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A chemical hide wash is one of the best ways for meat processors to reduce the risk of E. colicontamination.Click the image for more information about it.

ARS honors technology transfer award winners   Hide-washing improves beef safety   Targeting E. coli bacteria at their source

Meat Safety: It All Works Out in the Wash

By Laura McGinnis
July 1, 2008

When it comes to the safety of the U.S. beef supply, everything works out in the wash--the hide wash, that is.

Scientists with the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) developed a hide-washing tool that has significantly improved the safety of U.S. beef while saving the beef industry millions of dollars each year. An estimated 50 percent of U.S. feedlot-raised beef cattle undergo the washing treatment, which has reduced the national incidence of pathogenic Escherichia coli in ground beef samples by about 43 percent.

The tool was developed by ARS scientists at the Roman L. Hruska U.S. Meat Animal Research Center (USMARC) in Clay Center, Neb. The research team included microbiologists Terry Arthur and Joseph Bosilevac, food technologists Steven Shackelford and Tommy Wheeler, and center director Mohammad Koohmaraie, formerly with ARS.

The U.S Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that E. coli O157:H7 causes nearly 73,000 illnesses every year in the United States. Following a 1993 outbreak, the USMARC scientists launched a massive investigation into the pathogen. Their work was the first to show that the principle source of E. coli O157:H7 in ground beef is fecal contamination on cowhides.

Before, most intervention efforts had focused on eliminating the pathogenic bacteria from feces. The new findings led to a paradigm shift and the development of improved, hide-targeted intervention techniques to reduce and eliminate pathogenic E. coli O157:H7 and other dangerous microorganisms.

The hide-washing system works by using a high-pressure-water wash that removes excess organic matter from the cattle's hides, which are then sprayed with an antibacterial compound.

The scientists also have demonstrated that several chemical compounds can be effectively used for pathogen removal.

Read more about the research in the July 2008 issue of Agricultural Research magazine.

ARS is a scientific research agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Peanuts. Photo courtesy of USDA.

The powers of peanut flours   U.S. peanuts pass the flavor test in Europe   Get your heart-friendly, blight-resistant peanuts

New Research Presented on Peanut Components

By Rosalie Marion Bliss
June 30, 2008

Fat free peanut flour, whole peanuts and peanut oil all may have cardio-protective properties, results from a new animal study suggest. Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists are presenting the findings at this week's Institute of Food Technologists 2008 Annual Meeting in New Orleans, La.

For the study, male hamsters were randomly divided into four groups. Each group of nearly 20 hamsters was fed one of four different diets, all of which were high-fat and high-cholesterol.

Each diet consisted of nearly equal percentages of fats, carbohydrates and proteins. For three of the four test diets, equivalent amounts of food component were substituted with fat-free peanut flour, peanut oil or peanuts without skins. The fourth diet contained no peanut product and served as the control group.

After the hamsters had been on the test diets for six months, the researchers tested their blood lipid chemistry. Compared to hamsters in the no-peanut control group, those in each of the three peanut groups were found to have significantly lower total cholesterol and LDL "bad" cholesterol. Also positive, HDL "good" cholesterol levels held steady.

Other blood chemistry research has been published that links reduced heart disease risk factors in humans with consuming peanut butter and peanut oil, but this is the first animal study to exhibit such an effect from consuming the fat-free portion of peanuts. While it is still unknown if the effect would translate to humans, the unit’s confirmatory and additional research studies with peanut components are ongoing.

The study was conducted by Tim Sanders, who heads the ARS Market Quality and Handling Research Unit, in Raleigh, N.C., and Amanda Stephens, a food science and nutrition graduate student at North Carolina State University (NC State), in Raleigh.

Stephens is participating in a cooperative program with ARS in which students gain course credit through laboratory training and experience. The ARS study was conducted in NC State facilities under an Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee approved protocol.

ARS is a scientific research agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Shiitake mushrooms grown on logs can have significantly higher levels of compounds that may improve human immune function than shiitakes grown on commercial substrate. Click the image for more information about it.

