It’s a Fact

Washington is the nation’s leading producer of sweet cherries. The crop returned about $169 million to the state’s 2,400 growers in 2003.

Family Meals Still on the Decline

Despite scientific evidence that families eat more nutritiously and children are less prone to high-risk behaviors when families eat together regularly, family meals continue to decline, according to registered dietitian Martha Marino of the Nutrition Education Network of Washington. The Nutrition Education Network is an alliance of public and private organizations coordinated through Washington State University Extension. “The increasing demands on our time pose a real challenge to families having regular meals together,” said Sue Butkus, a nutrition specialist at WSU’s Puyallup Research and Extension Center. “Between work schedules, soccer and band practices for the kids, video games and the Internet, family meals together tend to get squeezed out.” A national survey found that children who regularly eat with their families have fewer behavior problems in school. They also are less likely to get involved in drugs, alcohol and early sexual behavior.

For more information, visit: http://nutrition.wsu.edu/nen/.

Anaerobic Digestion: Turning manure into marketable bioproducts

Shulin Chen, acting director of the WSU Center for Bioproducts and Bioenergy and professor of biological systems engineering, is conducting research to optimize anaerobic digester design for converting animal manure into marketable bioproducts. He has found that manure can be transformed into three high-value products: methane, which could supply 40 percent of the region’s residential electrical energy; a fibrous, organic material that is a perfect soil conditioner for nursery plantings and home gardening; and a crystallized solid called struvite that is rich in nutrients, including nitrogen and phosphorus.

Anaerobic digestion is a natural, biological conversion process proven to be effective at converting wet organic wastes into biogas. That gas can be used to produce clean, renewable energy while also alleviating many of the environmental concerns associated with the waste, such as odor and greenhouse gas emissions. The process also helps to protect soil and water quality. The Vander Haak dairy in Whatcom County, a partnership in which WSU is involved, is operating the state’s first commercial anaerobic digester for dairy manure. The digester captures methane gas, which is then burned to generate electricity that is used by the farm, with any surplus generation being sold to the Northwest power grid.

Currently, the digester is generating about 285 kilowatts of power and processing the manure of 1,200 cattle.

For more information, visit: http://cff.wsu.edu/Project/dairy.html.

It’s a Fact

Washington’s growers are the top processing-carrot producers in the nation. They grew 157,700 tons in 2004, 37 percent of U.S. production. The sale of processing carrots
accounted for $11 million of Washington’s agricultural economy that year.

Biofuels Provide Alternative

Escalating energy prices have revived interest from consumers, policy makers, and industry in the potential for developing bioenergy resources, specifically liquid biofuels, to supplement petroleum-based gasoline and diesel. WSU scientists are evaluating a number of crops that could feed biofuels production in the state and fit within the rotation of the state’s traditional crops. Bill Pan, chair of the Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, and Bob Stevens, director of the Irrigated Agriculture Research and Extension Center at Prosser, are studying the growth habits and oil characteristics of giant reed. Researchers Hal Collins, Rick Boydston, Ashok Alva, An Hang and Steven Fransen are evaluating a number of oilseed crops. They include rapeseed, mustard, sunflower, safflower and soybean. The group is also evaluating switchgrass for use in ethanol production. John Browse, in the Institute of Biological Chemistry, has doubled the yield of fats in plant oils by understanding the genes that control fatty acid characteristics. Eventually, his work could help the nation reduce its dependence on fossil fuels and provide environmentally friendly ways to produce plastics, resins, and other chemical products.

For more information, visit: http://www.whitman.wsu.edu/documents/BioPresJ3_6.pdf.

Apple growers: Don’t forget the sunscreen!

Each year, sunburn damages about 10 percent of Washington’s $1.2 billion apple crop, costing growers about $120 million in gross income. Scientists at WSU’s Tree Fruit Research and Extension Center in Wenatchee have examined the effects of sunlight and fruit skin temperature on incidence of sunburn damages. They’ve identified three types of sunburn, most recently one that occurs on fruit that have not been acclimated to sunlight – shaded fruit exposed after thinning. Just-picked fruit allowed to sit in the bin in bright sunlight may also sunburn. A research team led by WSU Professor Larry Schrader invented RAYNOX, a film that can be sprayed on fruit to block the harmful effects of the sun. Available commercially since 2003, RAYNOX can reduce sunburn by 50 percent. It is now used on about 30,000 of the state’s 200,000 acres of apples and has increased gross income for those producers by about $10 million.

For more information, visit: http://www.whitman.wsu.edu/documents/BioPresJ3_6.pdf.

