(Press-News.org) This press release is available in Spanish.
A U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientist is showing growers how to combat whiteflies and other crop pests by using plants as storehouses for predatory insects that can migrate to cash crops and feed on the pests attacking those crops.
Cindy L. McKenzie, an entomologist in the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) Subtropical Insects Research Unit at Fort Pierce, Fla., has done extensive work showing how papaya, corn and ornamental peppers can serve as "banker plants" for a range of insect parasitoids and predators. ARS is USDA's principal intramural scientific research agency, and this research supports the USDA priority of promoting international food security.
Banker plants are considered environmentally friendly because they reduce insecticide use and offer a low-cost, self-perpetuating alternative. The predators eat what they find on the banker plants and then disperse to find targeted pests on cash crops. Before they leave the banker plants, most of the predators will lay eggs on them, which extends the effect into subsequent generations. Lower pesticide use also means pests like spider mites, thrips, and whiteflies are less likely to develop resistance to the pesticides.
Using banker plants is a balancing act. Researchers must select not only the insect predators themselves, but also alternative prey that will keep the predators fed, but won't damage the cash crops. They also need banker plants and predators that will not host or spread diseases to the cash crops.
In a study designed for Florida's greenhouse poinsettia operations, McKenzie worked with entomologist Lance S. Osborne and postdoctoral researcher Yingfang Xiao, both at the University of Florida Mid-Florida Research and Education Center in Apopka. They chose papaya (Carica papaya) for their banker plant, and the tiny non-stinging wasp Encarsia sophia as the predator. The larvae of E. sophia feed on the silverleaf whitefly (Bemisia tabaci), the targeted pest. E. sophia is native to Florida and poses no threat to the state's habitats.
In one set of experiments, they forced the wasps to eat the targeted silverleaf whitefly pest to make sure the wasps would control it. In another, they gave the wasps a choice between the papaya whitefly they supplied as a food source and the targeted silverleaf whitefly they want to eradicate. The results, published in Biological Control, show that E. sophia has an appetite for both the alternative food source and the silverleaf whitefly, and that it effectively wipes out any silverleaf whiteflies on crops near the banker plants. The system is now being tested in commercial greenhouses.
The researchers have also shown that corn can serve as a banker plant for a gall midge that controls the two-spotted spider mite, and they are studying whether ornamental peppers can bank a predatory mite, Amblyseius swirskii, which is effective at controlling whiteflies and thrips. Results so far are extremely promising, and the concept is catching on among growers.
### Read more about this research in the September 2012 issue of Agricultural Research magazine.
http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/AR/archive/sep12/plants0912.htm
USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer. To file a complaint of discrimination, write: USDA, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, Office of Adjudication, 1400 Independence Ave., SW, Washington, DC 20250-9410 or call (866) 632-9992 (Toll-free Customer Service), (800) 877-8339 (Local or Federal relay), (866) 377-8642 (Relay voice users).
Researchers use 'banker plants' to help battle whitefly pests
2012-09-10
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
More accurate wind energy forecasts
2012-09-10
The decision has been taken by the German government to transform the energy system and phase out nuclear energy power. The transition process is gaining impetus but much remains to be done. During the course of which, the production of wind energy is to be dramatically expanded – not only through costly offshore facilities, but onshore as well. "There is still immense potential inland that remains to be tapped, such as in the low mountain ranges," says Tobias Klaas, scientist at the Fraunhofer Institute for Wind Energy and Energy System Technology IWES in Kassel. Klaas ...
Bad strep throat? It's probably not strep, most likely viral
2012-09-10
AT A GLANCE
Most throat infections are not caused by Group A streptococcus, or "strep," but by viruses, and therefore don't need antibiotics, according to new guidelines released by the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA).
For confirmed strep infections, penicillin or amoxicillin are the antibiotic of choice, except for those who are allergic.
Children who suffer from strep throat and have recurrent throat infections should not have their tonsils surgically removed for that reason alone.
15 million people see the doctor every year complaining of sore ...
