Latest Agricultural Research Service Stories

HARRISBURG, Pa., May 13 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A new federal partnership will help commercialize emerging technologies and expand the commonwealth's world-class research opportunities, Department of Community and Economic Development Secretary George Cornelius said today. "I am a strong proponent of technology-driven economic development because I know that up-and-coming technology companies, entrepreneurs and researchers are critical to Pennsylvania's future," Cornelius said. "This...

Algae--already being eyed for biofuel production--could be put to use right away to remove nitrogen and phosphorus in livestock manure runoff, according to an Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientist. That could give resource managers a new eco-friendly option for reducing the level of agricultural pollutants that contaminate water quality in the Chesapeake Bay.Microbiologist Walter Mulbry works at the ARS Environmental Management and Byproduct Utilization Research Unit in Beltsville,...

Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists in North Dakota are evaluating the storage properties of promising new potato varieties that could greatly improve potato quality for growers throughout the United States.Seventy percent of all potatoes in the United States are processed into chips, french fries and dehydrated potato flakes. Maintaining adequate potato storage quality for processing"”in some cases, up to 10 months"”is vital to potato producers and processors.Jeff Suttle,...

Using herbicides to sterilize rather than to kill weedy grasses might be a more economical and environmentally sound weed control strategy, according to a study by Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists and a cooperator.Rangeland ecologist Matt Rinella at the ARS Fort Keogh Livestock and Range Research Laboratory in Miles City, Mont., conducted the study with colleagues at Miles City and Robert Masters with Dow AgroSciences LLC, in Indianapolis, Ind.Exotic annual grasses such as...

Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists have identified sources of genetic resistance to sheath blight, a major disease affecting rice production worldwide.Sheath blight, caused by the fungus Rhizoctonia solani, is a major disease of rice that affects yield and grain quality. Geneticist Anna McClung, director of the ARS Dale Bumpers National Rice Research Center in Stuttgart, Ark., and research leader of the Rice Research Unit in Beaumont, Texas, heads a group of ARS scientists...

Two Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists are part of an international team that has found a way to boost the nutritional value of corn. This has the potential to reduce the number of children in developing countries who lose their eyesight, become ill or die each year because of vitamin A deficiencies.Corn contains carotenoids, some of which the body can convert to vitamin A. Beta-carotene is the best vitamin A precursor, but only a very small percentage of corn varieties have...

Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists at the Eastern Oregon Agricultural Research Center in Burns, Ore., are taking a careful look at how grazing cattle affect sage-grouse habitat on high desert rangelands.Cattle share this habitat with sage-grouse, which are chicken-sized birds that are notorious for the showy commotion they create during mating season. But the sage-grouse numbers have declined throughout their range, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) has added the...

A weed calculator developed by an Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientist tells ranchers the number of additional cows they could raise if they eliminated one or two widespread exotic invasive weeds.Rangeland ecologist Matt Rinella at the ARS Fort Keogh Livestock and Range Research Laboratory in Miles City, Mont., created a computer model that predicts weed impacts on forage production.Data for developing the model came from 30 weed researchers working throughout the western United...

Two new compact oakleaf hydrangea cultivars ideal for small gardens have been released by Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists."Ruby Slippers" and "Munchkin" are the latest cultivars released by ARS geneticist Sandy Reed with the U.S. National Arboretum's Floral and Nursery Plants Research Unit's worksite in McMinnville, Tenn. The arboretum is operated by ARS, the principal intramural scientific research agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).The new...

Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists are helping U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) experts model the movement of radioactive materials in the soil. Their findings can be used to fine-tune the risk assessment studies that are an essential component in the development of commercial nuclear facilities.Soil scientists Yakov Pachepsky, Timothy Gish and Andrey Guber all work in the ARS Animal and Natural Resources Institute in Beltsville, Md. The team set up their study at the...