change research program will plan research around information gaps identified during the workshop. Strategic partnerships among the locations and their respective current partners will be established to enhance coordination and strengthen existing research capabilities. Research will be planned to ensure that the proper experimental tools and scientific talents will be used in studies to determine how crops will respond to a range of future conditions including carbon dioxide concentration, water availability, pest pressure, soil conditions, and other interacting variables. Data obtained from these experiments will reduce uncertainties associated with projecting crop production.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Water scarcity in semiarid regions threatens our ability to maintain environmentally sustainable growth and agricultural production in many areas of the Western United States. The impacts of global change could be especially severe in these regions, where many agricultural and natural ecosystems are already water stressed. ARS led the Semi-Arid Land-Surface-Atmosphere (SALSA) Research Program, involving scientists from 20 states, 15 nongovernmental organizations, and six foreign research agencies and institutions, in field experiments in the San Pedro Basin of the United States and Mexico. A series of SALSA Program products were released, including a spatial data archive on CD; a bilingual conference proceeding; a bilingual, multimedia, interactive CD; and an entire issue (including 21 papers) of the Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology Collectively, these products document advances in: quantifying land use and land cover change in the San Pedro Basin; using advanced technologies to map heat and water losses; developing models to provide daily maps of grassland health and soil condition for improved resource management; and measuring and predicting daily water use by riparian vegetation. The residents, policy and decision makers, and resource managers of the San Pedro Basin were involved directly in the SALSA Program.

IMPACT/OUTCOME: Data and information products of the SALSA Program allow resource managers to monitor and project the availability of scarce water resources in the San Pedro Basin. Land use and weather related phenomena such as El Nino and global climate change introduce uncertainties in decision making for water management, and products and tools from the SALSA Program permit scientists, residents, and government officials at several levels to plan appropriately for water uses. The impact of the SALSA Program was recognized by receiving the 2001 USDA Secretary?s Group Honor Award for maintaining and enhancing the Nation?s natural resources and environment as well as paving new ground in developing effective means of infusing science into the local policy and decision making process.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: A comprehensive review was completed of the feasibility of genetically modifying cell walls of herbaceous plants to improve their digestibility by livestock and also to facilitate their conversion to liquid fuels in biomass energy conversion plants.

IMPACT/OUTCOME: The review documented the effectiveness of previous breeding work to improve digestibility of forages and clearly demonstrated the feasibility of using both conventional and molecular techniques to modify livestock forages to improve their use for biomass energy. These findings will aid in research to modify traditional forage plants for use as energy feedstock.

During FY 2001, ARS will

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: ARS has initiated and participated in activities to address this issue. Research in this area will be an ongoing task because of the interest in carbon credits and carbon sequestration, which will benefit from refinements that increase ease of use, accuracy, and precision. An example of accomplishments include the development of a decision tool, CQUESTR, which is a screening tool for farmers and other land managers to allow them to assess the effects of various land management practices on soil carbon. ARS developed the first inventory of soil carbon for all U.S. cropland using IPCC (the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) methodology. In conjunction with university and other partners, this methodology and others are being refined for what will be an annual inventory. ARS is also participating with a number of other agencies (NOAA, DOE, NASA, USGS, NSF) in the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) on carbon cycle science, which has just developed the North American Carbon Plan that calls for increased interagency coordination for better data bases and models for analysis and prediction of carbon storage in soils and aboveground plant material, as well as in the atmosphere and oceans.

IMPACT/OUTCOME: Accurate data bases, inventories, and models are needed to develop the most beneficial policies for soil carbon storage and carbon trading and for advising farmers, ranchers, and other land managers of their options. Increasing soil organic matter improves productivity and imparts environmental benefits in most soils so that the benefits of increasing soil carbon extend beyond global change. Improved data bases and models are a critical component in enabling the development of better methods for assessing the impacts of land management on soil carbon and for developing improved carbon storage methods and policies. ARS research has been critical in developing the first U.S. inventories and will continue to be so for improved inventories and models.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: ARS released a series of decision support tools and systems that have assisted farmers, ranchers, local governments, and other scientists in evaluating the economic and environmental consequence of weather variability at both the regional and local farm level.

IMPACT/OUTCOME: The individual farmers now have tools available to evaluate the impact of droughts or prolonged wet periods on crop yield. These new tools and a better understanding of climatic and weather uncertainty allows farmers the opportunity to assess the risk of crop failure due to weather variability, and design cropping sequences that enhance the long-term economic and environmental survival of their farming or ranching enterprises.

expand research on the effects of elevated carbon dioxide on plant growth and food availability to include more crops under varied climatic and soil conditions.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Citrus is one of the most nutritious fruit crops in the world and is grown on approximately 1.1 million acres in the United States. Potential risks posed to the crop by predicted increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide and other environmental changes need to be identified to project future citrus production. In cooperation with University of Florida researchers, ARS scientists measured leaf photosynthetic capacity, carbohydrate metabolism, and growth of two-year old sweet orange trees grown for 29 months at ambient or doubled-ambient carbon dioxide in controlled, temperature-gradient greenhouses at 1.5 and 6.0 degrees Celsius above Gainesville temperatures. Increased carbon dioxide caused decreased water loss from leaves and increased photosynthesis and growth, despite a decrease in the amount and activity of an important photosynthetic enzyme. Elevated temperature caused increased water loss from leaves but no change in photosynthesis or growth, despite a decrease in the amount, but not the activity, of the same enzyme.

