New Cultivars Vitalize Cajun State’s Sugar Industry

Bananas Foster, beignets, pralines, and king cake are classic desserts in Louisiana, and the thing that ties them together is sugar. Lots of sugar. As it turns out, sugar’s origins are just as wild as you might expect for a plant that grows in the land of Mardi Gras; sugarcane, the most famous source of sugar, is a weedy grass.

Louisiana is unique among sugarcane-producing areas because its “weeds” come from more than one species. That’s a good thing because scientists at the Agricultural Research Service’s (ARS) Sugarcane Research unit in Houma, LA, use genetics to breed new varieties every 13 years or so to stay one step ahead of pests and diseases and promote other beneficial traits.

In this case, sugarcane variety HoCP14-885 features disease-resistance, the ability to withstand freezing temperatures, and contain greater sugar content — which allows the industry to produce sugar in half the time it takes many other countries. The ARS scientists can trace the pedigree of HoCP14-885 back 16 generations to the late 1800s.

Sugarcane is big business in Louisiana; the crop is grown on 480,000 acres, employs 19,000 people, and has an annual value of over $2.3 billion.

Do Not Disturb

Soil Condition Affects How Rangelands Respond to Climate Change

Grasslands play a pivotal role in the American landscape, providing forage for livestock, and also serving as one of the most effective means to sequester carbon in the soil. However, ARS researchers have discovered that the condition of that soil dramatically affects how well grasslands can perform these functions. Over five years, the researchers simulated future atmospheric conditions by raising CO2 and temperature levels in dedicated plots of grassland. Some plots were intact, populated by native plants, while others were characterized by soil disturbance – the kind of disruption caused by practices like tillage.

One of the most dramatic discoveries of the researchers’ study was the extent to which invasive plants took hold in areas where the soil was disturbed. The unpalatable invasive plants – those that animals can’t or won’t eat – spread profusely in the disturbed patches of land, crowding out other plants and reducing overall biodiversity. Intact plots of land, by contrast, saw much greater biodiversity, and responded with more resilience to the changed environmental conditions, retaining the ability to sequester carbon in the soil more effectively. The results provide guidance both for researchers who want to more accurately predict how different regions will respond to changing climate conditions, and for farmers, ranchers and other managers to better understand how their choices affect the land they steward.

Read "Soil Disturbance Reduces Resilience of Rangelands to Climate Change," and the original study is available online.

Sugar Byproducts May Help Refresh the Environment

The average American consumes 17 teaspoons of sugar per day. It takes a lot of raw material to create all that sweetness, but there is a downside – what do you do with all the leftover sugarcane processing waste?

Scientists with the Agricultural Research Service’s (ARS) Southern Regional Research Center (SRRC), in New Orleans, LA, are turning that waste into products that can refresh the soil. Two examples involve mill mud and bagasse.

Mill mud is an enriched sludge that is full of organic carbon, nitrogen, and nutrient minerals. The mud can help restore fertility to sandy soil and land affected by erosion or biomass burning.

Bagasse, the rest of the sugarcane plant once the sugar is removed, can be an inexpensive component of fuel, paper, particle board, mulch, and roughage feed for herds. Bagasse is also a natural filter to remove organic and metal contaminants from water.

Read "Sweetening the Deal" to learn more.

ARS Scientists Improve Nutrients and Add Value to Rice Crop

Rice, already the primary staple for half the world’s population, is getting a makeover from a research team at the Agricultural Research Service’s Southern Regional Research Center (SRRC) in New Orleans, LA. The results are a more healthful grain and many potential new products.

One development is a rice variety reduces the amount of digestible starch. Rice is mostly starch, of which only 1-2% resists digestion. The newer rice varieties have at least 8-10% resistant starch. Resistant starch is not digested in the small intestine; rather, it passes through to the large intestine, where it ferments and produces beneficial metabolites that help prevent diabetes, fat loss, and reduced risk of colorectal cancer.

In addition, red and purple whole grain rice offer more colorful and healthy options to put on their plates – and provide some of the same antioxidants as fruits, like grapes and blueberries. Antioxidants help neutralize free radicals, which are thought to play a role in a variety of diseases, including cancer, diabetes, and some eye diseases.

Healthy and tasty new products include a rice-based horchata, a sweet drink made with sprouted rice, and a rice version of iced tea made by cold-brewing purple rice bran.

Read "New Research Re-envisions Worldwide Staple" for more information.

Beauty or a Beast?

The spotted lanternfly (SLF) is an insect with spectacular coloring, but that beauty comes with a cost. With a taste for almonds, apples, apricots, grapes, peaches, and plums, this invasive pest is highly destructive to crops--various estimates put the potential economic damage in the billions of dollars.

Originally found in China and North Korea, SLF was first sighted in the United States in 2014, in Pennsylvania. Since then, ARS researchers have been hot on the trail of this destructive insect.

Read Spotted Lanternfly Lands in U.S.to learn more.

