Robert Pore's Ag Blog

LINCOLN — A bill aimed to support economically depressed rural areas in Nebraska has been introduced by state Sen. Annette Dubas, who represents the 34th Legislative District.

Dubas’ bill is designed to shape the Building Entrepreneurial Communities Act, which supports economically depressed rural areas of Nebraska with building entrepreneurial communities through grants.

The 2005 act was designed to create community capacity, to build and sustain rural programs, and to generate and retain wealth in the community and region.
But Dubas said matching requirements have been an obstacle for potential applicants since its inception.

Dubas’ legislation, LB232, proposes to continue the dollar-per-dollar match requirement by communities that apply for funding, but to reduce the cash match requirement from 50 percent to 25 percent if communities can show they are a limited resource area.

She said planning grants may also be awarded to limited resource areas for the purpose of establishing partnerships and developing proposals for submission.
LB232 also includes language to add a new program objective to establish community initiatives to attract new residents.

“Nebraska has a shortage of 28,000 qualified workers in technical, professional, manufacturing and related employment opportunities,” Dubas said. “We must build and sustain our rural areas.”

She said this includes finding incentives for young people to stay or return, and helping communities grow by establishing community initiatives to attract new residents.

“My bill would allow eligible communities to develop a program to recruit new residents to central and western Nebraska,” Dubas said. “It would also create a neutral playing field so that limited resource areas can actively compete for the statewide grant funding.”

Labels: Ag News: Rural events

RIVERSIDE, Calif. – University of California, Riverside genetics Professor Norman Ellstrand led a team of researchers whose findings suggest that harnessing the sexual requirements of some plants can help control the establishment of invasive species.

Using the California wild radish as their model, Ellstrand and graduate student Caroline Ridley at the UCR Department of Botany and Plant Sciences co-authored the research study titled Population size and relatedness affect fitness of self-incompatible invasive plants, published in the Dec. 29 edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The current article originated from a doctoral dissertation project by former UCR graduate student Diane Elam. Fellow graduate student Karen Goodell also worked on the project. Elam is now with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Sacramento office. Karen Goodell now teaches at Ohio State University.

The experiment involved population groups ranging in size from two to 20 plants and was carried out at UCR’s Agricultural Experiment Station. The experiment examined whether a biological phenomenon known as the Allee effect could be used to battle the spead of invasive plants. The Allee effect, named after ecologist W.C. Allee, says that the smaller and sparser a given population, the harder and slower it is for that population to establish itself and expand its range.

Because the California wild radish is what plant biologist call self-incompatible – it needs another plant to reproduce – researchers wanted to know if its fertility would be impacted by population size and the degree to which the mating pairs were genetically related. They found that, as with humans, mates were harder to find in smaller populations and most likely to be compatible if unrelated.

“We call this the 'single’s bar effect,'” Ellstrand said. “Namely, that mating success increases both with the number of possible mates and their sexual receptivity.”

Using populations of full sibling, half-sibling and unrelated plants, the researchers found that both population size and the degree of relatedness had an impact on the plants’ reproductive success, increasing with larger populations as well as when the plants were more genetically diverse. Population size had the greatest effect on numbers of seeds per fruit – the larger the population size, the more seeds per fruit.

Relatedness had an impact primarily on the number of fruits per plant. Unrelated plants had significantly greater numbers of fruit than half- or full-sibling plants.

The Allee effect could therefore be used as a weapon against invasive species if, for example, authorities who regulate industries that traffic in exotic plants allow the import of only a single genotype. This could minimize the likelihood that the plant will spread by seed propagation, according to the article.

The California wild radish, Raphanus sativus, is a hybrid between the cultivated radish and a weed known as the jointed charlock. It is most commonly pollinated by bees and syrphid flies. Introduced more than a century ago, the California wild radish currently ranges throughout California, south into Baja California and north into Oregon.

