MAES News
November, 2003
- Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station Faces Elimination of Funding
- MSU Horticulturist Wins National Wine Award
- Research Priorities for Minor Use Crops Discussed at Food Use Workshop
- MAES Scientist Leads International Team Developing More Nutritious Crops
- MAES Scientist to Direct $10.2 Million NIH Grant on Infectious Diseases
- MAES Researcher Directs Life Science Corridor Grant Project
Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station Faces Elimination of Funding
The elimination of state funding for MSU Extension (MSUE) and Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station (MAES) has been suggested as part of a list of options for dealing with the state's current budget deficit. This information provides background and describes some of the implications of making such decisions. These are two critical, well-established networks that are central to the mission of this state's land grant university. MSU Extension and Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station continually adapt and re-focus to meet the changing needs in the state for research and educational programming.
- Background information:
Briefing Information on MSUE and MAES - A summary of organizational facts on funding partnerships of MSUE and MAES and the impacts of cutting these two critical, well-established networks that are central to the mission of this state's land grant university. - Making an Impact: MSUE and MAES
This is a summary of short impact statements on our work in land use, literacy and technology, youths and families, food, nutrition and health, sustainable (cool) communities, environmental quality, agricultural profitability. It also provides general information about MSUE and MAES. Pick and choose the facts you wish to use to strengthen your message on the importance of MSU research and Extension to Michigan . A topical area can be copied and distributed as a statement of the impact of our programs. When assisting constituents with letters, you might select one or two items showing the statewide impact and then insert your own localized information. - Suggestions for writing a letter of support
MSU Horticulturist Wins National Wine Award
G. Stanley Howell, MAES professor
of horticulture and coordinator of MSU's viticulture and enology program,
has won the Lodi-Woodbridge Winegrape Commission's annual Wine Integrity
Award.
Howell, an internationally recognized plant physiologist and viticulturist, received the award at a special dinner in his honor on Oct. 14 at the Wine and Roses Inn in Lodi, Calif. Created in 1998, the award honors those individuals who have conducted their careers with integrity while making significant contributions to the world of wine.
Howell was chosen for his more than three decades of dedication to the expansion and improvement of the Michigan wine industry.
"Stan could have chosen to take his research to any number of institutions around the world," says David Miller, winemaker and viticulturst for St. Julian Wine Co., Inc., of Paw Paw, Mich. He worked for Howell while getting his doctoral degree at MSU. "Instead, he chose to stay in Michigan and tackle the more difficult challenge of helping to build an industry in a region that is 'climatically challenged' - Michigan. Stan's efforts are well appreciated by those who choose to stay abreast of the cutting edge in viticulture both at home and abroad."
"It is hard to know where the Michigan wine industry would be without Stan's guiding hand," says Jim Wolpert, head of the Enology and Viticulture Department at the University of California - Davis. Wolpert worked with Howell as a graduate student and field technician in his viticulture research program at MSU. "The impact of his work is felt in every aspect of the industry."
"Much of Stan Howell's research has been conducted here in Michigan, where our industry has been fortunate to benefit from the close proximity to leading research on vine physiology," says Linda Jones, executive director of the Michigan Grape and Wine Industry Council. "While his research contributes to the body of knowledge globally, he and his staff take time to offer educational programs and consultation with the local industry. Two of his doctoral students are now prominent winemakers in Michigan's industry."
Howell came to the MSU Department of Horticulture in 1969 as a Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station researcher and MSU Extension specialist. Since then, his efforts have helped Michigan expand its total grape holdings to 13,500 acres, making it the fourth largest grape-growing state in the nation. In 2001, Howell launched the two-year viticulture and enology program within the MSU Institute of Agricultural Technology. The program is designed to train students in grape and wine production, focusing on cool-climate grape varieties. It is the first program of its kind east of California.
Howell has published numerous articles in scientific journals, addressing such topics as wine grape yields, cold hardiness, pest and disease management, and cloning. He has been a lecturer and served as editor of the "Vintner and Vineyard" publication of the American Society of Enology and Viticulture.
He received his bachelor's and master's degrees from Mississippi State University and his doctoral degree from the University of Minnesota. He and his wife, Nancy, have three children, Shannon, Josh and Adam.
Research Priorities for Minor Use Crops Discussed at Food Use Workshop
Several MAES researchers and other MSU scientists and Extension specialists helped determine 2004 research priorities for most fruits, vegetables and herbs grown in the United States and Canada. These priorities were assigned at the Annual IR-4 Food Use Workshop in September in Portland, Ore.
