ARS News Service
Agricultural Research Service, USDA
Contact:
Jim De Quattro, (301) 344-2756, [email protected]
Helping Honeybees Withstand Mites and Winter
Scientists with the Agricultural Research Service say getting honeybees to
build smaller cells--the six-sided cubbyholes where bees rear their young
and store honey--may help bees survive mite attack.
In test hives infested with Varroa mites, bees in the small cells had a 40
percent survival rate compared to zero for those in standard size cells.
A report on the ARS studies appears in the May 1997 issue of ARS'
Agricultural Research magazine. The report can also be found on the World
Wide Web at: http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/pr/beecells0597.htm
Scientific contact: Eric H. Erickson, ARS Carl Hayden Bee Research
Laboratory, Tucson, Ariz., http://gears.tucson.ars.ag.gov, phone (520)
670-6481, fax 670-6493, e-mail [email protected].
Photo in AR magazine: #k7585-1, regular and 22% smaller bee cells. View on
WWW at http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/pr/beecells0597.htm. Contact ARS Photo
Unit by phone at (301) 344-2958 or e-mail to [email protected].
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Heterophils to the Rescue!
They're the Royal Canadian Mounties of the immune system--the heroes who
show up in the nick of time--and they take on all bacterial invaders, be
they salmonella, listeria, pasteurella, or E. coli. They're
infection-fighting white blood cells called heterophils, and Michael H.
Kogut has found a way to make them do his bidding to protect young
poultry. He is a poultry immunologist in the ARS Food and Feed Safety
Research Unit at College Station, Texas.
"We've found a particular type of cytokine called lymphokine that causes
heterophils to come to where the bacteria are and devour them," says Kogut.
"By giving lymphokines to newly hatched chicks, we're simply giving the
chicks immune systems a little kickstart."
Scientific contact: Michael H. Kogut is in the USDA-ARS Food and Feed
Safety Research Unit, 2881 F&B Rd., College Station, TX 77835; phone (409)
260-9221, fax (409) 260-9332, e-mail [email protected].
Photo used in AR magazine: #k3627-16, close-up baby chicks. View on World
Wide Web at http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/pr/hetero0597.htm. Phone ARS Photo
Unit at (301) 344-2958 or e-mail to [email protected].
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A Close-Up Look at Cotton Fibers
An atomic force microscope has made it possible for scientists with
USDAÃs Agricultural Research Service to see cotton fibers magnified
170,000 times their actual size. This gave the scientists their first
three-dimensional look at the cellulose chains that make up cottonÃs
fiber. These chains, called microfibrils, are so small that it takes
nearly 1,000 of these strands to make a single cotton fiber.
Working with scientists at the University of Southwestern Louisiana, the
ARS researchers were able to obtain high-resolution images of the cottonÃs
primary and secondary cell walls, as well as pictures of the microfibrils.
This will help these researchers to fully explore how a fiber's structure
dictates its strength and other properties.
The atomic force microscope could benefit future breeding efforts because
it lets researchers pinpoint subtle distinctions between good versus
outstanding cotton fiber. Another plus: With the AFM, fiber samples can be
studied in their natural state and don't have to be coated, stained or
otherwise altered. These pre-treatments can mask or destroy some surface
characteristics of the samples.
Scientific contacts: Barbara Triplett, ARS Southern Regional Research
Center, New Orleans, La., phone (504) 286-4275,
[email protected]; Thomas C. Pesacreta, University of
Southwestern Louisiana, Lafayette, La., (318) 482-5233, [email protected]
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Process May Enhance Rice Cake Flavor
Now, USDA Agricultural Research Service scientists and a northern
California maker of organic rice products are collaborating to boost the
taste-appeal of flavored, fat-free rice cakes.
If successful, this could win new fans for this healthful, increasingly
popular snack. Supermarket sales of rice cakes burgeoned from $157 million
in 1992 to nearly $249 million in 1995.
Scientific contact: William J. Orts, USDA-ARS Western Regional Research
Center, Albany, CA, phone (510) 559-5730, fax 559-5777, e-mail
[email protected].
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Prodigal Wasp Gets Second Chance Against the Gypsy Moth
The May 17 release of about 1,000 Aleiodes indiscretus wasps (sometimes
called Rogas indiscretus) in Pennsylvania marked a renewal of tests by
Agricultural Research Service scientists and collaborators. They want to
know if the wasps will survive, reproduce and build their populations by
preying on gypsy moth caterpillars. Originally from Europe, the moths
attack trees in a region from New England to Michigan and south to North
Carolina. They are the most destructive insect pest of trees in the Eastern
U.S.
Previous Aleiodes releases were made from 1968 to 1977. But scientists
found no offspring 1994. Then, ARS entomologists found nine Aleiodes
cocoons in Maryland, prompting the agency to give the wasp another try. ARS
imported a fresh "starter colony" of wasps last summer, in cooperation with
India's Commonwealth Institute of Biocontrol and USDA's Foreign
Agricultural Service.
Scientific contacts: Roger Fuester, ARS Beneficial Insects Introduction
Research Laboratory, Newark, Del., phone (302) 731-7330, fax 737-6780,
[email protected]; Richard Reardon, Forest Health Technology Enterprise
Team, USDA Forest Service, Morgantown, W.Va., phone (304) 285-1563, fax
285-1505, [email protected]; Mike Blumenthal, Bureau of
Forestry, Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources,
Harrisburg, Penn., phone (717) 948-3941, fax 948-3957,
[email protected].
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Photo k7659-1, Aleiodes wasp attacks caterpillar. View image on the World
Wide Web at http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/graphics/photos/k7659-1.htm. Contact
ARS Photo Unit by phone at (301) 344-2958 or e-mail to
[email protected].
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