Plant Protection Remains Strong (USDA/ARS) — Since the COVID-19 pandemic started, USDA’s Plant Protection and Quarantine (PPQ) program has been open for business. Our scientists, technical experts, and administrative professionals have continued to effectively fulfill our mission: safeguarding American agriculture and natural resources and facilitating safe trade. To deliver that mission while staying as healthy and safe as possible, employees …
Treatment Introduced by Researchers to Prevent Parasites in Sheep
(USDA/ARS) — The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agriculture Research Service (ARS) announced a groundbreaking treatment that prevents anemia, weight loss, poor wool and meat production, and even death in sheep. ARS researchers partnered with Virginia Tech and the University of Massachusetts’ Medical School to solve H. contortus parasite infection, which also happens to be the number one health problem in the U.S. sheep industry. …
Fungus Commits Floral Fraud to Fool Insects into Spreading It
(USDA/ARS) — The spores of some fungi can linger in the environment for months or years just waiting for something to spread them elsewhere, like a gust of wind, falling rain or a passing insect or animal. Not so with Fusarium xyrophilum, a fungus found growing on two types of yellow-eyed grass in the savannas of Guyana, South America, and reported …
Compound from Soil Bacterium Gets Reboot as Antibiotics Super Booster
(USDA/ARS) — USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists and their collaborators continue garnering success in their tests of a compound that could bolster the potency of beta-lactam antibiotics, potentially reducing the dosages required and helping stave off resistance in the germs they’re meant to kill. According to Neil Price, a chemist with the ARS National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research …
Amino Acid Helps Shore Up Defenses of Swine
(USDA/ARS) — A third round of feeding trials conducted by a team of USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS) and university scientists has again shown that a dietary supplement called L-glutamine can naturally promote growth and wellness in pigs. Jay S. Johnson, an animal scientist with ARS’s Livestock Behavior Research Unit in West Lafayette, Indiana, and his Purdue University collaborators are …
Scary Insects for Halloween: The Blood-Thirsty Calyptra
Sometimes insects show signs of monster-behavior. It’s nothing personal to us humans, and let me assure you that this behavior has nothing to do with full moons or anything that may live under your bed at night. Sometimes an insect’s monster-behavior is nothing more than the result of good old-fashioned circumstances, like leaving a door or window open. Fortunately, flyscreen …
USDA Lure Attracts Live Asian Giant Hornets, Helps Lead to Nest Discovery
(USDA/ARS) — A scent lure designed by Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists to attract Asian giant hornets played a key role in the discovery of the first nest of these invasive insects in the United States. Washington State Department of Agriculture (WSDA) entomologists have verified several finds of Asian giant hornets in Whatcom County since December 2019. They have been …
Scary Insects for Halloween: Spider vs. Philolema palanichamyi
There’s nothing cool about being used by someone. It can be quite frustrating and leave you feeling—drained. If this describes your current situation, you should feel comforted that scientists at the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service recently found that spiders may feel just like you after their innards are consumed, juice-box style, by cunning wasp-predator Philolema palanichamyi. Originally from …
New Blackberries: Eclipse, Galaxy, and Twilight
(USDA/ARS) — The best of eastern and western blackberry genetics have been melded to create Eclipse, Galaxy and Twilight, three new blackberry varieties released by the Agricultural Research Service (ARS). ARS’ Horticultural Crops Research Laboratory in Corvallis, Oregon, working in cooperation with the Oregon State University Agricultural Experiment Station, has blended the desirable traits of eastern erect-cane blackberries and western …
Researchers are Juicing Alfalfa as a Next-Generation Aquafeed
Cows and horses aren’t the only fans of alfalfa. Yellow perch like it, too. That’s what Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists and their collaborators concluded when they fed the fish pellets made with a protein concentrate from the legume crop’s protein-rich leaves. They’re experimenting with alfalfa as part of a broader effort to find suitable alternatives to using fishmeal, a …