Tag: USDA
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Device, Medication Control Cattle Fever Ticks
Scientists at USDA’s Agricultural Research Service (ARS) have developed two methods to combat cattle fever ticks that cross the border from Mexico into the U.S. Cattle fever ticks transmit Texas cattle fever (bovine babesiosis), a deadly disease of cattle caused by singled-celled organisms. Scientists at the ARS facility in Kerrville, Texas, are developing and testing…
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New Vaccines Developed for Farm-Raised Catfish
Scientists from the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service (ARS) are developing vaccines to help protect against common diseases faced by healthy farm-raised catfish. Biologists and aqua pathologists from ARS labs in Auburn, Alabama and Chestertown, Maryland are focusing on protections for catfish against against the bacteria Streptococcus (S.) iniae, S. agalactiae, and other pathogens. The scientists…
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Research Improves Canola Yields, Adds Benefits for Farmers
Canola, a flowering plant known for its low saturated-fat cooking oil, can also help winter wheat farmers in the Pacific Northwest control weeds, as well as convert into biodiesel, and produce cattle feed supplements. Those are the results and impacts of research conducted by Frank Young, an agronomist with USDA’s Agricultural Research Service (ARS) office…
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Fishery Byproducts Can Become Fish Food
Research aided by the Agricultural Research Service (ARS), an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, indicates that fishery byproducts can be converted into feeds for commercially farmed seafood. The work was done by the Oceanic Institute in Waimanalo, Hawaii, with help from food technologist Peter Bechtel of ARS’s unit in Kodiak, Alaska. The scientists…
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Technique Revealed to Curb Farm Ammonia Emissions
A soil scientist and engineer team at the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service (ARS) has found a way for dairy farmers to reduce ammonia emissions from their production facilities: injecting liquid manure into crop fields below the soil surface. A study conducted by soil scientist April Leytem and agricultural engineer David Bjorneberg at the ARS Northwest…
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Researchers Getting Genetic Help for Biofuel Production
Researchers from USDA’s Agricultural Research Service and Cargill are examining genetic materials from a cow’s digestive system to help break down plant fibers for conversion into biofuel. To convert corn stover and switchgrass into biofuel, the plant fibers must first be broken down into sugars. But cell wall polymers are cross-linked in various ways that…
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Government-Industry-Academic Team Sequences Cacao Genome
Researchers from government, industry, and academia announced early results of a project that sequenced the genome of the cacao tree, which grows in the tropics and produces crops that are processed into cocoa. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) that released the findings, says they will help sustain the supply of high-quality cocoa to the…
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Making Corn-based Plastics More Heat Tolerant
Petroleum is not only the main source of transportation fuel but also a key raw material in making plastics. A team from Lapol LLC, of Santa Barbara, California and the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) of USDA are working on a solution to make corn-based plastics a better alternative than plastics made from oil. An important…
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Collaboration Improves Filters for Storm Water Runoff
A group of scientists from the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) in the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Filtrexx International of Grafton, Ohio, have improved on the methods for removing contaminants from storm water runoff. The runoff from storm water is particularly vulnerable to pollution in industrial areas or near construction sites. Current methods use “filter…