Home and property owners often enhance their landscapes with the beautiful lantana, but some of the plant’s varieties may escape yards, spread to areas where they shouldn’t go and cross-pollinate Florida’s native lantana. That’s why, in 2004, the head of the Tampa Bay Wholesale Growers Association asked University of Florida plant scientist Zhanao Deng if he could breed sterile, non-invasive …
Acclaimed Cattle Nutrition Expert Named Director of UF/IFAS NFREC
When Glen Aiken wasn’t helping his grandfather wrangle cattle in the smothering Texas heat, he was traveling with his father to meat packing houses across the region. “I swear I visited every meat packing plant between Oklahoma City and El Paso before I was 12 years old,” Aiken joked. So, when it came time to choose a college major, animal …
Tasty Tomatoes and Other Produce
UF/IFAS Expert Urges Scientists to Breed for Flavor For 20 years, Harry Klee, a professor of horticultural sciences at the UF Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, has been using genetics to improve flavors and smells in tomatoes and other produce that induce the consumer to buy more of them. As Florida farmers continue to harvest this year’s tomatoes, Klee …
UF Joins New Center to Create Fuel from Plants
The University of Florida is one of 17 institutions partnering with the University of Illinois in the $115-million Center for Advanced Bioenergy and Bioproducts Innovation (CABBI). Researchers will work to develop efficient ways to grow, transform and market biofuels. Fredy Altpeter, professor of agronomy in the UF Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, will lead the UF/IFAS portion of the …
Termites Topple Pine Trees – a Concern as Hurricane Season Nears
Most termites don’t kill trees, but Asian subterranean termites are slaying some pine trees in South Florida and damaging the rest of the local urban tree canopy, a new University of Florida study found. “Our beloved native slash pine is lethally stressed by this termite, which is unexpected,” said Thomas Chouvenc, a UF/IFAS assistant professor of urban entomology. Not only …
How Much Seafood Did You Eat? Photos Jog Memory, Aid Scientific Recommendations
Seafood can be a tasty source of protein that supports a healthy, balanced diet. But too much of anything is not always beneficial, said Anne Mathews, a food and human nutrition scientist with the University of Florida Institute for Food and Agricultural Sciences. To assess health risks versus benefits of consuming certain seafood products, scientists analyze seafood for nutritional value …
Georgia Peanut Commission Increases Funding for Research Projects in 2018
The Georgia Peanut Commission (GPC) board of directors has approved $581,896 in research project funding for the 2018-19 research budget year. This action was taken during the commission’s March board meeting. The research projects approved include 34 project proposals submitted from the University of Georgia and USDA Agricultural Research Service. “As a peanut grower, I’m proud to invest in the …
Register Now for Ona Field Day
Producers interested in seeing the many features of laboratories that will soon open at the University of Florida/IFAS Range Cattle Research and Education Center in Ona are urged to register for their Annual Field Day. The event will be held April 5 at the new facility, which now totals over 2,500 square feet. The Field Day runs from 8 a.m. …
UF Board of Trustees Approves Industrial Hemp Research Project
Florida’s farmers may have a new crop to grow if the University of Florida is successful in a pilot project to grow industrial hemp across the state. Researchers with the UF Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) received approval from the UF Board of Trustees to develop hemp management and cropping systems that could be economically viable for the …
Opening of New Labs Highlights Field Day at Range Cattle REC
New vials, beakers, test tubes and sinks. More room. Those are just some of the features of laboratories that will open at the annual Field Day on April 5 at the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences Range Cattle Research and Education Center. “These spaces greatly advance our efforts to modernize our research laboratory and graduate student …