Other invasive plants that need partners to reproduce and are found in California, include jointed goatgrass, Queen Anne’s lace or wild carrot, marijuana and the wild sunflower, according to Ellstrand.

The California Invasive Plant Council defines invasive plants as those that humans move from one region of the globe to another, and which then crowd out native vegetation and the wildlife that feeds on it. Some invasive plants can even change the processes of ecosystems such as the hydrology, the fire regimes, and the soil chemistry. These invasive plants often have a competitive advantage because they are no longer controlled by their natural predators and can quickly spread out of control. The council estimates that about 3 percent of the plant species growing in the wild are considered invasive, but they inhabit a much greater proportion of the state's landscape.

The following agencies supported the UCR project: The National Research Initiative; the Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service; a grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to Ellstrand; and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Science to Achieve Results fellowship to Ridley.

Labels: Ag news: Science

MANHATTAN, Kan. – A new disease has taken swine producers, veterinarians and scientists across the country by surprise and left them searching for solutions.

Formerly known as Post-weaning Multisystemic Wasting Syndrome (PMWS), Porcine Circovirus Associated Diseases (PCVAD) was discovered in the early 1990s by two Canadian veterinarians, John Harding and Ted Clark, said Lisa Tokach, an Abilene, Kan. veterinarian. Harding and Clark associated the disease as an increased mortality rate in weaning pigs.

“The first PCVAD case in Kansas was discovered in November 2005 and now we’re seeing new cases almost every week,” Tokach said. “It is highly contagious and is spreading fast.” She gave a presentation on PCVAD at Kansas State University’s annual Swine Industry Day in November, 2006.

The PCVAD name was suggested by the American Association of Swine Veterinarians (AASV) after the discovery of Porcine Circovirus type 2 (PCV2). PCVAD can be used to describe all of the diseases attributed to porcine circovirus, including PMWS.

The PCV2 disease was discovered when swine practitioners began reporting an increased number of PMWS cases in finisher pigs. Through research trials and field cases, scientists discovered that the PCV2 disease was contributing to the increased presentation of PMWS in these swine herds.

Unlike diseases such as West Nile Virus, PCVAD is species specific, meaning it doesn’t spread to other species, but other types of circoviruses have been found in birds, Tokach said.

It’s predicted that every swine herd in the United States is “infected” with PCVAD, however, not all herds are “affected,” she said. “Infected” means that porcine circovirus type 2 is present in the herd, but clinical signs may not be present, whereas, “affected” means that the herd is displaying symptoms associated with the virus. Environmental conditions and the presence of other pathogens or diseases may be contributing factors explaining the difference between “infected” herds and “affected” herds. However, it is not yet clear what drives the disease.

PCVAD depletes the lymph node system, leaving the pig with no defense against other pathogens. When the pig becomes infected with another pathogen or disease, its body can’t defend itself, so most PCVAD-affected pigs die, Tokach said.

“We’re still learning a lot about PCVAD, but we do know that it is a viral condition in swine caused by PCV2 and it seems to have a wide variety of symptoms,” she said.

She has been working closely with swine producers and a team of K-State scientists who are studying PCVAD and other infectious diseases that affect it, to find possible solutions.

K-State scientists are conducting field studies and laboratory diagnostics, developing a disease model, and working with swine producers to test PCV2 vaccines, said Bob Rowland, virologist for K-State’s College of Veterinary Medicine.

“This is definitely a new approach to infectious disease research, in which we’re working closely with vets and producers,” Rowland said. “The producers have been extraordinary in helping us out since labs tend to be isolated and with PCV2, much of my success in research depends heavily on field studies. For the first time, we’re getting e-mails from producers and are developing relationships with them. This has given us a sense of urgency to develop solutions so producers can recover their profitability. Their long term success is dependent on our research success.”

K-State has received approximately $70,000 in research grants from the National Pork Board and from agriculture experiment station funding, Rowland said. Scientists expect to have the vaccination study finished in about a month, but they are not sure when a vaccine will be available in sufficient amounts for producers to purchase.