Tree-mendous Benefits

Agroforestry Helps Farms and Ecosystems Thrive

The integration of trees into farmland through a practice known as agroforestry provides a wealth of benefits to both farmers and local ecosystems. Farmers appreciate the trees’ ability to prevent erosion caused by wind, especially during periods of drought when soil is drier than usual, and more prone to turning to dust. By acting as windbreaks, a group or row of trees can effectively retain precious fertile soil on farmland. USDA helped farmers to use this technique during the Dust Bowl, and has expanded it ever since, with great success.

Trees also provide a host of other benefits, including carbon sequestration, water quality improvement, and climate change adaptation through modification of the local microclimate. Perhaps one of their most important functions for farmers and local ecosystems is pollinator habitat creation. By providing safe havens for bees, birds, and other pollinators to build their homes, trees support these critical creatures, whose behavior enables crops to grow.

Learn more about how agroforestry helps farmers and the environment or see how ARS is researching the benefits of agroforestry by watching these videos.

• What is Agroforestry?
• Regenerative Farming | Agroforestry

Saving Seeds for the Future

ARS scientists are helping to preserve the genetic diversity of our food crops by storing the germplasm (seeds and other parts) of hundreds of thousands of plants at the National Laboratory for Genetic Resources Preservation in Fort Collins, Colorado. Using both conventional and cryogenic freezing techniques, they are able to maintain seeds for up to 50 years. The center is part of a larger effort at ARS locations nationwide to store plant, animal, insect, and microbial material for industry and the research community.

Watch this video The U.S. National Plant Germplasm System - An Overview to learn more.

Harnessing a Familiar Foe

Scientists Fight Invasive Species with Predators from Back Home

Biodiversity provides many benefits, from the sheer beauty of complex creatures to the practical value of organisms that might be the next miracle drug or climate-resilient crop. However, the diversity of our ecosystems is under threat. One of the most persistent challenges comes from invasive species — non-native organisms that spread explosively, competing with and harming native plants or animals. Recently, several U.S. states have been battling an invasion by the Brazilian peppertree, a woody evergreen shrub that grows in dense thickets and crowds out native vegetation. The peppertree’s fruit is toxic when consumed by wildlife, and many people have allergic reactions to its pollen and sap. To date, it has spread within California, Florida, Hawaii, and Texas. In Florida alone, it covers more than 700,000 acres.

ARS scientists have identified one possible tool to fight this invasion: Brazilian peppertree thrips (Pseudophilothrips ichini) are insects that attack the peppertree in its native environment. The researchers found that they can also survive and attack it in the new U.S. areas where it has spread. In pursuing this approach, the scientists are using a strategy that has shown great promise in fighting invasive species elsewhere: biological control agents. Instead of applying pesticides that can have detrimental environmental impacts, or manually removing invasive plants, which can be too labor-intensive and costly to be practical, the scientists identified a species that was ideally suited to preying on the invasive plant — because it already did just that in its native environment. This strategy can be a gamble, because not all biocontrol agents thrive in new environments. In this case, however, the scientists found that a majority — about 60% — of the thrip communities survived in Florida. At that level, they could be a lasting threat to the invasive Brazilian peppertree plants — and part of a much-needed solution for native plants and animals.

Want to learn more? Read "Thrips Show Promise in Controlling the Invasive Brazilian Peppertree in Florida".

Flooding The Fields for Our Fowl Friends

Mississippi Delta farmers often use managed flooding to raise water levels in their fields in the winter to attract ducks. But now, ARS researchers are finding that adjustments to the timing of those floods may provide added benefits. By starting the process slightly earlier in the year — in September, rather than November or December — the farmers can create critical habitat for migratory shore birds, which can use the flooded fields as a stop on their path south. The researchers are also exploring whether the earlier flooding could provide farmers with benefits like improved soil health, creating a potential win-win for them and their avian visitors. Read Flooding Fields May Be a Win-Win For Farmers and Birds in the Mississippi Delta to learn more.

Giving the Home Team an Advantage

How ARS Scientists are Helping Native Plants Thrive

ARS scientists in Burns, OR are giving native plants — and the ecosystems they support — a helping hand by combatting invasive plants. Invasive plants, which are brought in from outside the ecosystem, spread prolifically and can damage the regional or local environment. One significant example is cheatgrass growing on our rangelands. This invasive plant, along with some native weeds, competes for the same resources as beneficial native plants, and affects millions of acres of land in the U.S. In many areas, it can also create ideal conditions for spreading wildfires.

To blunt the impact of invasive plants, the scientists in Burns are conducting several projects designed to help restore regional and local ecosystems to their original condition and function, like re-planting native species in ways that favor their survival. In doing so, they are supporting not just the native plants, but the ability of those plants to provide valuable ecosystem services, like preventing erosion and maintaining soil health. Healthy soil, in turn, forms the foundation of all the activities we depend on, from growing the crops that feed us and our animals to providing clean air and water.

Watch our video Rangeland Restoration to learn more.