Mayo Clinic suicide prevention expert outlines new steps to tackle military suicide
2012-09-10
ROCHESTER, Minn. -- The suicide rate in the U.S. Army now exceeds the rate in the general population, and psychiatric admission is now the most common reason for hospitalization in the Army. These concerning trends are described by Timothy Lineberry, M.D., a Mayo Clinic psychiatrist and suicide expert for the Army, in the September edition of Mayo Clinic Proceedings. In the article, he also outlines steps to assess and address military suicide -- an issue he calls a major public health concern. Dr. Lineberry proposes greater use of gun locks, improving primary care for ...
Increase in metal concentrations in Rocky Mountain watershed tied to warming temperatures
2012-09-10
Warmer air temperatures since the 1980s may explain significant increases in zinc and other metal concentrations of ecological concern in a Rocky Mountain watershed, reports a new study led by the U.S. Geological Survey and the University of Colorado Boulder.
Rising concentrations of zinc and other metals in the upper Snake River just west of the Continental Divide near Keystone, Colo., may be the result of falling water tables, melting permafrost and accelerating mineral weathering rates, all driven by warmer air temperatures in the watershed. Researchers observed a ...
Tight blood sugar control for pediatric cardiac surgery patients does not improve outcomes
2012-09-10
Ann Arbor, Mich. — Tight blood sugar control in the intensive care unit for pediatric cardiac surgery patients does not improve patients' infection rate, mortality, length of stay or organ failure when compared to standard care, new research shows.
The research, conducted at the University of Michigan's C.S. Mott Children's Hospital and Boston Children's Hospital, will be published Online First in the New England Journal of Medicine Sept. 7.
"Post-operative complications for infants and young children who have cardiac surgery remains common, so we want to identify risk ...
No proof that patients lose weight after joint replacement surgery
2012-09-10
Hip and knee replacements are now a common surgical procedure with more than 700,000 total joint arthroplasties (TJAs) performed in the US every year. Due to the reduction in pain and increases in mobility experienced after having a TJA, it could be expected that weight loss may occur as a by-product of the surgery. But is this the case? This is the question posed by Maria Inacio, a doctoral candidate from the San Diego State University/University of California, San Diego, who is employed at Kaiser Permanente, and her colleagues at those institutions. They conducted ...
Metabolic engineer synthesizes key breast milk ingredient, makes research possible
2012-09-10
URBANA - A University of Illinois microbial engineer has synthesized a sugar in human milk that is thought to protect babies from pathogens. That's important because 2FL, the shorthand scientists use to describe this human milk oligosaccharide (HMO), has not been added to infant formula because HMOs are incredibly expensive.
"We know these oligosaccharides play a vital role in developing a breast-fed baby's gut microbiota and in strengthening their immunity. 2FL (2-fucosyllactose) is the most abundant HMO in breast milk," said Michael Miller, a U of I professor of food ...
Case Western Reserve researchers create short-term memories in-vitro
2012-09-10
Ben W. Strowbridge, PhD, Professor of Neurosciences and Physiology/Biophysics, and Robert A. Hyde, a fourth year MD/PhD student in the neurosciences graduate program at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, have discovered how to store diverse forms of artificial short-term memories in isolated brain tissue.
"This is the first time anyone has found a way to store information over seconds about both temporal sequences and stimulus patterns directly in brain tissue," says Dr. Strowbridge. "This paves the way for future research to identify the specific brain ...
Scientists put a pox on dog cancer
2012-09-10
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Researchers report that myxoma – a pox virus that afflicts rabbits but not humans, dogs or any other vertebrates so far studied – infects several different types of canine cancer cells in cell culture while sparing healthy cells. The study adds to the evidence that viruses or modified viruses will emerge as relatively benign cancer treatments to complement or replace standard cancer therapies.
The new study, reported in the American Journal of Veterinary Research, is unique in that it focused on spontaneously occurring cancers in dogs. This allowed the ...
Predicting wave power could double marine-based energy
2012-09-10
In the search for alternative energy, scientists have focused on the sun and the wind. There is also tremendous potential in harnessing the power of the ocean's waves, but marine energy presents specific challenges that have made it a less promising resource.
It's a challenge to tune Wave Energy Converters (WECs) so that they are able to harvest the maximum energy from waves, which differ in terms of their size and force. This unpredictability leads to intermittent energy collection. WECs also need to withstand the harsh winds and storms to which they are subjected in ...