Spillman Marker Rededication, Oct. 21

Washington State University’s first wheat breeder will be honored at 11 a.m., Saturday, Oct. 21, when State Sen. Mark Schoesler and WSU President V. Lane Rawlins rededicate the Spillman Memorial Stone in the Clark Hall Plaza, near the intersection of Wilson Road and Lincoln Drive. William Jasper Spillman was a member of the Washington Agricultural College faculty from 1894 to 1902. “Professor Spillman’s first varieties were released in 1905,” said Steve Jones, WSU wheat breeder. “They were grown for more than 50 years and the genes from those varieties can be found in the pedigrees of today’s wheats. Spillman was the only American to independently rediscover Mendel’s Law of Heredity, which describes how traits are passed on genetically, and he is credited for gaining acceptance of Mendel’s Law among fellow scientists and farmers.

Spillman’s ashes were spread on research plots on the college campus where Spillman had conducted his wheat breeding work more than 30 years earlier. An inscribed granite memorial marker was dedicated at that location in 1940. The stone was removed in the late 1950s to make room for construction of Johnson Hall. In 1960, it was moved to the Spillman Agronomy Farm outside Pullman where it remained until 2006 when it was moved back to campus, within 100 feet of its original location.

For more information, visit: http://cahenews.wsu.edu/RELEASES/2006/06070.htm.

It’s a Fact

Every year, farmers on the Palouse Prairie grow 500 million pounds of dry peas and lentils, which are sent to more than 90 countries around the globe.

New Products, New Jobs

When small forest landowners in economically depressed, forest-dependent communities in Washington were looking for new products to generate income to support their families and keep their land, WSU Extension was there to help. Extension Educator James Freed worked with area tribes, state agencies and the U.S. Forest Service to develop a plan to integrate special forest products, including mushrooms, medicinal plants, floral greenery, wild edibles, craft materials and native landscape plants, into traditional forestry management plans. Since 2004, at least 22 new businesses have been organized in Washington – and a dozen others in surrounding states – as a result. Those companies have approximately 85 full-time employees and more than 250 part-time employees, with gross annual income exceeding $1.9 million.

For more information, visit: http://ext.nrs.wsu.edu/Video/special.html.

Wiring the Wine Industry

Graduate student Kathryn House wants to wire the world of wine for WSU students studying one of the state’s fastest growing agricultural industries. A WSU alumna pursuing her master’s degree in horticulture, House is creating an on-line teaching laboratory that allows enology and viticulture students to put what they learn in the classroom to work in a virtual vineyard. While the program can’t replace the experience garnered by actually working at a winery or vineyard, House said it does help students understand the connections between the individual areas of study their degrees entail.

Students participating in the virtual vineyard decide where they want to locate their vineyard, what kind of tests are needed to determine things such as soil quality and moisture holding capacity, what grapes varieties will be planted where, pest management methods, trellising systems and just about every other aspect of the industry. In addition, students will receive a virtual budget to manage. “The industry has been very receptive and responsive,” House said. “They are really interested in making sure students are well prepared to go to work after they graduate. We’re focused on filling the needs of the wine industry in our state.”

For more information, visit: http://cahnrsnews.wsu.edu/reportertools/news/2005/virtual-vineyard-2005-05.html.

Wasps All the Buzz in Crop Protection

A team of Extension educators in eastern Washington, led by Extension agronomist Diana Roberts, is deploying wasps to manage cereal leaf beetles, which attack wheat, oats, barley, and other crops in the grass family. They have released two biocontrol species, both minute wasps that are not harmful to people, pets, livestock or plants. One species lays its eggs in the eggs of cereal leaf beetles and stops development of the beetle at that stage. The other wasp parasitizes the cereal leaf beetle larvae.

For more information, visit: http://cahnrsnews.wsu.edu/reportertools/news/2006/extension-seeks-2006-03.html

It’s a Fact

Organic food is one of the fastest growing segments of agriculture. According to the USDA, retail sales have escalated at the rate of 20 percent annually since 1990.

Roundworms Help Scientists Understand Cholesterol Regulation

Microscopic roundworms are helping scientists better understand what regulates cholesterol and fatty acid levels in the body, according to Washington State University researcher Jennifer Watts. Her work was included in an article recently published in the scientific journal Nature, and focuses on a substance that activates the SREBP protein, which in turn, activates genes that regulate cholesterol and fatty acids levels.