IMPACT/OUTCOME: Rising atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations will increase photosynthesis of many plants and may lead to increased growth and productivity under otherwise favorable conditions. However, predicted climate changes anticipated with the rise in carbon dioxide may drastically decrease productivity. Projecting food availability and quality depends on studies such as these that examine several factors at once. Examining the physiological and biochemical responses to a changing environment reduces uncertainties in predicting how a given crop may respond. Results of this study indicate that citrus should function well under rising carbon dioxide and with moderate increases of temperature, in the absence of other stresses or limitations.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Grasslands in the Northern Great Plains are vast ecosystems, yet their role in the overall storage of carbon in North America has not been quantified. Carbon dioxide is removed from the atmosphere by grassland vegetation during only about half the year, but prairie grassland soils are biologically active and release carbon dioxide back into the atmosphere year-round. The impact of carbon dioxide from the soil on annual exchange between the land and the atmosphere was assessed for a prairie ecosystem grazed at 2.6 hectares per steer. The plant canopy gained an average 1.7 grams of carbon dioxide per square meter of soil surface each day during the six-month growing season. Losses from the soil during the dormant winter season averaged the same amount of carbon dioxide or greater, depending on the measurement method used.

IMPACT/OUTCOME: Much of the carbon dioxide released by the burning of fossil fuels each year is absorbed by plants on the North American continent. Exactly how much society can depend on this massive continental "sink" for sequencing carbon from the atmosphere and mitigating global change is a critical question for land managers and policy makers. These results show that it is essential to measure the exchange of carbon dioxide between the land and the atmosphere even during the dormant season if the role of grassland ecosystems in mitigating greenhouse gases is to be determined.

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 2001, ARS will

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Cool-season pasture production during critical summer grazing periods can be severely limited by drought stress. Drought-resistant forage management systems are needed. Research was conducted at University Park, Pennsylvania, to determine the effect of dry, normal, and wet conditions on the performance of the drought sensitive species, white clover, in a simple (two species) or complex (five species) mixture. White clover growing in a complex mixture had improved water relations, increased dry matter production under drought, and reduced susceptibility to potato leafhopper attack than white clover growing in a simple mixture.

IMPACT/OUTCOME: Producers that include drought-susceptible species in complex mixtures can achieve increased forage availability during times when production has traditionally been limited by drought stress.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Meat-type goat production can be used to provide a high dollar niche market opportunity while improving pasture and woodlot management. Forage-based grazing systems need to be developed for finishing meat goats. Research was conducted by scientists at Beaver, West Virginia, to determine the chemical composition and nutritive value of shrub and forage species that could be used to improve nutrient utilization and weight gain by meat goats. Workshops were conducted to help producers understand meat goal nutrient requirements.

IMPACT/OUTCOME: Results from these investigations will help small farmers in Appalachia improve the use of farm resources, especially hill-land pastures and woodlots containing weeds and brush for optimal meat goal production.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: The current dryland crop production system for the central Great Plains, winter wheat-summer fallow degrades soil quality, promotes soil erosion, and is not economically advantageous. Scientists at Akron, Colorado, have developed crop rotations utilizing wheat, corn, millet, and sunflower that provide producers an alternative to the wheat-fallow system. Rotations designed around a 4-6 year cycle with 3 or more different crops provide producers and environmental benefits. Crop rotations break weed, disease, and insect cycles, improve use of soil moisture, and enhance nutrient cycling.

IMPACT/OUTCOME: Producers in the Great Plains can improve soil quality and increase profits by $5-$25 per acre by substituting crop rotations for the conventional wheat-fallow system.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Conventional tillage practices of moldboard and chisel plowing have been replaced in many parts of the United States by conservation tillage techniques that reduce erosion by minimizing soil disturbance and preserving crop residues. A special form of conservation tillage that involves soil rupture as deep as conventional tillage only in a narrow zone under the expected crop row (strip tillage, ridge tillage) has proved to be useful in the upper Midwest. Scientists at Morris, Minnesota, and Brookings, South Dakota, conducted long-term field experiments to compare corn production under conventional and conservation (ridge) tillage systems. They found higher average net returns for the ridge tillage system. In addition to requiring less fuel and less labor than the conventional tillage system, the ridge tillage system also provided greater soil erosion protection.

IMPACT/OUTCOME: Conservation tillage systems that restrict tillage to the crop row allow producers in the upper Midwest to address problems of soil compaction and poor internal drainage while limiting soil erosion.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Seeking to extend the grazing season in Appalachia to reduce the cost of feeding hay, researchers at Beaver, West Virginia, examined growing cool-season grasses under tree canopies that act to buffer the effects of radiation frost. While the trees did provide protection, the grass growing under the canopy under some conditions had increased nitrogen and lower energy levels that may compromise livestock performance. These scientists also found that forage growing under trees needed to be grazed or clipped to prevent a build up of biomass that cause a fall in stand productivity and longevity. This management need is different from traditional pasture management practices in the region where grass biomass is frequently allowed to build up to provide a stockpile for winter grazing. Scientists at Booneville, Arkansas, studied the relationship between conifer tree growth and forage production in silvo-pastoral systems. Both tree height and diameter increases faster on trees planted in improved pasture than in traditional plantings. Forage production decreased linearly as tree basal area increased. Depending on tree spacing and growth rates, forage production could drop to near zero within 20 years of tree planting. Other research into the interaction between tree cover and livestock was a study on the 24-hour behavior of two breeds of cattle at Brooksville, Florida, to see if grazing patterns in a hot, humid climate varied by breed. Angus, a breed of temperate origin, preferred grazing significantly more in shady locations in the mid-afternoon than the Romosinuano breed from Columbia. Stocker lambs raised at El Reno, Oklahoma, were given a choice of cool-season grass hay harvested in the morning and afternoon. Earlier research done at other ARS locations (Raleigh, North Carolina; Kimberly, Idaho; and Watkinsville, Georgia) found that livestock picked the afternoon hay and consumed more of it. The El Reno lambs also preferred the afternoon hay and consumed 33 to 100 percent more than when provided only the morning hay. Livestock appear to pick the afternoon harvested hay because of its higher concentrations of sugars and nitrogen because of the additional hours of photosynthetic activity.

IMPACT/OUTCOME: Providing producers with simple and affordable management systems for integrating forest resources and livestock production will increase farm income in an environmentally sustainable manner. This will help maintain community stability by slowing the rate that farm pasture and forested lands are converted into nonagricultural uses.

During FY 2001, ARS will provide information to producers about ultra-narrow row cotton production systems for the Southeastern United States that will increase profits and improve soil quality.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: ARS scientists at Auburn, Alabama, demonstrated that cotton grown in row spacings of 10 inches or less (ultra narrow row cotton), was more effective in conserving soil moisture and preventing weed competition than cotton grown with standard 36-inch row spacing. In dry years, cotton lint yields were found to be up to 50 percent greater with ultra narrow row spacing compared to standard 36-inch row spacing.

IMPACT/OUTCOME: Ultra narrow row cotton acreage in the southeastern United States has increased rapidly over the last few years because this management practice allows producers to achieve greater economic returns on marginal soils with limited moisture holding capacity.

OBJECTIVE 4.2: Risk management: "Improve risk management in the United States agriculture industry."

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

During FY 2001, 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: The ARS cotton model, GOSSYM-COMAX, has been linked with commercial Geographic Information System (GIS) software to aid in site-specific management and simulation scenarios. In this context, on a commercial farm in Mississippi, remotely sensed images are being collected. Grid soil sampling was conducted in a 100 acre field to explore the use of remote sensing, in conjunction with the cotton model, to predict lint yield on a site-by-site basis.

IMPACT/OUTCOME: With necessary equipment having been assembled and experimental protocols established, ARS and its university partners are now in position to progress in the research to bring remote sensing to a greater state of usefulness in day-to-day management of cotton production.

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.

OBJECTIVE 4.3: Safe production and processing: "Improve the safe production and processing of, and adding of value to, United States 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 2001, ARS will

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: A newly revised catalogue of known stilt bugs worldwide has eliminated previous errors and adds two overlooked species. True bugs are a common and diverse group of insects that are both pests of crops and beneficial predators. The family, Berytidae, is a small but diverse group of true bugs that get their common name, "stilt bugs," from the long, slender legs and antennae of many species. Many stilt bug species have been implicated as pests of crops such as cacao, tobacco, and tomato. But several others are important predators, feeding on aphids, hornworm eggs and larvae, leaf-hoppers, thrips, and other pests. In February 1998, the ARS true bug experts published a world catalogue of stilt bugs that treated 36 genera and 169 species and contained nearly 200 host plant records. Since then, feedback from several colleagues has helped to discover and correct several errors, e.g., the omission of species, for a catalogue of stilt bugs of the Palearctic Region ? the geographic region that includes the northwest coast of Africa, Europe, and Asia north of the Himalaya Mountains. These corrections supplement the world catalogue and include the two overlooked species.

IMPACT/OUTCOME: This information is of great importance to other researchers, including biocontrol workers, who need an accurate, comprehensive summary of the literature treating stilt bugs and their distribution.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: The papaya mealybug has invaded much of the Caribbean and has recently become established in Florida, and represents a serious threat to the citrus industry there. In cooperation with APHIS and the ARS European Biological Control Laboratory, ARS scientists in Newark, Delaware, have imported and released a parasite that is achieving up to 100 percent control of the mealybug in Florida.

IMPACT/OUTCOME: Biocontrol may provide control of this invasive pest.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Invasive insects represent an over $130 billion threat to the United States. An important, and cost-effective line of defense against these invaders is the use of biocontrol agents. ARS researchers at the ARS overseas laboratories and at laboratories in the United States, in conjunction with ARS quarantine facilities in the United States, are delivering biocontrol agents for key invasive insect pests, including Asian longhorned beetle, glassy-winged sharpshooter, imported fire ant, Formosan termite, gypsy moth, Japanese beetle, pink hibiscus mealybug, Chinese soybean aphid, olive fruit fly, and many other insects.

IMPACT/OUTCOME: Total savings from biocontrol of invasive insects are estimated at $20 billion annually.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: (1) Responding to floral and vegetable crop industry needs, ARS is initiating a greenhouse insect management research program at Ithaca.

IMPACT/OUTCOME: (1) A program has been established that will focus on discovering biologically-based solutions for management of aphids, whiteflies, and caterpillars, including augmentative control.

(2) The research on aphids protects farmers from counterproductive use of control methods; whereas, the Beauveria/Bacillus work provides a potentially cost-effective alternative solution for management of the potato beetle.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: (1) Invasive caterpillar pests are responsible for billion of dollars of annual damage to cotton, corn, and other row crops in the United States. A significant portion of the 200 million pounds (active ingredient) of insecticides used in the United States is targeted at these pests, causing unacceptable environmental and human health effects. Insect pathogenic baculoviruses are potentially an effective alternative; however, their narrow host ranges are an obstacle to their development. ARS scientists at Columbia, Missouri, have isolated a broad host range baculovirus that is not only effective against bollworm and budworm, but also against a wide variety of other caterpillar pests.

(2) The diamondback moth, a worldwide pest of crucifers, including cabbage, has shown widespread resistance to insecticides, including those based on the insecticidal bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt). By using early-season application of the insect pathogenic fungus Beauveria bassiana, followed by later applications of Bt, ARS scientists at Ithaca, New York, were able to manage populations of caterpillars while preserving the marketability of cabbage heads.

IMPACT/OUTCOME: (1) This virus is being developed further for eventual commercial use.

(2) This system should reduce development of insect resistance to Bt, thus helping to preserve this environmentally-friendly tool.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Fire ant biocontrol is making major progress with release of a new phorid fly parasitoid and protozoan parasites. The phorid fly harasses the imported fire ants, lays an egg in the fire ant?s body, and the phorid young develops in the ant?s head capsule, eventually decapitating it. Large releases of the phorid fly are planned for this summer, supported by mass rearing activities of APHIS and the Florida Department of Agriculture.

IMPACT/OUTCOME: Discovery and development of these biocontrol agents is reducing populations of fire ant, and, as an integral part of the areawide program to control this pest, should reduce reliance on insecticidal approaches.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: ARS developed a new female-biased trap for Mediterranean fruit fly which is currently being deployed in insect surveillance systems. ARS has also developed traps for sweet potato weevil, velvet bean caterpillar and soybean looper also used by APHIS for surveillance.

IMPACT/OUTCOME: These traps provide an efficacious method to detect invasion of exotic pests as well as monitor movement of established pests to coordinate control measures.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: (1) The Asian longhorned beetle is a $670 billion threat to U.S. forests. Scientists at Newark, Delaware, proved that the beetle could disperse about one mile rather than the 100 meters previously reported. Scientists at Beltsville, Maryland, discovered a contact pheromone that will be investigated as a means to facilitate beetle detection and, in combination with other tools, provide additional control of this invasive pest. Progress was also made in adaptation of acoustic sensors for remote detection of beetles in urban trees.

(2) The loss of contact insecticides, as well as restrictions on use of fumigants because of environmental and health concerns, presents problems for controlling insects in stored grain. Controlling the pests is critical to providing a wholesome food source for domestic use and for maintaining export markets abroad. ARS scientists in Manhattan, Kansas, in collaboration with scientists from Oklahoma State University and Kansas State University, developed a practical areawide IPM program for stored grain. They demonstrated that sampling grain for insects using a vacuum probe provided an accurate and economical method for estimating insect density in concrete elevators, and that insects were most often located in the top 40 feet of grain. A risk-analysis software was developed that uses sampling estimates and an insect-growth model to predict which bins should be fumigated.

(3) Greenbug causes severe losses of grain crops in the Great Plains. ARS is developing a comprehensive IPM program for managing greenbug in winter wheat, in collaboration with researchers at Oklahoma State University and the Waits SST Development Group.

(4) Even though the multicolored Asian lady beetle has served well as an effective biocontrol against aphids and scale insects since its introduction in 1916, homeowners are troubled by large numbers of the beetles that come inside in autumn to overwinter. ARS scientists at Mississippi State, Mississippi, investigating the biology and behavior of these insects, have been looking at compounds that might repel them. Two compounds?camphor and menthol?that seem to irritate the insect?s chemosensory organs have shown the best results.

IMPACT/OUTCOME: (1) The dispersal data has been adopted by APHIS, which now sets a wider containment zone for its beetle eradication program. Discovery of pheromones may lead to development of a trap for monitoring the beetle for directing treatments.

(2) This system will reduce insect-damaged grain, decrease the number of unnecessary fumigations, and increase the competitiveness of U.S. grain in global markets.

(3) This program will be incorporated into other grain pest management programs, such as those that involve remote-sensing.

(4) Scientists think that using such repellent vapors could push these beneficial beetles from their overwintering sites. Then the insects might be pulled by pheromone lures into traps and released where they would perform their beneficial biocontrol function against aphids and scale insects.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: (1) Corn plant varieties genetically engineered to express the Bacillus thuringiensis toxin to control pest insects, also known as Bt-corn, have been commercially grown for several cropping seasons. This technology became controversial when a small study in 1999 indicated that monarch butterfly caterpillars suffered when given no choice but to feed on milkweed leaves heavily dusted with Bt-corn pollen. In response, ARS scientists at Ames, Iowa led a consortium of scientists from government, universities, industry and the environmental community to undertake risk assessment research that would provide a sound, scientific basis for determining what, if any, risks exist from Bt-corn pollen to monarch butterflies. After two years of studies, laboratory and field scientists have found that monarch caterpillars are not very sensitive to pollen from most types of Bt-corn and that caterpillar exposure to Bt-pollen is low, thus presenting no significant risk to the insect from environmental exposure to Bt-corn.

(2) Since 1966 cotton varieties engineered with Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) genes for making insect toxic protein have offered growers a way to reduce insecticides. Bt-cotton is now grown on 2 million U.S. acres. Because of such extensive plantings of cotton and other Bt-crops, there is concern that natural selection will favor insects, such as bollworms, having traits for Bt resistance. Helping cotton farmers prolong Bt effectiveness as a natural pesticide against crop-damaging caterpillars is the aim of ARS scientists at Stoneville, Mississippi. The scientists have sought to quantify any resistence buildup in budworms and bollworms by obtaining caterpillar specimens from cotton fields across the nation and rearing them. This allows scientists to check the insects Bt tolerance levels. Since starting the program, the scientists have not noticed a change in the target pests susceptibility to Bt-cotton. If this should occur then more stringent resistance management practices can be recommended to present resistance build-up.

IMPACT/OUTCOME: (1) This research provides objective information upon which to base decisions as to the environmental safety of Bt-corn.

(2) This research provides managers with information necessary to prevent resistance buildup in insects exposed to Bt-cotton.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: The greenbug and Russian wheat aphid are serious pests of wheat, sorghum, and barley in the Great Plains. Ecological information is needed to determine how agronomic operations used in wheat fields (such as tillage, crop rotation, and pesticide use), and the management of the landscape surrounding wheat fields affects populations and communities of biocontrol agents, including predators. The ARS Stillwater laboratory did field studies that showed the important contribution of predators to overall biocontrol of these aphids, and the need to conserve these valuable natural enemies.

IMPACT/OUTCOME: Information showing the importance of conserving natural enemies is essential to effective farmer and land manager pest management decisions.

IMPACT/OUTCOME: These studies could help plant breeders develop new crop varieties with enhanced defense systems.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: ARS collaborated with an agricultural biotechnology company to develop genomics-based approaches for identifying candidate insect control genes. The naturally occurring lethal gene "Medea" was identified as a novel member of the gene family necessary for the normal functioning of central nervous system.

IMPACT/OUTCOME: Such genes are excellent candidates for pest control exploitation, and provide the opportunity for insect-specific control technology with minimal environmental and health side effects.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: ARS had major accomplishments for this indicator in many areas of weed management.

IMPACT/OUTCOME:

develop environmentally-benign, biologically- and ecologically-based, highly integrated areawide control strategies for fire ants (e.g., phorid flies and microsporidia) and continue to transfer the technology and information to regulatory agencies, such as APHIS-PPQ and State agencies through the Southern Legislative Council on how to use the strategies and monitor biologically-based management of fire ant populations. This technology transfer will reduce the use of insecticides.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: The microorganism Thelohania solenopsae is highly pathogenic to fire ants, but efforts at using it for biocontrol have not been very successful because it was not very infectious. A new spore was discovered that appears to be the crucial infective agent. A pheromone produced by phorid flies, small wasps that kill fire ants, was discovered that increases production of the flies for release by 20 percent.

IMPACT/OUTCOME: Pesticide control of mosquito vectors of animal and human disease is costly, inefficient, and polluting. Self-sustaining biocontrol methods may offer a feasible alternative.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: A naturally occurring baculovirus has been found that infects and kills the larvae of a number of mosquito species, including the vector of West Nile Virus. The life cycle of the baculovirus and a strategy for its use as a biological control agent in the field has been worked out.

IMPACT/OUTCOME: Pesticide control of mosquito vectors of animal and human disease is costly, inefficient, and polluting. Self-sustaining biocontrol methods may offer a feasible alternative.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Equine babesiosis diagnostic test development was completed and the test was transferred to the National Veterinary Services Laboratories in Ames, Iowa.

IMPACT/OUTCOME: Having a rapid and accurate diagnostic test for equine babesiosis will now facilitate the international movement of horses for shows, events, and sales.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Scientists have cloned a protein from the West Nile Virus and are in the process of preparing to test this protein as a potential vaccine against this arthropod-borne pathogen.

IMPACT/OUTCOME: Controlling the West Nile Virus in the horse by vaccination may not only protect horses from death, but may also help to decrease the level of virus available for mosquitoes to transmit to humans.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: (1) The number one pests of honey bees in the United States are the Varroa mite and the tracheal mite; bees are also lost due to severe winters. Researchers at the Baton Rouge laboratory have now imported and shown the Russian honey bee to be resistant to both mites, winter hardy, and effective pollinators. Further, a method was developed to insert beneficial genes from the Russian bees into U.S. strains of the honey bee; this will preserve genetic diversity in the U.S. bee population and useful beekeeping characteristics.

IMPACT/OUTCOME: (1) These technologies are helping to save an industry responsible for $15 billion in added crop value due to pollination.

