California Fruit and Vegetable

Tag: USDA-ARS

  • California Citrus Breeding Program Receives Additional Congressional Support

    California Citrus Mutual (CCM) and Citrus Research Board (CRB) voiced support for the House Committee on Appropriations for including additional funds in the FY 2027 Agriculture Appropriations bill for the citrus breeding program in Parlier.

    Congress is allocating an additional $500,000 in federal funding, on top of the $1.5 million previously granted, to expand the program into California. If approved, the program will receive $2 million in federal funds annually, in addition to the funding it receives from CRB.

    “CRB was instrumental in developing the concept for the California-based program and was also involved in efforts to establish the nationwide program, while CCM advocated to secure funding,” said CRB President Marcy Martin. “Our two organizations working together on behalf of the industry have been instrumental in getting this program off the ground.”

    “I would like to thank our Appropriators and Committee leadership for their continued support of this vital program,” said CCM Director of Governmental Affairs Jacob Villagomez. “Finding solutions for California-specific growing patterns is an essential tool in fighting HLB for years to come.”

    The California citrus breeding program will focus on fresh market citrus. Funding will go towards research and development of citrus selections suited to California growing regions, changing climatic pressures, consumer taste preferences and resistance to pests and diseases, such as huanglongbing.

    The California program is an expansion of the existing national USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS) citrus breeding program located in Fort Pierce, Florida, which is focused primarily on varieties optimized for Florida growing conditions. Work done through the Florida program has resulted in new varieties with higher yields, increased disease resistance, improved color, and a longer shelf life.

    The Florida and California breeding programs, along with the continued support from the University of California citrus breeding program at UC Riverside, will work together to deliver results for California-based growers.

    The California citrus breeding program is located at the USDA ARS field station in Parlier. Thanks to ongoing appropriations commitment, forward progress continues to be made with the addition of a dedicated scientist, completion of a greenhouse, and future plans for laboratory and office space, and hopefully securing additional ground for further expansion.

    — Story contributed by California Citrus Mutual and Citrus Research Board

  • Slight Citrus Production Decrease Predicted for Mexico

    In market year (MY) 2025/26, total citrus production in Mexico is expected to decrease slightly by 0.4 percent from the previous year, driven primarily by a decrease in orange production. MY 2024/25 fresh orange production is estimated down on heavy rains caused by tropical storms Raymond and Priscilla that hit main producing regions in October 2025 postponing harvesting in some areas until early MY 2025/26. Environmental factors, such as prolonged drought, extreme heat, and erratic rainfall, are expected to hamper production. Orange juice production is subsequently also projected down slightly on lower available orange supplies and inconsistent fruit quality. Exports of fresh citrus fruit are projected to maintain a relatively moderate upward trend for fresh lemons/limes and a marginal decrease for fresh oranges.

    Executive Summary:

    MY 2025/26 total production in Mexico of fresh oranges, lemons, limes, and grapefruit is expected to decrease by 0.4 percent from the previous year as Mexican citrus production remains challenged by adverse environmental conditions such as prolonged drought and high temperatures affecting many of Mexico’s key producing areas.

    Mexico’s total domestic consumption is up an average 4 percent across all fresh citrus, driven by a 6 percent increase in fresh lemon/lime consumption. However, consumer purchasing behavior continues to be primarily constrained by the economic environment. While included in the Mexican Department of Agriculture’s official basic food basket, or “canasta basica,” fresh citrus and other fruit products are generally not prioritized as staple food items by medium and low-income Mexican consumers.

    Fresh citrus fruit exports are expected to continue to rise due to a moderate increase in lemon/lime exports offsetting declining orange exports. MY 2025/26 fresh citrus exports are projected to be above MY 2024/25 exports due to higher available exportable lemon/lime supplies. Mexico’s imports of fresh citrus fruit are minimal and largely unchanged year to year. In 2024, according to Agri-food and Fisheries Information Service (SIAP), total area planted with citrus fruits covered in this report (oranges, lemons, limes, and grapefruit) reached over 604,000 hectares, a 1.2 percent increase from the previous year. Oranges make up 58 percent of total citrus planted area, lemons 38 percent, and grapefruit 3.6 percent. This distribution has remained consistent for the last 11 years.

    Planted Area

    For MY 2025/26 (November/October), Post projects orange planted area at 356,800 hectares (ha), a 0.97 percent increase from the previous year. Over the last couple of years, Mexico’s largest orange growing regions have been affected by prolonged drought, and recently in October, tropical storm Priscilla caused severe flooding in the state of Veracruz. Most of the damage took place in orange groves close to riverbanks. Additionally, HLB (Huanglongbing), also known

    as yellow dragon disease, and other pests continue to reduce yields in Veracruz and other major

    producing states.