Measuring mushroom nutrients   Studying shiitake genes   Mushrooms for better or worse

Supporting Small Farm Success with Shiitakes

By Ann Perry
June 25 , 2008

Shiitake (Lentinula edodes) mushrooms are good for you--and shiitake byproducts can be good for other crops.

These mushrooms contain high-molecular-weight polysaccharides (HMWP), which some studies suggest may improve human immune function. Other research indicates that the shiitake compound eritadenine may help lower cholesterol levels.

Agricultural Research Service (ARS) agronomist David Brauer has been studying shiitake production at the agency's Dale Bumpers Small Farm Research Center, Booneville, Ark. Working in collaboration with producers at the Shiitake Mushroom Center in Shirley, Ark., Brauer evaluated whether shiitakes grown on logs have higher levels of HMWP than shiitakes grown on commercial substrates.

The group inoculated logs with spores from three different shiitake varieties and compared the yield with shiitake yields grown on commercial substrates. They found that the log-grown shiitakes had HMWP levels as much as 70 percent higher than the substrate-grown shiitakes. The team also observed that shiitakes grown on red and white oak logs had higher levels of HMWP than shiitakes grown on sweet gum logs.

Logs used in shiitake production generally provide good yields for around two to three years. Larger shiitake farms may have 3,000 or more logs on the premises, and retire around 1,000 of them every year.

Not to let those used logs go to waste, Brauer’s team chipped a selection of spent logs, added urea and green grass cuttings to the chips and then composted the mixture. They found that the nitrogen levels in the resulting compost were comparable to nitrogen levels in other purchased soil amendment materials.

The researchers used the log compost to amend soil in a greenhouse spinach production system and found that the seedlings exhibited greater growth rates than seedlings cultivated in soil that had not been amended. Using recycled log compost provides another way for shiitake mushroom growers to increase their profits.

In 2004-2005, producers harvested approximately 9 million pounds of shiitake mushrooms, which sold for an average price of $3.21 per pound. Brauer’s findings lend a range of support to farmers interested in starting--or boosting profits from--log-grown shiitake production.

ARS is a scientific research agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Photo courtesy of Gorge Delights, Inc.

Berries and dark chocolate flavor newest treats from ARS technology   Apple bars: Delicious, all-natural snack from ARS   ARS scientists honored for tech transfer efforts

Tangy, Junior-size Fruit Bars from ARS Process

By Marcia Wood
June 18 , 2008

Flavorful, chewy bars made from apples, pears and other fresh fruit now come in a size perfect for kids--or for adults who want a healthy, smaller-than-usual snack.

Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists developed the process for making the all-fruit bars, which weigh in at just under an ounce (25 grams) and provide the equivalent of about one serving of fruit.

The slim, go-anywhere packaging keeps the bars soft and fresh, and allows them to fit easily into a child's lunchbox. The bars are a handy size to be taken along as a lightweight snack for a hike, bike ride, or camping or backpacking trip. With a two-year shelf life, the bars also are handy for keeping with other foods stored for emergency use in the car or at home.

The junior-sized treats are the newest addition to the line of all-natural fruit bars made by Gorge Delights, Inc., of North Bonneville, Wash. The company holds a license from ARS for the technology used to create the bars from purees and concentrates, without the need for fillers, preservatives or other artificial ingredients.

ARS food technologist and research leader Tara H. McHugh and former ARS agricultural engineer Charles C. Huxsoll, now retired, developed and patented the process. They did the work in their laboratories at the agency's Western Regional Research Center in Albany, Calif.

Gorge Delights introduced the smaller-size bars earlier this year and is marketing them--to vending machine suppliers--in six flavors: apple, apple-cherry, apple-raspberry, pear, pear-cranberry and pear-strawberry.

The company's standard-size fruit bars, each 1.4 ounces (40 grams), are available in those flavors, plus apple-blueberry and pear-blueberry, at retail outlets and on the World Wide Web at www.GorgeDelights.com. All of the bars are gluten-free and kosher-certified.

ARS is a scientific research agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Glomalin, the substance coating this microscopic fungus growing on a corn root, can keep carbon in the soil from decomposing for up to 100 years. Click the image for more information about it.