(2) Once registered, these antibiotics will provide an effective alternative for beekeepers.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Several mosquito traps designed by ARS scientists were field evaluated in the Northeast habitats of the mosquitoes that transmit West Nile Virus. The new traps caught more mosquitoes and required less oversight and maintenance than currently available commercial traps.

IMPACT/OUTCOME: More efficient traps are important for both control of suburban mosquitoes and for surveillance of vector-borne disease outbreaks.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Cattle Fever is a devastating disease now eradicated from the United States, but still present in Mexico. The tick that transmits the disease also feeds on deer, which often cross the border. A new device for immobilizing, surveying, and treating deer with experimental tick control methods was invented and a patent was applied for. A successful trial was conducted using ivermectin bait in controlling ticks that feed on deer and cattle.

IMPACT/OUTCOME: The reintroduction of Cattle Fever to the United States from Mexico is a constant danger, and because the ticks that spread it also feed on deer, quarantine is not wholly successful. Methods for killing ticks that feed on deer are crucial to continued safety.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Production of huge numbers of sterile screwworms are necessary to maintain the eradication barrier against their reintroduction into the United States. A number of improvements to rearing were made and implemented at the production facility at Tuxtla, Mexico. These included the introduction of a hardier genetic strain from Panama and improved feeding media.

IMPACT/OUTCOME: Before they were eradicated from North America, screwworm caused hundreds of millions of dollars of loss to the cattle industry every year. Keeping them out of the United States is imperative. Improving the efficiency of production of sterile flies for the APHIS maintained barrier in Panama contributes to that goal.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Integrated control of the Formosan subterranean termite was successfully demonstrated in a 15 block portion of New Orleans? French Quarter and plans were begun with the City to expand the demonstration to the entire historic district. Areawide control efforts were begun with the Louisiana State and Texas A & M Universities.

IMPACT/OUTCOME: It is estimated that Formosan termites cause $1 billion damage to wooden structures yearly. The New Orleans demonstration project uses conventional measures, new research, and commercial pest control operators in a model program for urban areas throughout the Gulf States.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Innovative uses of geographic intelligence systems (GIS) on a small scale have been used to successfully conclude a project to target control against roaches and ants on military bases.

IMPACT/OUTCOME: GIS is normally used for large areas. ARS scientists have demonstrated how it can be adapted to target micro-scale areas on an Army base for effective pesticide application. This method is a model that can be used in large institutions, such as hospitals, as well as in urban areas.

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

During FY 2001, ARS will expand efforts in developing sustainable agricultural systems that emphasize the use of renewable resources. The substitution of renewable resources for nonrenewable resources will preserve natural resources.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Cropping systems that emphasize conservation tillage, crop rotations, organic matter additions, and cover crops are being developed for regions across the country by ARS scientists. Systems have been developed for the Southern Great Plains and sub-tropics (Temple and Weslaco, Texas), the corn belt (Lincoln, Nebraska, Morris and St. Paul, Minnesota, and Ames, Iowa), the Northeast (Beltsville, Maryland and Orono, Maine), the Southeast (Watkinsville and Tifton, Georgia), and for California and Florida through the Beltsville, Maryland, research center.

IMPACT/OUTCOME: These systems use less fuel and because they rely more on biological inputs for fertility more renewable and less nonrenewable resources are utilized. Environmental side effects are also alleviated with these systems. The result is more long-term sustainability.

During FY 2001, ARS will

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: The Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation, version 2 (RUSLE2) had been delivered to the National Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) last year. Training of NRCS personnel and minor modification to the program continued in FY 2001, preparatory to nationwide implementation in county field offices during 2002. The Wind Erosion Prediction System, version 1 (WEPS1) was delivered to the NRCS and a number of its personnel were trained in its use. This experience revealed certain model shortcomings, and WEPS1 was not accepted for implementation in NRCS field offices for at least the next two years. NRCS officials praised the model overall, and asked that the shortcomings be corrected and an acceptable model delivered in the above time frame.

IMPACT/OUTCOME: Adoption of RUSLE2 will provide the NRCS with a much improved tool for soil conservation planning in the future. NRCS will continue to rely on existing Wind Erosion Equation technology while WEPS1 is being brought to an acceptable state. ARS scientists have been instructed to give their full attention to resolving the shortcomings in WEPS1.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: MOSES is the Modular Soil Erosion System, intended to be a common interface for RUSLE2 and WEPS1. Because WEPS1 is still two years away from adoption, MOSES will not be delivered and its development has been terminated. Termination took place because of the emergence of several technical developments, some of them from ARS scientists, that have overtaken the MOSES technology and that will be in use before WEPS1 is delivered.

IMPACT/OUTCOME: There is no impact, per se, of not delivering MOSES. The impact of not delivering WEPS1 was given under an earlier indicator. The impact of terminating MOSES because of another set of technology that has overtaken and passed it is to redirect resources to high priority research and development needs associated with RUSLE2, WEPS1, and further development and implementation of the new technology.

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 2001, ARS will

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: ARS researchers at Florence, South Carolina, in cooperation with North Carolina State University at its Waste Management Center, successfully operated a pilot wastewater treatment unit to remove nitrogen from swine waste. The nitrogen concentration was lowered from approximately 675 parts per million to less than 25 using a nitrification/denitrification modulewith immobilized bacteria technology. As part of this treatment system high-ammonia-tolerant bacteria were used that enabled fast ammonia removal without the problem of substantial ammonia volatilization loss. Other research at Florence showed that ammonia volatilization was not a major loss mechanism when constructed wetlands are used to treat animal wastewater.