The Food Quality Protection Act requires review of current chemicals used on crops. This review, coupled with the high cost of registering pesticides for use on minor crops, may mean that these crops have few available products for pest control. To help solve this problem, IR-4 (USDA Interregional Research Project No. 4) funds residue trials for pesticide use on minor crops and occasionally, efficacy trials. Minor crop research needs are prioritized each year during the Food Use Workshop.
Bernard Zandstra, MAES horticulture researcher; Annemiek Schilder, MAES botany and plant pathology scientist; Rufus Isaacs and Robert Hollingworth, MAES entomology researchers; and Satoru Miyazaki, IR-4 Pesticide Analytical Laboratory Coordinator, and John Wise, research and Extension coordinator at the Trevor Nichols Field Research Station, were MSU's representatives at the conference. Scientists from around the country, as well as USDA, EPA and IR-4 officials, attended.
Participating scientists reviewed the complete list of pesticides submitted for consideration and ranked products as A, B or C priorities based on need, performance, safety and availability of alternatives. Needs for cranberries, canola, tropical crops, artichokes, clover, grass seeds, hops, mint, mushroom and beehives were prioritized separately by people associated with the respective industries.
Only a limited number of products could be assigned A or B priority. An A priority allows IR-4 to begin the residue program immediately the following season; complete data is expected to be submitted to the EPA within 30 months. B priority projects are funded as resources permit. Projects with a C rating are tabled for further consideration the following year.
The following projects were assigned an A priority at the workshop. This list is preliminary and will be confirmed at the IR-4 National Planning Meeting on Oct. 28-29. For a complete list, visit the IR-4 Web site.
Fungicides
| Product | Crop | Target Diseases |
| PYRIMETHANIL | Peach | brown rot, gray mold |
| IODOMETHANE | All Crops | soilborne diseases, nematodes |
Insecticides
| Product | Crop | Target Pests |
| CLOTHIANIDIN (Clutch) | Peach | Plum curculio, Oriental fruit moth |
| ETOXAZOLE (Zeal) | Cherry | Mites |
| NOVALURON (Diamond) | Caneberry | Cane borer, leafrollers |
| BIFENAZATE (Acramite) | Caneberry (raspberry) | Mites |
| BIFENTHRIN (Capture) | Blueberry | Japanese beetle |
Herbicides
| Product | Crop | Target Weeds |
| CLETHODIM (Select) | Apple, cherry, blueberry | Postemergence grasses |
| METOLACHLOR (Dual Magnum) | Blueberry | Preemergence grasses, Yellow nutsedge |
MAES Scientist Leads International Team Developing More Nutritious Crops
MSU and MAES scientists will play a key role in a new initiative to improve the health of the poor in developing countries by working to create staple food crops that are enriched in micronutrients.
MSU is the coordinating institution of a team of three that comprise the Nutritional Genomics team of HarvestPlus, a global research initiative to breed and disseminate crops for better nutrition.
Using an innovative approach called biofortification, agricultural and nutrition scientists will work together to breed and engineer crops that provide higher levels of essential micronutrients such as iron, zinc and vitamin A.
The project seeks to bring the full potential of agricultural science, genetics, molecular biology and genomics to bear on the persistent problem of micronutrient malnutrition in the developing world, according to Dean DellaPenna, MAES biochemistry and molecular biology scientist.
"Micronutrient malnutrition affects more than half of the world's population, especially women and children," DellaPenna says. "The costs of these deficiencies in terms of lives lost, forgone economic growth and poor quality of life are staggering."
Malnutrition contributes to more than half of child deaths in the developing world, and the United Nations estimates that nearly one-third of the world's population suffers from severe deficiencies in one or more micronutrients. Even less severe levels of micronutrient malnutrition can damage long-term cognitive and physical development, lower disease resistance in children and reduce the likelihood that mothers survive childbirth. Iron deficiency alone affects more than 3.5 billion people in the developing world and is responsible for 100,000 maternal deaths during childbirth each year. Vitamin A deficiency causes more than 500,000 children to go blind each year and is a leading cause of child mortality.
"You can eat all the rice you want, and you still won't get your daily requirement of provitamin A (beta carotene); it's produced in rice leaves but is not accumulated in rice seed," DellaPenna says. "But one member of our Nutritional Genomics team, Peter Beyer, already has shown rice can be engineered to produce provitamin A in seed. Similar approaches using breeding and genetic engineering, when appropriate, can be employed in rice and other crops to positively affect the micronutrient quality of food in the diet of the world's poor. The impact has the potential to truly change the daily lives of more than half the world's population."
The first crops targeted for development by the HarvestPlus initiative include those most widely consumed in the developing world, and include rice, wheat, maize, beans, cassava and sweet potato.
HarvestPlus is spearheaded by the International Center for Tropical Agricultural Research in Cali, Columbia, and the International Food Policy Research Institute in Washington, D.C.
The Nutritional Genomics Team - which includes Beyer at the University of Freiburg, Germany, and Michael Grusak at the USDA/ARS Children's Nutrition Research Center in Houston - will focus on the biochemical processes involved in the synthesis of vitamins and accumulation of minerals to determine how to biofortify edible plant parts with new or increased micronutrients.
MAES Scientist to Direct $10.2 Million NIH Grant on Infectious Diseases
The National Institutes of Health has awarded a $10.2 million research contract to a team of researchers at MSU's National Food Safety and Toxicology Center to explore the genetics of microorganisms that cause food and waterborne infectious diseases.
Thomas Whittam, MAES scientist, Hannah Distinguished Professor and member of the departments of Food Science and Human Nutrition and Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, will lead the MSU research team.
"It is exciting for MSU to be a part of this newly established network," Whittam said. "By creating a multidisciplinary network like this, NIH hopes to foster new capabilities to identify, prevent and treat food and waterborne diseases threatening public health."
Whittam and four co-investigators will conduct research in the following areas:
- Advance molecular techniques and databases to identify pathogenic strains including E. coli O157:H7, campylobacter, and salmonella.
- Investigate factors involved in the emergence of new salmonella strains.
- Develop animal models for understanding campylobacter infection and pathogenesis.
- Develop microarray technology specifically targeted for rapid detection of diverse pathogens.
The co-investigators will provide a secondary emergency role to respond to national needs. In addition, five MSU faculty members will serve as liaisons and consultants for clinical studies and interaction with the other research units.
Co-investigators include MAES large animal clinical scientist Linda Mansfield and liaisons include MAES pathobiology and diagnostic investigation scientist Carole Bolin, MAES microbiology and molecular genetics researcher Roger Maes, and Joan Rose, Homer Nowlin Endowed Chair for Water Research and MAES crop and soil sciences and fisheries and wildlife researcher.
The MSU team of scientists will also be working with researchers at the University of Michigan, the University of Maryland and the Michigan Department of Community Health.
The award is part of the newly formed Food and Waterborne Diseases Integrated Research Network (FWD IRN), a network of research laboratories launched by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). The Microbiology Research Unit (MRU) at the MSU National Food Safety and Toxicology Center will be one of two nationwide. NIAID will establish eight such research units nationwide in four different research areas: microbiology, immunology, clinical, and zoonoses.
Whittam also will participate as a member of the FWD IRN executive committee.
The contract will run through Sept. 29, 2010.
"I believe NIH considered us because we have the multi-disciplinary team, we have the center in place with first-class facilities, and we have a reputation of doing quality science," Whittam said.
Whittam was appointed as a Hannah Distinguished Professor at the NFSTC in 2001. The John A. Hannah Distinguished Professorships were established in 1969 to expand and maintain excellence in the faculty across broad areas of MSU. Whittam, who is best known for his extensive work on the evolutionary factors associated with pathogenic E. coli O157:H7, is a member of the American Academy of Microbiology and has received the Research Career Development Award from the National Institutes of Health.
MAES Scientist Directs Life Science Corridor Grant Project
MSU has earned a grant from the Michigan Life Sciences Corridor (MLSC) initiative to help design microchip DNA technology that can help detect dangerous microorganisms in food and water.
The grant - totaling $1.1 million - will help researchers develop a DNA chip that will serve as a genetic screen or sieve to assist in the detection of thousands of microorganisms.
"The need for such a comprehensive and broad-range screening tool has been recognized for years in many areas, including diagnostics, air, water, food, animal and plant safety; waste treatment; and now bioterrorism," said James Tiedje, MAES crop and soil sciences and microbiology and molecular genetics scientist. Tiedje, a University Distinguished Professor, is director of the project.
Partnering with the University of Michigan and Xeotron, a Houston-based biotechnology company, the MSU Center for Microbial Ecology will work to develop the chip, which could be capable of detecting all known pathogens.
Established in 1999, the Michigan Life Sciences Corridor was created to invest in and promote life sciences research and business development.