Elevated carbon dioxide spurs shrub growth   Glomalin: the real soil builder   Glomalin, the unsung hero of carbon storage

Glomalin is Key to Locking up Soil Carbon

By Don Comis
June 17, 2008

A soil constituent known as glomalin provides a secure vault for the world's soil carbon. That’s according to Kristine Nichols, a microbiologist at the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) Northern Great Plains Research Laboratory in Mandan, N.D.

Glomalin is a sticky substance secreted by threadlike fungal structures called hyphae that funnel nutrients and water to plant roots. Glomalin acts like little globs of chewing gum on strings or strands of plant roots and the fungal hyphae. Into this sticky “string bag” fall the sand, silt and clay particles that make up soil, along with plant debris and other carbon-containing organic matter. The sand, silt and clay stick to the glomalin, starting aggregate formation, a major step in soil creation.

On the surface of soil aggregates, glomalin forms a lattice-like waxy coating to keep water from flowing rapidly into the aggregate and washing away everything, including the carbon. As the builder of the formation “bag” for soil, glomalin is vital globally to soil building, productivity and sustainability, as well as to carbon storage.

Nichols uses glomalin measurements to gauge which farming or rangeland practices work best for storing carbon. Since glomalin levels can reflect how much carbon each practice is storing, they could be used in conjunction with carbon credit trading programs.

In studies on cropland, Nichols has found that both tilling and leaving land idle—as is common in arid regions—lower glomalin levels by destroying living hyphal fungal networks. The networks need live roots and do better in undisturbed soil.

When glomalin binds with iron or other heavy metals, it can keep carbon from decomposing for up to 100 years. Even without heavy metals, glomalin stores carbon in the inner recesses of soil particles where only slow-acting microbes live. This carbon in organic matter is also saved, like a slow-release fertilizer, for later use by plants and hyphae.

Nichols began her career with ARS working with soil scientist Sara Wright, who first discovered and named glomalin in 1996. Wright has since retired.

Nichols will present these research results this afternoon at a public field day in Brookings, S.D.

ARS is a scientific research agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

New bacterial extracts found by Agricultural Research Service scientists may offer safe and effective alternatives to chemical fungicides commonly used by peach and pecan growers.

Click the images for more information about them.

Environmentally-friendly controls for peach tree pests   New license may aid control of citrus weevils, other pests   Treatment for Mouse-eared pecan trees now licensed

New Method May Thwart Pecan and Peach Diseases

By Sharon Durham
June 12 , 2008

Natural bacterial extracts may offer some assistance to peach and pecan growers in treating fungal diseases such as brown rot in peaches and pecan scab. Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists in Byron, Ga., are using these substances as a safe and effective alternative to chemical fungicides.

ARS entomologist David Shapiro-Ilan and plant pathologist Charles Reilly at the Southeastern Fruit and Tree Nut Research Laboratory in Byron developed these natural pesticides to control pecan and peach diseases. Although bacterial methods for controlling fungi are not new, the ARS bacterial compounds have never been used to control disease in these two commodities.

In 2006, the United States produced just over an estimated one million tons of peaches and 100,500 tons of pecans. Various diseases result in annual losses of more than $3.5 million for peach growers and $13 million for the pecan industry.

In these studies, Shapiro-Ilan and Reilly used compounds obtained from two genera of bacteria, Xenorhabdus and Photorhabdus. They were found to be effective against common pecan and peach disease organisms that cause significant damage. The two scientists tested compounds from a variety of bacterial strains and species to determine which would be most potent.

The results indicated that X. bovienii and P. luminescens (VS) bacterial compounds generally exhibited the greatest suppression of plant pathogens. Applying 6- to 12- percent dilutions of the bacterial compounds achieved 90 to 100 percent suppression of Phytophthora cactorum lesions on pecan leaves. P. cactorum can cause root, collar and crown rots, as well as foliar and fruit infections.

The researchers also used bacterial compound treatments on pecan shoots to control pecan scab disease caused by Fusicladosporium effusum. The treatments reduced spore formation of F. effusum to levels similar to those by chemical fungicides.

Applications for patents on these treatments have been submitted, and partners are being sought to develop the bacterial metabolites for commercial use.