    In general, farmers face higher operational costs, driven by increasing prices of fertilizer, electricity, and fuel. To address these challenges, large-scale growers are exploring improved post-harvest strategies as well as implementing sustainable solutions such as the use of bio-stimulant products and good agroecological practices. Across the

    country, for the last five years constant weather fluctuations like extreme heat, limited water availability, and intense downpours in short periods of time have hampered crop production and fruit quality, especially in terms of size and juice content.

    For MY 2024/25, large growers producing under irrigation systems expect their fruit to be well-sized and with more juice content but anticipate a decline in their external (cosmetic) appearance, making the fruit less attractive for the retail market. Consequently, growers often delay cutting/harvesting the fruit produced in irrigated orchards to secure a better market price with improved product quality.

    Based on available official data, Mexico’s MY 2024/25 orange planted area is estimated to be 353,342 hectares, a marginal decrease from 353,609 ha in MY 2023/24. In 2024, the majority of Mexico’s total orange planted area was concentrated in the states of Veracruz (48.6 percent), Puebla (10 percent), Tamaulipas (10 percent), San Luis Potosi (9 percent), and Nuevo Leon (7 percent). Other states combined accounted for the remaining 15 percent.

    Production

    Despite a moderate increase in planted area, Post forecasts orangeproduction for MY 2025/26 will decrease 2.8 percent from the previous year at 4.7 million metric tons (MMT) on adverse weather. In October 2025, tropical storms Raymond and Priscilla damaged many orange orchards near riverbanks in major producing areas in Veracruz and interrupted end-of-marketing year harvesting activities. Although the storms caused major fruit loss in those affected areas, many fruits remained unharvested on the trees and were unable to be harvested until November-December 2025 and thus will be counted towards MY 2025/26 production.

    Mexico’s MY 2024/25 orange production is estimated at 4.83 MMT based on available official data. This represents a decrease of 2.1 percent from the previous year’s estimated production of 4.96 MMT. Over past few years, production has been unstable due mainly to adverse environmental conditions including prolonged droughts, high temperatures, and erratic rainfall. In the current year, growers anticipate lower output and average external (aesthetic) fruit quality, although with good flavor and juice content. According to estimates from both Post and USDA official data for MY 2024/25, Mexico holds a firm fourth position in global orange production, accounting for 11 percent of the worldwide total, behind Brazil, China, and the European Union.

    Using available official data, Post estimates Mexico’s national orange yield for MY 2024/25 at 14.17 metric tons per hectare (MT/ha), a decrease of 2.2 percent from the previous year as a result of the unprecedented heavy rains in October. Post anticipates that the environmental conditions mentioned will continue to negatively affect planting, harvesting, and overall citrus yields in MY 2025/26.

    The state of Veracruz largely determines the trajectory of Mexico’s orange crop, as it accounts for almost half of the total national planted area for oranges. According to SIAP official data, orange production in MY 2024/25 is 2.1 percent lower than the 4.94 MMT crop in MY 2023/24. The decrease in volume is mainly attributable to a 23.2 percent decrease in production in Tamaulipas, the second largest orange producing state, although the loss was offset by a 1.1 percent increase in production in Veracruz and a 9.8 percent volume increase in Puebla, the third largest producer in CY 2024. In CY 2024, according to available official data, Nuevo Leon ranks fifth with 5 percent of total national orange production. Based on Mexican official available data, in CY 2024, national orange production exceeded 4.83 MMT. The Valencia orange continues to be the predominant variety with over 95 percent of national orange production followed by the Hamlin variety with 4 percent. The Marrs, Navel, and Criolla varieties account for the remaining 1 percent. The ratio among orange varieties has remained stable for many years. Based on expectations among orange growers/packers regarding current higher fresh orange retail market prices versus prices offered for fresh oranges by juice processors, the price difference could potentially lower available fresh orange inputs for the juice industry in MY 2025/26.

    Phytosanitary Issues Huanglongbing (HLB) or yellow dragon is a phytosanitary hazard to citrus growers and present in Mexico’s major citrus producing areas. To mitigate the impact of HLB, Mexico’s federal and state governments continue to work together to implement measures such as biological control and integrated pest management, in addition to training and promoting good agricultural practices.