Watts, an assistant research professor in the Institute of Biological Chemistry, uses C. elegans to examine the role unsaturated fatty acids play. “The roundworms are easy to study because all of their genes have been mapped and techniques exist which allow us to turn them on and off in order to see how they function in the worms,” she said. “We have identified a number of genes which regulate fat storage. In the absence of the mediator and SREBP proteins, those genes were turned off, and the worms lost a lot of their fat stores.” Watts helped analyze data for the Nature article. In the long term, her work could lead to an answer to the obesity problems that plague many humans today.

For more information, visit: http://www.ibc.wsu.edu/research/watts/index.htm

Mapping the Tree Fruit Genome Mosaic

Better apples, peaches, pears and cherries at the market sooner– that is one benefit of research by WSU bioinformaticist Dorrie Main. Main is mapping the DNA mosaic of the plant family rosaceae, which includes Washington’s largest crop – apples – and other fruit such as cherries, peaches, berries and almonds. She focuses on genes related to fruit quality – sugar and acid levels, color, firmness and fruit size – as well as other useful traits such as cold hardiness, disease resistance and post-harvest decay. DNA-based markers for genes with these traits give fruit breeders the ability to pre-select seedlings that contain the improvements, which shortens the time it takes to develop commercially acceptable varieties.

It’s a Fact

Washington ranks first in the nation in milk production per cow. The average Washington cow produced 1,965 gallons of milk in 2004 compared to the national average of 1,630 gallons. Washington ranks 10th in total milk production, exceeding 466,000,000 gallons in 2004.

Gold for Cougar Gold

Cougar Gold, Washington State University’s famous white, sharp cheddar cheese, earned a Gold Award at the prestigious 2006 World Cheese Awards in London this past June. Contest chair Bob Farrand compared winning gold at the World Cheese Awards to “taking gold in the Olympics.” WSU Creamery Manager Russ Salvadalena said the award means that “the Cougar Gold cheese manufactured by our students is recognized internationally as a ‘world class’ cheese.” The competition attracted 1,500 entries from around the world. Twenty-three U.S. companies came home with 43 medals. Cougar Gold was developed at the WSU Creamery in the 1940s. and named for the principal researcher N.S. Golding. Cougar Gold is aged for one year and sold in 30-ounce cans.

For more information, visit http://www.wsu.edu/creamery/cougarcheese/faqs.htm.

Relishing the Use of Mustard Greens

Extension agricultural systems educator Andy McGuire is researching the use of mustard green manures as a means of improving soil quality, managing soil-borne pests and increasing profits by replacing use the fumigant metam sodium in potato crops. He estimates savings at approximately $66 per acre.

Pike Place Event Highlights Partnerships

Fresh, local mussels with corn and cilantro. Cranberry/black bean cakes with spicy tomato chutney. Heirloom tomatoes. The finest organic foods of Washington and the Washington State University research that helped make them possible were on display at the “WSU at Pike Place Market” event in Seattle last Thursday. Nearly 300 people sampled everything from apples to wine and had the opportunity to visit with WSU and Extension faculty at the same time.

Potato producer Dale Gies of Moses Lake was there with Extension educator Andy McGuire. McGuire’s research focuses on ways to reduce the use of synthetic fertilizers in potato production. Drew Zimmerman of Red Barn Cider in the Skagit Valley served samples of his hard cider; he works with WSU fruit horticulturalist Gary Moulton, who is developing new ways of adding value to the state’s traditional farm products. Altogether, more than 25 producer/researcher partnerships were featured.

It’s a Fact

There are 13,000 ranchers and cattlemen in Washington, and receipts from Washington cattle sales exceeded $540,000,000 in 2004. That figure does not take into account the multiplier effect to the state’s economy from businesses supporting the beef industry.

Genetic Link to Juicy Steaks

Breeding beef cattle to get the flavorful, juicy steaks consumers crave may have just gotten easier. Scientists in Washington State University’s Animal Sciences Department have identified genetic links to marbling and subcutaneous fat depth in beef cattle. These findings potentially will enable producers to tailor production so that they can earn premium prices for products that people will pay for.

The research is beginning to look at genetic components of fatty acid composition, which may be related to the health attributes of beef. This includes increasing the presence of oleic acid, a monounsaturated fatty acid. Monounsaturated fatty acids tend to decrease LDL cholesterol, the form of cholesterol in the blood which can cause formation of plaques on the inners walls of arteries that serve the heart and brain. Fatty acids can also have an impact on palatability, the lean-to-fat ratio in animals and processing characteristics of beef.