“From a practitioner point-of-view, I’m seeing farmers lose up to 20 percent of their finisher pigs,” Tokach said. “This disease is not only economically devastating, but it’s emotionally devastating, too. That’s why we’re working so hard to find a cure or vaccine.”

There is currently one commercial vaccine available, but in limited amounts, she said. Some producers using the vaccine have been working with Tokach and the K-State scientists, giving them the opportunity to study the vaccine’s effectiveness in the field.

It’s too early to tell how effective this vaccine will be, but the preliminary trials look good, Tokach said.

Scientists are also working to find a point of origin, such as a particular farm or possibly maybe a boar stud, but have had little success so far. The disease seems to be spreading rapidly and randomly, making it difficult to predict where it may turn up next.

Some symptoms of PCVAD include anorexia, rapid weight loss, generally unhealthy pigs, skin discoloration or lesions, respiratory problems and diarrhea, according to a brochure from the National Pork Board and the AASV. The brochure recommends some management practices producers can follow to reduce the risk of a PCVAD outbreak and is available on the World Wide Web at www.aasp.org/aasv/documents/PCVADBrochure.pdf.

If producers suspect that their herds may be affected, Tokach recommends that they work with their veterinarian to collect tissue and blood samples to be tested.

Labels: Ag news: Animal Agriculture

A research project underway at Rutgers University’s Camden campus could help revolutionize agriculture through the use of fungi as “biofertilizers” that reduce the farming industry’s reliance on phosphate and nitrogen fertilizers that pollute water supplies.

Thanks to a newly awarded three-year grant of more than $419,000 from the National Science Foundation, Heike Bücking, an assistant professor of biology at Rutgers-Camden, is leading a research team exploring the exchange of nutrients in the arbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis, a close interaction between plant roots and soil fungi that is essential for the nutrient uptake of approximately 80 percent of all known plant species.

Rutgers-Camden undergraduate and graduate students are joining Bücking in this innovative research project.

Traditional agriculture relies on the use of fertilizers to provide the soil with the nutrients needed to grow plants. Such use is not without risks, Bücking explains. Farmers frequently apply more fertilizer nutrients than are used by the plants, leading to excess nitrogen and phosphate causing ecological problems by leaching into the groundwater and overfertilizing aquatic ecosystems. This can result in algal blooms, high fish mortality rates, and a variety of other problems while severely reducing the water quality. “We must find ways to improve agricultural assistance,” she says.

Since mycorrhizal fungi are more efficient in the uptake of specific nutrients, and more resistant against soil-borne pathogens, interest in using these fungi as “biofertilizers” or “bioprotectors” is increasing. By promoting the proliferation of mycorrhizal fungi through diminished fertilizer input, farmers would make more efficient use of the nitrogen stores in the soils.

Bücking’s research seeks to develop a more thorough understanding of the nutrient exchange processes between these fungi and agricultural environments, which she terms “necessary” for successful application of this agricultural innovation.

Though the arbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis involves the majority of plant species, much about it remains a mystery. The fungus takes up nutrients such as phosphate and nitrogen for the plant, Bücking explains, and, in exchange, is supplied with carbohydrates from the plant. “Our knowledge of the metabolic pathways involved in nitrogen uptake and transfer to the host plant, and about the regulation of these exchange processes between the symbiotic partners, is still limited,” she says.

Understanding the exchange of nutrients in the symbiosis is the key to applying fungi as biofertilizers in sustainable agriculture, says Bücking. Her research, which will involve one Rutgers-Camden student for each of the project’s six semesters, intends to learn how nitrogen is handled in the arbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis and how the flux of nitrogen is regulated. Scientists from Michigan State University, New Mexico State University, and the USDA will collaborate on this project.

Bücking teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in microbiology at Rutgers-Camden. She received her doctoral degree from the University of Bremen (Germany). Her research regularly appears in scientific and scholarly journals around the world.

Labels: Ag news: Science