    Consumption

    Post forecasts Mexico’s domestic fresh orange consumption at 2.7 MMT in MY 2025/26, a moderate 3 percent increase from the previous marketing year. This increase is largely due to the marketing year shift of many MY 2024/25 fruits that were delayed in being harvested due to tropical storms in October 2025. The uptick is also due to fewer fruits being destined for processing into juice as prices for fresh oranges currently outpace those offered by the juice industry, creating higher available fresh fruit supplies for consumers. However, this expected increase in consumption is likely to be curbed by economic factors that continue to affect consumers’ purchasing power. According to the Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Geografía (INEGI) in September 2025, the cost of basic food basket products increased by 3.6 percent year-over-year in rural areas, slightly below the overall annual inflation rate (3.8 percent), whereas in urban areas the increase in food basic basket products reached 4.7 percent. The rising price of food continues impacting consumers’ purchasing decisions, making them more selective when buying food items such as fruits. Oranges, for example are included in the basic food basket “Canasta Básica,” but they are prioritized lower by lower/middle class families than animal proteins such as poultry and eggs. Fresh orange consumption in MY 2024/25 is estimated at 2.61 MMT.

    Trade

    For MY 2025/26, Post forecasts Mexico’s fresh orange exports at 49,000 MT, a decrease of 9 percent versus 54,000 MT estimated for MY 2024/25 due to lower available exportable fruit and SPS-related logistical challenges for producers in Nuevo Leon. Nuevo Leon’s orange production for CY 2024 is up 7 percent from CY 2023 according to available official data; however, exporters in this region face costly logistical burdens with the cessation of APHIS’ roving seasonal inspection services in the high production area of Montemorelos a few years ago. Although Nuevo Leon borders the United States, fruit packers in Nuevo Leon must now send their shipments down south around 180 miles to San Luis Potosi to have their fruits irradiated at an APHIS-approved facility before sending them back north for export to United States, per information on SENASICA’s website Moreover, according to producers, fresh orange prices in Mexico are lucrative enough that many suppliers are choosing to sell to the local market over exporting. Consequently, Post estimates a

    drop in the volume of fresh orange exports from Mexico to the United States in MY 2025/26. Historically, the United States has accounted for over 98 percent of Mexican orange exports.

    MY 2025/26 fresh orange imports are forecast at 31,000 MT, a 24 percent increase from 25,000 MT of imports in MY 2024/25, considering the drop in domestic production volume and relatively steady fruit imports from the United States. Mexico imports fresh oranges exclusively from the United States, which go to retail and wholesale markets.

    Policy

    At the time of this report, the exportation of fresh oranges, grapefruit, and tangerines from Mexico to the United States is allowed for compliant products under current USDA/APHIS and SADER/SENASICA work plans. Since 1988, the state of Sonora has been a fruit fly-free zone according to USDA/APHIS, and fruit grown in this state is not regulated by the applicable work plans for citrus fruits. Read the full report at https://apps.fas.usda.gov/newgainapi/api/Report/DownloadReportByFileName?fileName=Citrus%20Annual_Monterrey%20ATO_Mexico_MX2025-0069.pdf — By USDA Foreign Ag Service Mexico and Eduardo Lozano

  • Researchers Study How Plants Respond to Changing Climate

    Farmers know that heat stress and drought are hard on plants. But what, exactly, is happening to the plants under these conditions, and what can we do about it? These questions are becoming ever more urgent as we move toward a future with more carbon dioxide (CO2) in the air, more heat, and more erratic weather.

    At ARS, researchers set out to understand in detail how plants respond to these stresses, using tomatoes as their first test subject. Tomato plants are often grown in greenhouses because they are viewed as a high-cost, high-value crop. Jennifer Boldt is a research horticulturist at the Application Technology Research Unit in Wooster and Toledo, OH, who specializes in studying crops grown in controlled environments, such as high tunnels, greenhouses, indoor vertical farms in warehouses, or shipping containers.

    “The idea behind this research is that we are asking, ‘How do different environmental conditions potentially affect how nutrients are taken up by the roots of the plant, and what implication does that have for plant growth or the quality of the plants that are being grown?’” she said.

    In response to elevated temperature and carbon dioxide (right), tomato leaves shift to a more vertical orientation and soybean leaves exhibit increased leaf cupping. (Photo courtesy of Dileepa Jayawardena, University of Toledo)

    Previous research showed that conditions like heat, elevated CO2, and drought change the ways that plants function, but there was little research on how the combination of those conditions affects them.

    “Under my purview, we were able to say, ‘let’s not look at one factor individually, but what happens when we have multiple factors that are changing at the same time – high temperature and high CO2, or drought and high CO2,’” explained Boldt. “Under that combination of drought and CO2, the plants weren’t able to take up nutrients as much, so we had lower levels of nitrogen and phosphorus in the leaves. Nitrogen is a key component in proteins, and so if you have less nitrogen, then the plant is not going to be as green, and it’s going to grow more slowly, and any edible portion of the plant is going to be less nutritious.’”

    The reasons for that reaction are a function of the plant’s response to changed conditions. Boldt explained that, under current CO2 conditions, plants grow and take up nitrogen at a certain rate, creating a balance. However, under high CO2, the plants grow more, but they’re not necessarily taking up more nitrogen at that same elevated rate, so the end result is a higher ratio of carbon to nitrogen in the plant.