For more information about lead scientist Zhihua Jiang, visit http://www.ansci.wsu.edu/people/jiang/faculty.asp.

Turning Wheat Straw Residue into Revenue

A byproduct of growing wheat is straw. Each year the Pacific Northwest produces more than four million tons of wheat straw. With stringent regulations limiting field burning, it just makes sense to find a way of turning this residue into revenue. One of the obstacles to making straw-based composites competitive is the cost of bonding agents. To date, the only adhesive that effectively bonds straw is three times more expensive than the aminoplastic resins that are typically used in the wood-based composite industry.

As a result, economical production of straw composites is a challenge. Scientists in Environmental Engineering are investigating various treatments to activate the straw surface for bonding with the more economical aminoplastic resins. Looking at different refining strategies, the scientists have made strawboards with good mechanical properties. They continue to work on improving the composite’s swelling properties.

For more information, visit http://onsolidground.wsu.edu/wheatstraw.html.

World Class Rankings for WSU

Washington State University ranked 24th in the world over the last decade in terms of how the agricultural science generated by WSU researchers is used by other scientists, according to the latest issue of Science Watch newsletter, which tracks trends and performance in basic research. During the same period, Barry Swanson, a WSU food scientist, was the world’s 22nd most cited author in agricultural sciences, according to the newsletter.

“This data illustrates the world-class research conducted by WSU faculty such as Barry Swanson and its impact around the globe,” said James Petersen, vice provost of research at Washington State University. “Seminal research conducted at WSU changes the direction of science and improves lives of individuals around the world. This information illustrates that WSU truly is one of the world’s great land-grant research universities.”

WSU was the 13th highest ranked U.S. university on the Science Watch top 25 list, which includes universities and national research agencies in Finland, Ireland, Sweden, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Canada, Denmark, Spain, France, Australia and the United States.

Swanson is best known for his work in the control of microbial contaminants in food, fat substitutes and vegetable processing. He joined the WSU faculty in 1973, and during his career, he has received numerous awards and honors, including twice being named Nally’s Fine Foods outstanding researcher of the year.

In 2002, Swanson was elected a fellow in the Society for Food Science and Technology, Institute of Food Technologists. He currently serves as editor of the Journal of Food Procession and Preservation.

For further information, see http://fshn.wsu.edu/facultystaff/swansonb.htm.

It’s a Fact

Barley is grown in every county in Washington state; however, the principal production areas are in the central and eastern portions of the state. The top five barley producing counties in Washington are Whitman, Lincoln, Spokane, Garfield, and Columbia.

New Systems Degree Responds to Marketplace Demand

Washington State University received approval from the state Higher Education Coordinating Board in June to offer a bachelor’s of science degree in Agriculture and Food Systems starting in the fall of 2006. The new degree will provide students with a broader perspective of agriculture and equip them with the critical thinking, leadership, communication and problem-solving skills that employers are seeking. Five majors are offered, including the nation’s first Organic Agriculture Systems major. The others are: agricultural business and technology systems, agricultural education, pest management systems and plants and soil systems.

For more information, visit http://afs.wsu.edu/overview.htm.

The Perennial Question

A team of WSU researchers is making natural crosses between wheat and its perennial relatives, such as perennial grasses, to convert wheat from an annual to a perennial growth cycle. Perennial wheat should only need to be replanted every three to seven years, resulting in a more environmentally friendly farming system that aids in the reduction of water and wind erosion and ultimately cleaner air and water, improved wildlife habitat and an economically viable alternative to the Federal Conservation Reserve Program. Perennial wheat has been growing for three years at the Spillman Agronomy Farm and is being tested in fields in Franklin and Adams counties.

For more information, visit http://www.washington-state-magazine.wsu.edu/stories/04-summer/wheat/.

Good Bug/Bad Bug

While reliance on conventional broad-spectrum insecticides is still the dominant insect pest control tactic used on apples in Washington, development of resistance in pests, especially codling moth and leafrollers, has brought new urgency in the quest for alternative tactics. This, coupled with regulatory action, most notably the Food Quality Protection Act of 1996, and concerns from environmental, consumer and farm worker advocacy groups over pesticides, will hasten the loss of the “traditional” chemical controls. Entomologists Jay Brunner, director of WSU’s Tree Fruit Research and Extension Center, and Elizabeth Beers are looking at alternative pest control tactics that include new highly selective insecticides, biological control, cultural control and behavioral control to determine the potential for producing apples without the use of broad-spectrum insecticides.

For more information, visit http://www.tfrec.wsu.edu/summary/JFB.html.