Researchers at Clay Center, Nebraska, have been investigating the effects of chemical treatments on ammonia emissions from manure. They have found that a chemical used to inhibit urease, an enzyme that converts the urea into ammonia, is effective in reducing ammonia loss from manure. It also reduces odors. Based on their data, a company is currently marketing a product, CONSERVE-N TM.

In Bushland, Texas, scientists have also tested various chemicals that could potentially be feed additives or feedlot surface amendments for their potential to decrease ammonia emissions. Several chemicals decreased ammonia emissions by 50 percent or more.

IMPACT/OUTCOME: Development of cost-effective amendments and treatments that lower ammonia emissions will improve air quality, decrease nuisance concerns, improve the health and performance of animals and improve worker health.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Researchers at Beltsville, Maryland, demonstrated that several available quick tests can be used to determine the ammonium concentrations of manures with reasonable accuracy. They also demonstrated that fiber-optic-based near infrared spectroscopy (NRIS) can accurately determine moisture, total nitrogen and ammonium, but not phosphorus or potassium concentrations in dairy manures. A joint project involving ten ARS units located across the United States is developing a procedure to determine the amount of nitrogen release (N mineralization) from all types of manure.

IMPACT/OUTCOME: The results from the quick tests are important because they demonstrate that methods exist today which are relatively inexpensive, $100 to $300, which can be used by animal producers and farmers with reasonable accuracy to help manage land application of manure. The use of "standardized test" will enable consistent determinations of the nitrogen availability in manure to be made. This will allow policy makers to develop "science-based" regulations and enable producers to readily comply with these regulations while maximizing the beneficial use of manure for improving soil quality and crop production.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: ARS researchers at Clay Center, Nebraska, have identified chemical additives that significantly reduce odor emissions and pathogens from stored manure. These chemicals are plant oils (e.g., carvacrol and thymol) which are generally recognized as safe and amiable with the environment. ARS scientists in Florence, South Carolina, were able to reduce or eliminate pathogens as part of a total treatment system that addresses nutrients as well. The reduction in pathogens occurs at each step of the treatment system which separates solids, promotes nitrogen loss as harmless denitrogen gas, reduces atmospheric emissions of ammonia, and removes phosphorus from the manure.

IMPACT/OUTCOME: Pathogens from animals and manures can threaten human health. Methods that kill pathogens, such as these, will protect public health and enable the manure by-products to be beneficially used.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Gases from animal production and manure storage facilities are of concern because of their contribution to air pollution and global climate change. ARS researchers in Beltsville, Maryland, Ames, Iowa, and Watkinsville, Georgia, have developed methods to measure emission rates of ammonia, nitrous oxide, methane and malodorous compounds. At Beltsville, Maryland, methods were developed to measure ammonia over both waste-holding lagoons and after manure had been applied to land. They also are developing methods to measure simultaneously key odorous chemicals (i.e., sulfides, amines, and volatile fatty acids). Results have shown that continuous monitoring of basic parameters at key points in the treatment process may be used to predict "odor potential". At Ames, Iowa, methods have been developed to determine both the production and consumption of methane and measure nitrous oxide, odorous compounds and particulates. They are determining the relationship between animal production and manure handling practices and these gases. At Watkinsville (Athens), Georgia, methods were developed to measure ammonia and nitrous oxide emissions from wastewater lagoons and methods are being developed to measure methane from lagoons, barns, and pastures.

IMPACT/OUTCOME: Basic knowledge of the sources and amounts of air pollutants and greenhouse gases is needed to develop effective controls for these gases. This research on development of improved methods is supplying that basic knowledge.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: ARS research in Beltsville, Maryland, has determined how to produce composts with consistent nutrient composition while reducing odors and pathogens during the composting process. Composts that blend by-products from drinking water utilities with manure have recently been shown to reduce the soluble phosphorous contents of manures and composts so that a more balanced nitrogen to phosphorous product results.

IMPACT/OUTCOME: Composting is a practical technology to manage manures and produce a product that has greater value than the original manure provided the nutrient status is known and odors and pathogens are controlled. This research is leading to improved composting processes and composts. For example, the combining of two "wastes", drinking water treatment by products and manure, is producing a compost with a more balanced nutrient composition.

During FY 2001, ARS will

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: A series of biocatalysts for improved conversion of biomass sugars to fuel ethanol and polylactate plastics have been developed. A new bacterial strain has been developed that will increase ethanol production beyond that from current starch-based production.

IMPACT/OUTCOME: Availability of new organisms that can be used to reduce cost of commercial ethanol and coproduct production.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Purified and characterized two novel enzymes, from a recently isolated fungal strain, that are capable of breaking down complex corn fiber heteroxylan and developed a fermentation system for the production of the sugar alcohol, manitol, from corn syrups.

IMPACT/OUTCOME: Increase availability and improved understanding of organisms that can be used to improve conversion of biomass to biofuels and other biobased products.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: State-of-the-art molecular biology as well as more conventional methods were used by Peoria, Illinois, researchers to establish that the primary bacteria populations present in swine manure and storage pits and lagoons are Gram (+) anaerobic bacteria. The information gathered from these studies has enabled them to develop a diagnostic technique, i.e., GS-ARDRA (group specific amplified ribosomal - DNA restriction analysis), to detect differences in micro-organisms in manure, storage and handling facilities, and with animals at various stages of production. Many previously unidentified bacteria have been discovered including novel methanogenis archaebacteria. The ability of compounds, e.g., monensin, an ionosphere effective at inhibiting Gram (+) bacteria, to control odors are now being tested.

IMPACT/OUTCOME: The production of odorous compounds at animal production facilities not only increases tensions among neighbors, but can also pose health problems to both the animals and human workers. Information on the organisms responsible for generating the orders will lead to more effective and efficient odor control. Furthermore, the detection methodologies developed, can also be applied to pathogen detection so pathogen fate can be better monitored and improved control methods developed.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Modified soft, low density by-products such as soybean hulls, corn cobs and peanut shells, in order to produce cation exchange absorbents specifically for metal ion remediation. Results demonstrated that one specific product, namely, citric acid-modified soybean hulls, have similar and in some cases better metal ion adsorption properties than commercial, synthetic resins. Optimized this modification process, developed a flow diagram for a continuous manufacturing process, and with the assistance of cost engineers at the Eastern Regional Research Center, developed estimates for capital and production costs to produce the modified hulls in commercial quantities. Two established, small companies in Minnesota and Maryland are interested in transferring the modification technology to their production facilities. ARS scientists are also using accumulated knowledge of producing granular activated carbons from agricultural by-products to produce "designer carbons" for enhanced metal ion and organics remediation at removal levels above those seen in commercial carbons. A company specializing in new environmental technologies, based in Los Angeles, California, is interested in these "designer" carbons, especially those that have high metal ion removal characteristics.

IMPACT/OUTCOME: Through articles in scientific journals, popular publications and the popular press, this research program has become known to scientists and business people in industry and academia. ARS has an ongoing CRADA with Amalgamated Technology Incorporated of St. Louis, Missouri, to develop granular activated carbons from hardwood waste for metal ion remediation. ARS has active discussions ongoing, through Confidentiality Agreements, with two U.S.-based companies and one foreign company located in Costa Rica. Thus far, ARS has acted as consultants to help them establish modified soybean hull technology and activated carbon processes and manufacturing facilities. In the case of the Costa Rican company, they want to transfer ARS technology regarding the production of macadamia nutshell activated carbons to utilize macshell waste and establish a carbon industry in Costa Rica. This would reduce their dependence on the importation of foreign-made carbons. Additionally, ARS has received requests from companies that want to evaluate these products for specific uses, particularly the modified soybean hulls. If this product meet their needs, then they are interested in partnering with ARS to establish products for the commercial marketplace.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Refined manure fibers were successfully incorporated into biodegradable plastic formulations. A manuscript is in preparation. Fiber board was made from plant fiber washed from bovine manure using alfalfa juice as the cementing agent.

IMPACT/OUTCOME: These results indicate the potential for using refined manure fibers in plastic composite materials. Potential applications include plastic lumber or degradable horticulture products. Successful incorporation of refined manure fibers would reduce the environmental impact of large scale animal production by adding value to the waste stream. The fiber board had good surface finish, high density (up to 64 lb/ft3), low water absorption, and reasonable strength and rigidity. The work demonstrated the possibility of making fiber board with little or no petroleum-based adhesive.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: In conjunction with a cost engineer, modeling was employed to estimate production costs and identify sites for cost saving in a method developed for the synthesis of fatty acid methyl esters (biodiesel) from soapstock. Collaboration was formed with a private sector soapstock processor, allowing the exploration of the use of acid oil as a feedstock for biodiesel production.

IMPACT/OUTCOME: More economical conversion of a low value byproduct to a useful biofuel.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Studies to reduce NOx output from diesel engines using biodiesel or blends of biodiesel in petroleum diesel have identified several potentially effective additives that reduce NOx emissions from biodiesel fuels. Freezing point studies showed that blending jet fuel with winterized biodiesel significantly improved cold flow properties of the blends.

IMPACT/OUTCOME: These findings can aid in expanding the use of biodiesel fuel in diesel engines and encourage an increased use of biodiesel in aircraft fuel.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: The CRADA with the industrial partner expired this fiscal year. Research under the agreement covered the production of prospective nutraceutical lipids from lard, poultry fat, tallow, and fish oils. A jointly owned patent (U.S. Patent 6,344,574) was granted, a patent application (09/671,543) is pending, and the cooperator petitioned the ARS for licensing of the patent.

IMPACT/OUTCOME: The industrial partner has contracted out animal feeding studies to assess the efficacy of a nutraceutical lipid prepared with the patented technology.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: A state-of-the-art model was developed, in cooperation with interested companies, to compare costs of producing ethanol. Comparisons included processes that incorporated innovations such as high-solids, batch or continuously stripped fermentation, and the Quick-Germ method of removing the germ before fermentation.

IMPACT/OUTCOME: Results predict that new, innovative technologies can save about 10 cents per gallon of ethanol. Use of the model is helping companies lower fuel ethanol production costs and increase the competitiveness of this renewable biofuel.