    Tomato plants await the start of a research study that will examine plant responses to elevated temperature and carbon dioxide. (Photo courtesy of Dileepa Jayawardena, University of Toledo)

    “It appears that the nitrogen concentration has gone down, but it’s just because the plant has put on more bulk more quickly,” she said, “because it’s taken that CO2 and turned it into sugars and structural components in the plant.”

    To perform the research, Boldt collaborated with colleagues from the University of Toledo. The team wanted to understand more about why they were seeing lower rates of nitrogen uptake. They knew that nutrients in the plant tissues could be affected by environmental conditions, but didn’t know whether it was because the plants were taking up fewer nutrients from soil, or because there were things going on within the plant that prevented the nutrients from moving up to the top part of the plant where they could be utilized.

    They found that under the combination of elevated CO2 and heat, the leaves of their tomato plants were oriented much more vertically than under current conditions. Typically, the horizontal leaf position helps plants capture sunlight well. When, in response to stress, the leaves turn up vertically, they capture less light, and ultimately, said Boldt, “aren’t able to utilize all of their systems as efficiently.” One result of that decreased efficiency: relatively less nitrogen.

    Measuring the rate of photosynthesis in a tomato leaf. (Photo courtesy of Dileepa Jayawardena, University of Toledo).

    A natural next question was whether or how these results might translate to other plants, especially commodity crop plants. To find out, Boldt decided to look at plants that are typically grown as field-based crops. She examined the effects of changed conditions on barley, corn, and big bluestem (a type of prairie grass). In all cases, she found that the combination of conditions inhibited nutrient uptake, with some variation by type of plant.

    Given these findings, what can farmers do to support their crop plants? Boldt’s research showed that the problem was not in the plant’s ability to take nutrients up from the soil, so adding more fertilizer is unlikely to help. Instead, the issue is what the plant does with nutrients as it captures them. To address that, farmers would need plants that operate differently; Boldt suggests that looking to breeders may be the best approach. The ultimate goal, then, is that her research could lead to the development of plants that are better able to manage the distribution of nutrients as plants face hotter growing conditions with more CO2 and drought. — By Kathryn Markham, USDA-ARS Office of Communications

  • Could Stingrays be the Key to Saving Citrus from Deadly HLB Disease?

    Imagine a devastating plant disease that sweeps the land, decimating crops. For Florida’s citrus growers, that apocalyptic vision is not a horror movie, but a reality: since it was first identified in the Sunshine State in 2005, citrus greening disease has reduced Florida’s citrus production by a whopping 70%, and threatened other major citrus producing states such as California and Texas. Without any treatment or cure available, desperate growers have cut down infected trees or abandoned their groves entirely. Scientists have been racing to come up with a solution. Now, one enterprising team believes it may have one, in the form of: stingrays.

    Like other organisms, stingrays have an immune system. Unlike most organisms, however, the rays’ system produces an antibody with a functional domain that is both far smaller and more stable than most. These special antibodies, or nanobodies – termed “mantabodies” by the research team – are specialized proteins that can help other organisms fight off infection. Essentially, the researchers plan to treat the rays as a sort of all-purpose pharmacy, where they can introduce a novel pathogen like the citrus greening bacteria, and the rays will generate an immune response specific to that pathogen. The genetic material (gene) encoding this specifically-targeted antibody can then be placed in modified plant cells that grow as a symbiont – an organism that lives in a close, mutually beneficial relationship with the diseased organism.

    Alternatively, researchers can culture the modified plant cells in large vessels and then harvest the antibodies that the cells produce for inoculation into citrus trees. The resulting antibody therapy would prevent or cure disease development in the trees. The approach could, in theory, be applied to other organisms too, and the researchers plan to use the technology to target pathogens that invade farmed fish, honey bees, and more.

    This project was a 2022 winner of ARSX, an annual competition that asks ARS scientists to propose innovative, high-risk, high-reward ideas that cross disciplines and break boundaries to solve our most pressing challenges.

    A southern stingray, Hypnum americanus, swims along the seabed. (Photo courtesy of Matt Ajemian, Ph.D., director of the Fisheries Ecology and Conservation Lab at FAU-HBOI)

    The project team includes researchers from ARS, the Florida Atlantic University Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute, in Fort Pierce, FL, and the and U.S. Department of Energy Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Educationin Oak Ridge, TN. Team member and ARS research molecular biologist Michelle Heck is using USDA’s SCINet high performance computing clusters to analyze the stingray genomes, and she is applying a powerful artificial intelligence (AI) approach called AlphaFold to identify the mantabody genes.