ARS is a scientific research agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Higher carbon dioxide levels could promote the growth of purple and yellow nutsedge--quick-growing invasive weeds that plague farmers and gardeners in many states. Photo courtesy of Jeff Stachler, Ohio State University, Bugwood.org

Elevated carbon dioxide spurs shrub growth   Farming practices influence the effects of rising carbon dioxide   How will rising CO2 affect nitrogen use?

Elevated Carbon Dioxide Boosts Invasive Nutsedge

By Laura McGinnis
June 9, 2008

Elevated levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) could promote the growth of purple and yellow nutsedge—quick-growing invasive weeds that plague farmers and gardeners in many states.

That's the conclusion of plant physiologist Hugo Rogers and his colleagues at the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) National Soil Dynamics Laboratory (NSDL) in Auburn, Ala.

With ARS and Auburn University colleagues, Rogers grew purple nutsedge (Cyperus rotundus L.) and yellow nutsedge (C. esculentus L.) in chambers designed to mimic the atmospheric CO2 levels predicted to occur within the next century—about twice existing levels.

They found that both species benefited from elevated CO2, particularly purple nutsedge.

Although neither species is native to the United States, purple and yellow nutsedge can be found all over the country. Purple nutsedge can tolerate extremely high temperatures and is a major problem in the southern United States, whereas yellow nutsedge is better suited to more temperate climates.

Both species displace native plants and reduce yields in a variety of important agricultural crops, including corn, cotton and rice. Purple and yellow nutsedge spread via rhizomes and underground tubers, and are extremely difficult to control.

The Auburn scientists observed that both species grew larger in the elevated CO2 chambers than in control chambers. The plants had more tubers and greater water use efficiency, indicating that they could become increasingly competitive in an elevated-CO2 environment. This could result in reduced crop yields and displaced native flora.

This research, published recently in the Journal of Environmental Quality, is the first in a series of papers on the effects of CO2 on invasive weeds.

ARS is a scientific research agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

ARS scientists are helping to develop technology that can not only track cattle with a Global Positioning System (GIS) but may allow their movements to be controlled across a landscape—and even be remotely rounded up into a corral. Click the image for more information about it.

Water, but not salt, effective in changing grazing patterns   Desert laboratory for the world   Tracking movement of cattle with satellites

A Futuristic Linkage of Animals and Electronics

By Don Comis
June 6, 2008

The same Global Positioning System (GPS) technology used to track vehicles is now being used to track cows.

But Agricultural Research Service (ARS) animal scientist Dean M. Anderson has taken tracking several steps further with a Walkman-like headset that enables him to "whisper" wireless commands to cows to control their movements across a landscape—and even remotely gather them into a corral.

He and his colleagues realize this is a highly futuristic technology, but they can envision a time when these technologies will be affordable and useful for a range of applications, from intensive animal operations to monitoring and controlling the movements of some wildlife species and even household pets.

Anderson, at the ARS Jornada Experimental Range in Las Cruces, N.M., is working with Daniela Rus and a team of engineers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge to equip an Ear-A-Round (EAR) device with state-of-art electronics. Their latest prototype is a doughnut-shaped stereo headset worn over each ear. Anderson’s headset design and his knowledge of range animal ecology have been combined with the MIT scientists' electronics skills in robotics and mobile computing.

Prior to working with MIT, Anderson patented technology for virtual fencing termed Directional Virtual Fencing (DVF) that centered around giving cows "left" and "right" sensory signals to cause them to move away from an irritating suite of cues.

The researchers at MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory have developed and prototyped a miniaturized electronics package for DVF devices that is solar- powered and is packaged as a headset device. The circuit board contains a processor, data storage, WiFi for remote communication, audio and electrical stimulation electronics, a GPS receiver, and sensors such as magnetometers and accelerometers that record the body orientation and configuration of the animal.

The commands vary from familiar “gathering songs” sung by cowboys during manual round-ups, to irritating sounds such as sirens and even mild electric stimulation if necessary to get cows to move or avoid penetrating forbidden boundaries.

ARS is a scientific research agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture .