A new U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) blueprint, published today in Frontiers and Genetics, will serve as a guide for research and funding in animal genomics for 2018-2027 that will facilitate genomic solutions to enable producers to meet increasing future demands for animal products by a growing world population. The USDA’s Agricultural Research Service (ARS), the National Institute for Food and …
Charleston Gray Watermelon Sequenced
Summertime is quickly approaching, and Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists and their university colleagues are reporting on genomics research on a traditional summer treat, watermelon. In a long-term study, researchers explored the genetics of “Charleston Gray,” a watermelon variety that was introduced to the public in 1954 by ARS. Watermelon has a long history in the United States and a …
Peanut Genome Sequenced with Unprecedented Accuracy
Improved pest resistance and drought tolerance are among potential benefits of an international effort in which Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists and their collaborators have produced the clearest picture yet of the complex genomic history of the cultivated peanut. Scientists undertook this large project to better understand the molecular and cellular mechanisms that underpin the peanut plant’s growth and development, …
Weak Honey Bee Colonies May Fail From Cold Exposure During Shipping
Cold temperatures inside honey bee colonies may cause colony losses during and after long-distance hauling, according to a preliminary study by Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists. Every year almost 2 million honey bee colonies—nearly two-thirds of the managed colonies in the United States—are loaded aboard semi-trailers and shipped across the country multiple times to pollinate crops like California almonds. But within days …
Study Sheds Light on Major Disease in Roses
Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists in Beltsville, Maryland and their colleagues have discovered why a mite is causing extensive damages to the nation’s $250-million-a-year rose industry and why it’s so hard to detect and control. It seems the mite hides deep in the flower’s internal organs. The rose bud mite (Phyllocoptes fructiphilus) is about half the size of a grain of …
Honey Bee Colonies More Successful By Foraging on Non-Crop Fields
Honey bee colonies foraging on land with a strong cover of clover species and alfalfa do more than three times as well than if they are put next to crop fields of sunflowers or canola, according to a study just published in Scientific Reports by an Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientist and his colleagues. Managed honey bee colonies placed from May until October next …
Study Reveals Pigs Can Transmit FMD Prior to Signs of Sickness
Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) virus spreads much more aggressively in pigs than previous research suggests, according to a new study by U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists. The study, recently published in Scientific Reports, shows that pigs infected with the FMD virus were highly contagious to other pigs just 24 hours after infection—long before showing any clinical signs of infection such as …
ARS Microscopy Research Helps Unravel the Workings of a Major Honey Bee Pest
Research by scientists at the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) and the University of Maryland released today sheds new light — and reverses decades of scientific dogma — regarding a honey bee pest (Varroa destructor) that is considered the greatest single driver of the global honey bee colony losses. Managed honey bee colonies add at least $15 billion to the value of U.S. …
Genome Published of the Small Hive Beetle, a Major Honey Bee Parasite
Beekeepers and researchers will welcome the unveiling of the small hive beetle’s genome by Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists and their colleagues. The small hive beetle (SHB) is a major parasite problem of honey bees for which there are few effective treatments. The SHB (Aethina tumida Murray) genome—a genome is the sum total of all an organism’s DNA; a gene codes …
USDA Scientist Receives the Borlaug Field Award
The World Food Prize Foundation announced that Matthew Rouse, a U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientist, is the winner of the 2018 Norman Borlaug Award for Field Research and Application, endowed by the Rockefeller Foundation, at the Sustainable Development Goals Conference in the Netherlands. The award recognizes exceptional, science-based achievements of individuals under the age of 40, who have advanced human development …