    “Using AlphaFold, which was just released two years ago, we can rapidly and accurately predict the shape of all the stingray proteins,” explained Heck, who works at ARS’s Robert W. Holley Center in Ithaca, NY, “And we can find the ones that look most like what we think a mantabody protein should look like.”

    The researchers are also taking advantage of other advances in biotechnology, like the mRNA technique that was used to deliver Covid-19 vaccines. They believe that their project could, in turn, advance biotechnology even farther.

    “You can modify almost anything with an antibody treatment,” said Joseph Krystel, a team member and research biologist at the ARS U.S. Horticultural Research Lab (USHRL) in Fort Pierce, FL. “You could stimulate the immune system of a citrus tree, or you could suppress a particular set of genes if you wanted to. The reason we don’t do it now is that it’s cost-prohibitive. But the mantabody platform could give us a more cost-effective way to do it.”

    It could also provide farmers with more sustainable biological alternatives to many current practices. Robert Shatters, a team member and research molecular biologist at the USHRL, explained that, “Mantabodies could be applied to veterinary aspects of agriculture, and a number of plant pathogen issues. We think this project would have a really broad impact, and that’s why we’re excited about it.” – By Kathryn Markham, USDA-ARS Office of Communications

  • Microgreens Offer Chance to Grow Vegetables for Customized Health Needs

    Broccoli is well known for its particular flavor, healthy properties, and ability to help ward off certain types of cancer, but there’s more to this veggie than the florets found in salad bars, stir fries, and your favorite broccoli cheese soup.

    As proof that good things can come in small packages, baby broccoli — one type of “microgreen” — packs as much as four times the number of cancer-fighting antioxidants as its adult counterpart. On top of that, you can grow them easily and rapidly to ensure that you have a ready supply.

    “Broccoli microgreens are young and tender greens harvested when the first true leaf appears,” explained Tianbao Yang, plant physiologist at the Agricultural Research Service’s Food Quality Laboratory in Beltsville, MD. “As compared to their mature counterparts, broccoli microgreens contain higher amounts of phytonutrients and minerals.”

    Phytonutrients are natural compounds in plants that may help prevent disease. In particular, broccoli contains large amounts of glucosinolates, which change into other chemicals during the cooking process and digestion. Studies have shown that these chemicals help reduce the development and growth of various diseases, including prostate, breast, colon, skin, bladder, and oral cancers.

    According to Yang, glucosinolates are antioxidants mainly found in cruciferous plants, such as broccoli, kale, radish, and cabbage. Epidemiologic studies suggest a correlation between consuming broccoli with reduced effects of aging, asthma, and other chronic pulmonary diseases.

    These natural health benefits are not hard to find, Yang said. “Microgreens are easy to grow and handle and have a short production cycle. They are a good choice for urban farming and controlled environment agriculture.”

    Microgreens may be an option for people who want to garden but have limited — or no — outdoor space to grow their own produce. Home gardeners can grow microgreens indoors or outside, in soil or hydroponically— that is, in water. Not only that, but broccoli microgreens may be ready to harvest in as little as a week. Information on hydroponic gardening is readily available from many online sources.

    Yang offered two simple tips that home gardeners can use to get even more healthful benefits from their baby broccoli: adding calcium salt to the hydroponic solution or applying it as a spray; and/or putting the sprouts under ultraviolet B (UVB) light for 1-2 hours per day.

    Both calcium salt and UVB induce a stress response in the plants that promotes the production of glucosinolates. The methods can be used together or separately.

    Yang believes that, in the future, it could be possible to grow personalized vegetables for specific populations with chronic diseases.

    “Fruits and vegetables are an important part of diet,” Yang said. “They are rich in a variety of phytochemicals and minerals that are beneficial to human health. Controlled environment agriculture provides the opportunity to manipulate plant growth conditions and design beneficial nutrients. Microgreens are one of the best candidates for this.” — By Scott Elliott, USDA-ARS Office of Communications

  • Wild Tomato Genome will Benefit Domesticated Cousins

    A team of researchers has assembled a reference genome for Solanum lycopersicoides, a wild relative of the cultivated tomato, and developed web-based tools to help plant researchers and breeders improve the crop.

    Solanum lycopersicoides (S. lycopersicoides) harbors a gene making the plant resistant to a particular strain of bacterial speck disease. The gene could be introduced into cultivated tomatoes to protect them from the pathogen.

    That discovery led Boyce Thompson Institute researchers to sequence the plant’s genome and create online resources to facilitate the discovery of more genes that could improve tomatoes.

    “There wasn’t even really a discussion about whether to sequence Solanum lycopersicoides, it was just obvious to do it,” said Susan Strickler, director of the BTI Computational Biology Center (BCBC). Strickler is co-corresponding author of the paper describing the S. lycopersicoides genome, which was published in The Plant Journal on May 18.

    Wild relatives of crops are becoming increasingly valuable to plant researchers and breeders. During the process of domestication, crops tend to lose many genes, but wild relatives often retain genes that could be useful – such as genes that confer resistance to drought and disease.

    In their study, the researchers demonstrated the value of the new genome by finding several candidate genes associated with compounds – phenolics and carotenoids – that contribute to the species’ color, flavor and nutrition, as well as other genes associated with disease resistance.

    Perhaps more importantly, a larger goal of the project was to make the S. lycopersicoides reference genome as widely accessible and useful to the scientific community as possible.

    “These kinds of data are added to the National Center for Biotechnology Information repository as a general requirement, and that’s important, but not everyone is a bioinformaticist or has access to bioinformatics resources to analyze the data,” said Adrian Powell, assistant director of BCBC and a first author on the paper.

    “To increase access and ease of exploring the genome, we developed web-based tools and components that researchers beyond our project team could use and add to,” he said.

    One tool is a S. lycopersicoides genome browser available on the Sol Genomics Network website, which serves as community resource and repository for tomatoes and other species in the Solanaceae family. Powell said the browser can aid early exploratory studies of the wild tomato species as well as more advanced studies.

    Another tool is an S. lycopersicoides expression atlas, which allows users to analyze RNA sequencing data and visualize which genes are expressed in different plant tissues and under different conditions. “The atlas is based on code first developed for the cultivated tomato, but now we have a version for the wild species,” Powell said.

    These tools, combined with the new reference genome, will help researchers analyze hybrids of the wild tomato and cultivated tomato more readily than they could before, and they will also help researchers who are studying the wild species for its own sake, he said.

    For example, the reference genome could facilitate genome-wide association studies (GWAS) on multiple S. lycopersicoides accessions, to assess genetic diversity of the species and identify candidate genes for the traits breeders might want to introduce into cultivated tomatoes, such as drought tolerance, Powell said.

    Co-authors of the paper include BTI professors Lukas Mueller, Greg Martin, Zhangjun Fei and Jim Giovannoni. Martin is also a professor in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS), and Mueller, Fei and Giovannoni are adjunct professors in CALS. Giovannoni is also a research molecular biologist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS).

    The study was supported in part by grants from the joint ERA CAPS Regulatome project, the National Science Foundation, the Triad Foundation, the Max-Planck-Society and the European Union project PlantaSyst, and Germany’s Federal Ministry of Education and Research. — By Michael J. Haas, Boyce Thompson Institute, Cornell University

  • Researchers Create Artificial Diet to Raise Beneficial Insect

    Scientists with the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) are looking for the perfect diet. Not just any diet, but one that’s special; a diet that encourages bugs to thrive.

    Most people have an aversion to bugs, so what Guadalupe Rojas and Juan A. Morales-Ramos are trying to do may seem a bit odd to some. But Rojas and Morales-Ramos, research entomologists at the ARS Biological Control of Pests Research Unit in Stoneville, MS, are actually attempting to pit insects against each other – to fight fire with fire, so to speak.

    “The pink spotted lady beetle, Coleomegilla maculate, is a predator of important pests such as the two-spotted spider mite, Tetranychus urticae, and several aphid species that attack crops and cause great economical loss,” she said.

    (Most people are familiar with the term “ladybug,” but lady beetle is more accurate. Technically, ladybugs are beetles rather than true bugs, which fall under the scientific order Hemiptera.)

    If left unchecked, Rojas said, the “bad bug” population can explode. That situation is rare in nature because of the presence of natural predators, but predators sometimes cannot keep up with their prey in large fields or greenhouses because of the abundance of food provided by crops. This situation can lead to major economic losses to farmers and less produce for consumers.

    That’s why it’s necessary to rear and mass produce predatory lady beetles, Morales-Ramos said. Releasing beneficial insects like these beetles to combat bad bugs is common practice when using integrated pest management (IPM) techniques. The key to IPM, though, often comes down to timing.

    Pink spotted lady beetle larvae of the third instar (about 7-8 days old) feeding on the new artificial diet created by ARS scientists at the Biological Control of Pests Research lab in Stoneville, MS. (Juan A. Morales-Ramos)

    “IPM uses multiple tactics to control an agricultural pest in an integrated manner, including chemical, biological, microbial, and environmental modification,” Rojas said. “Not all the tactics are compatible to use simultaneously, but they can be timed to prevent interference. The use of lady beetles follows on biological control tactics.”

    However, actual application is not so easy. While adult pink spotted lady beetles can live up to 8 months, it takes them a while to grow from larvae to maturity. Trying to feed the young lady beetles their natural diet would require greenhouses full of plants to raise spider mites and aphids, and that could lead to major expenses or other unwelcome complications. An artificial diet of proteins, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins, and mineral salts would eliminate those needs and risks.

    Creating that diet, however, is easier said than done.

    “It’s easy to create a formula that will keep beetles alive, but it may fail to get them to develop completely and later to reproduce,” Rojas said. “It’s a lengthy process of experimentation and evaluation to develop a diet that will be adequate for growth and reproduction.”

    To further complicate matters, even if the scientists find initial success, a formula may not be effective in the long run.

    “Feeding any animal with a single food formulation requires full knowledge of its nutritional needs,” Rojas said. “In most cases, the first version will lack a few nutrients and the colony will fail and we’ll need to revise the formulation. In other words, refining the diet is never completely done; it will be continuously improved to maintain the colony indefinitely.”

    The next challenge for Rojas and her colleagues is to reduce the number of ingredients or substitute them with byproducts to reduce production costs, so anybody could make it since ingredients used are from ordinary food products.

    “If lady beetles can be produced cheaply and in abundance, then they would be available for homeowners to purchase. And, biological control is more sustainable than using pesticides because using lady beetles reduces the reliance on chemical pesticides,” Morales-Ramos said.

    “Lady beetles are cool,” Rojas said. “What can be cooler than growing your own lady beetles at home?” — By Scott Elliott, USDA-ARS Office of Communications.

  • Terrestrial Fungus May be Key to Farming in Space

    Mold is something that most people try to avoid, but NASA may soon welcome a certain type of mold aboard its spacecraft.

    On long-distance space voyages of the future, astronauts will have to grow some of their own food. That could be problematic, as there is notoriously little unused space aboard ship and crops take a long time to grow. But what if science could find a way around those issues?

    Cladosporium sphaerospermum strain TC09 stimulates plant growth. (Stephen Ausmus)

    “Some plants grow extremely fast, like many common weeds, while others grow very slowly,” said Chris Dardick, molecular biologist at the Agricultural Research Service’s (ARS) Appalachian Fruit Research Station in Kearneysville, WV. “What if we could make crop plants grow as fast as weeds? We have done just that.”

    ARS scientists found that an airborne fungus, Cladosporium sphaerospermumstrain TC09, speeds up plant growth. TC09 produces gasses, known as volatiles, that dramatically accelerate plant growth. TC09 is commonly found indoors and is not known to cause disease in plants or any ailments to humans or animals.

    In a Lab at the Kennedy Space center in Florida, ARS research technician Mark Sperry evaluates the performance of the fungus Cladosporium sphaerospermum strain TC09 with lettuce and simulated soil. (Cory Spern)

    “When the mold is grown alongside plants in a sealed container, the TC09-exposed plants grow 2 to 5 times faster,” Dardick said. “And if you feed the plants sugar at the same time, they can grow 10 to 25 times faster in the presence of TC09.”

    Not only do the plants grow faster, they tend to have thicker stems, larger leaves, and a more robust root system than plants not exposed to TC09. They also produce far greater yield – pepper plants produced up to 213% more fruit. Lettuce, arugula, kale, basil, and other leafy greens showed similar results.

    “How TC09 stimulates such rapid plant growth is currently unknown,” he said, “but it has become the interest of NASA to find out.”

    According to Dardick, NASA has tested TC09 on some of their most prized crops including “outredgeous” (red romaine) lettuce and mizuna, finding that TC09 worked extremely well in the artificial media typically used in spaceflight. In addition, NASA is constructing two plant growth chambers similar to what is used on the International Space Station that will be housed at the ARS research lab in Disney’s Epcot Center.

    Discovering how TC09 works could give NASA the solutions it’s looking for, regarding space and time limitations, Dardick said. Such technology could also revolutionize food production here on Earth as farmers face the challenge of feeding a population projected to reach 9.9 billion by 2050.

    This initial investigation was sponsored by the ISS U.S. National Laboratory, which works in coordination with NASA to fully utilize the orbiting laboratory to bring value to our nation through space-based research and technology development. – By Scott Elliott, USDA-ARS Office of Communications. Autumn Canaday contributed to this story.

  • Black Beans Help Fix Insulin Resistance and Gut Bacteria Balance

    USDA ARS — Adding cooked black beans to a high-fat diet improved sensitivity to insulin and other measures often related to diabetes and restored gut bacteria balance in obese mice, according to a USDA Agricultural Research Service study.

    As little as the mouse-size equivalent of a single serving a day of black beans—about a half cup for a human—lowered insulin resistance 87 percent in obese mice compared to obese mice eating the same high-fat diet without the black beans. Insulin resistance is when a body’s response to the hormone insulin is impaired so glucose in the blood cannot be used for energy, resulting in high blood sugar, a factor often leading to diabetes.

    Mice on the high-fat plus black beans diet also decreased low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, the so-called bad cholesterol, 28 percent and triglyceride levels 37 percent compared to mice eating the high-fat diet without black beans. These are both risk factors for cardiovascular disease.

    Other diabetes-related biomarkers such as the levels of leptin, glucagon, and a group of inflammatory biochemicals were all significantly better in the mice on the high-fat plus black beans diet.

    The researchers also found that adding black beans to the high fat diet restored the balance of healthier bacteria in the gut, particularly decreasing the ratio of Firmicutes bacteria to Bacteroidetes bacteria in the gut by 64 percent compared to mice on the high fat diet without black beans  and mice on a low fat diet. High ratios of Firmicutes to Bacteroidetes are associated with obesity. Intestinal bacteria associated with inflammation such as Blautia and Clostridium all were significantly reduced in mice fed the high fat plus black beans diet compared to mice on the high fat diet without beans.

    “This research suggests that eating even a small amount of black beans can have multiple health benefits,” said ARS research chemist Wallace Yokoyama with the Healthy Processed Foods Research Unit of the Western Regional Research Center in Albany, California. Yokoyama led the study, which was published in the scientific journal Foods.

    “We also tested if supplementing the high fat diet with individual components from black beans would have the same beneficial impacts on the obese mice and didn’t find the same effects at all. It was only adding whole black beans, and cooked whole beans at that, which had the benefits,” Yokoyama said.

    Perhaps the most interesting scientific information coming from this study, according to Yokoyama, is data to begin determining just how black beans improve insulin resistance. It appears that black beans may inhibit the JNK/c-Jun pathway, a key metabolic pathway that has many but not necessarily well-defined functions including regulating inflammatory responses. Chronic inflammation is believed to be the basis for insulin resistance and other metabolic diseases.

    Black beans, or more precisely black turtle beans (Phaseolus vulgaris), are generally low in fat and high in fiber and protein. They are popular in Latin American, Mexican and Caribbean cuisines as well as in Cajun and Creole cooking. Like all common beans, black beans are native to the Americas. Today, they have been introduced around the world to become known as frijoles negros or poroto negro in Spanish, feijão preto in Portuguese, and karuppu kaaramani and kala ghevada in various regional cuisines of India.

    The Agricultural Research Service is the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s chief scientific in-house research agency. Daily, ARS focuses on solutions to agricultural problems affecting America. Each dollar invested in agricultural research results in $17 of economic impact.

  • Slowing the Onset of Alzheimer’s by Eating Berries

    Americans are growing old and, sadly, the aging process for many means more than simply turning gray or thinning hair.

    According to the United States Census, in about a dozen years the number of Americans over 65 will outnumber children. Further, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention project the number of Americans living with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) to nearly triple by 2060.

    Fortunately, USDA-funded research may have found a tasty way to slow disease onset.

    A study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition suggests that diets high in flavonoids may protect cognitive health. Flavonoids are plant nutrients known for their antioxidant, antiviral, and anticancer properties and are found in berries, tea, dark chocolate, and other foods.

    “Alzheimer’s disease is a significant public health challenge,” said Paul Jacques, nutritional epidemiologist at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University in Boston. “Given the absence of drug treatments, preventing Alzheimer’s disease through a healthy diet is an important consideration.”

    According to Jacques, who co-authored the study, about one in nine adults over age 65 are living with AD. While memory loss is the hallmark of AD, Jacques said it has many other cognitive and behavioral changes, including difficulty carrying out simple multistep activities, such as dressing or cooking; loss of judgement and attention; and changes in behavior such as depression and agitation.

    Jacques’s study, one of the first truly large, long-term studies to examine the effects of flavonoids on AD, showed that diets high in certain types of flavonoids present significant promise toward preventing the onset of Alzheimer’s.

    “Our study examined the association between long-term flavonoid intakes and AD over an average follow-up of 19.6 years among 2,809 participants,” he said. Results show that those who consumed the most of three types of flavonoids were more than 50 percent less likely to develop AD risks compared with those who ate the least. Plant foods, such as vegetables, fruits, berries, nuts, and seeds are good sources of flavonoids, as is a cup of green tea each day.

    Age 50 is not too late to make positive dietary changes. “While the risk of dementia increases over age 70, it is now believed that its preclinical stage may predate clinical diagnosis by decades” he said. “A healthy diet during this preclinical period may provide the best opportunity for slowing the development of AD. When you approach 50, you should start thinking about a healthier diet if you haven’t already.”

    According to Jacques, flavonoid-rich diets help more than just Alzheimer’s disease and related dementia.

    “The bottom line is that there are many reasons to consume a healthy diet, including lower risks of cardiovascular disease and some cancers. We can now add protection of cognitive health and prevention of Alzheimer’s disease to that list.” – By Scott Elliott, USDA-ARS Office of Communications