' iFarmlhjg, Friday,- June -7, 1957 Beltsville Plant Scientists Find New Way to Detect Stripe Mosaie Two new research weapons against stripe-mosaic (false disease of barley and .wheat have been developed in work at USDA’s Agricultural Ke iseartShCenter, Beltsville, MtL The weapons are simple, ’Casy tto-do tests that identify plants in jected with mild or latent strains u>£ the seedbome virus. These .tests provide a -practical and ef fective method of selecting virus ifree jfiants of commercial variet ies for use in building-up supplies <nf healthy crop seed for distribu tion to growers. Stripe-mosaic disease, ranging feom mild to severe, is-widely dis tributed in barleys throughout the United States. Distribution in wheat is not yet clearly known, 'but experiments with several commercial varieties indicate that milk forms of the disease may be cutting yields more seriously than has been supposed. In recent -tests with Rushmorc wheat, for an extremely mild strain of the stripe-mosaic virus reduced yields about 30 per cent. In Pilot, infected with a natural mixture of mostly very mild and semivirulent strains, yield down 64 per cent. Stripe-mosaic virus is the only PASTURES For year round grazing sow a Swiss Permanent Pasture. Beady to pasture in S weeks. No more reseeding. We also have an excellent Hay—Pasture Silage Mix 2-3 cows per acre grazing. Casupa Super - Green. Pastures. FRED FREY QUARRYVILLE, PA.. ' ST 6-2235 SEE US FOR . . . ★ Eshelman Red Rose Poultry and Dairy Feeds ★ W—W—F Poultry and Livestock Feeds ★ Fertilizers ★ Spray Materials ★ Building Supplies WEST WILLOW FARMERS ASSOCIATION WEST WILLOW Ph. Lane. EX 4-5019 FAMOUS FOR DELIVERY IN MINUTES [ A pen of new Honegger iTayers ! » topped the nation In all . i official 1955-56 Standard laying | i tests 87% Production and i i 100% Livability —' Order the < ; new Chix NOWI | I WINDLE’S HONEGGER V ' | ASSOC. HATCHERIES f . PH. LYric 3-SMI COCRRANVILLE, PA. WTfnyfapfHnyiW I I The prospects for a better egg market . I are better than ever j virus known to be carried in the seed of a grass species. Since there is no known method of kill ing the virus in the seed, selec tion of virus-free plants is the only means of combatting this important cereal disease. Mild or latent strains of the virus produce few or no visible symptoms, even in highly sus ceptible varieties of wheat and barley. But scientists have- sus pected for some time that a virus is causing the progressively lower 'yields in certain areas planted to particular varieties. Farmers say the varieties are “running out’ 1 , bid there is mo sound genetic .ex planation for the claim. It now looks as if an answer to some of these cases has been found in symptomless strains of stripe* mosaic virus. •The new methods of detecting plants carrying milk or latent strains df the virus were devel oped by ARS pathologist H. H. McKinney. He describes them .as “insurance against passing very milk strains that do not come to expression in our most sensiitve tester plants.” In other words, they are used as supplementary tests in "routine indexing ofplants, for freedom from the disease. The only methods now avail able for screening out these milk viruses involve serological testing or the use of an electron micro scope. Both require highly skilled scientists and expensive equip ment all badly needed for more fundamental studies. McKinney’s tests the “block ing test” and the “synergy test” are so simple that any high school graduate can learn to run them under minimum supervi sion. McKinney and associates at Beltsville have isolated virus-free plants of several wheat and bar ley varieties and are beginning to increase seed for larger-scale. field tests at cooperating State -Record Food Grain 1 > Carryover Predicted The total Carryover of feed grains into 1957-58 from this year’s big supply is likely to be around six million tons more than the record 43 nlillion ‘tons carried over. into 195857, accord ing to the May 21-Feed Situation, report of the Agricultural Mar keting Service. - 13ie total supply of feed grains and other concentrates available! for the 1956-57 feeding year is' now estimated at slightly over 400. million tons, whicli is about four .million tons more than in 1955- 56. The current AMS report indi cates, however, that total disap pearance of feed concentrates from this big supply will be slightly smaller than in 1955-56* mainly due to reduced exports. agricultural experiment stations. Compana and Wintex barley and an Agropyron-wheat hybrid are* among those screened so far. The blocking test requires only healthy tester <highly suscepti ble) plants and a virulent strain of stnpe-mosaic virus. The test is based on McKinney’s discovery that a barley or wheat plant in fected with a mild form of the •virus is immune to a severe form. The milk virus blocks further in fection by the virulent strain. Thus, if a plant inoculated with a virulent strain does not come down with the disease, chances are the plant was already infected with a milk or latent strain. All seedlings that show signs of the disease are'removed from a given lot, and the apparently healthy ones are planted far enough apart to prevent inter plant contact. Since the object is to obtain virus-free the selected seedlings cannot be in oculated directly. Instead, juice is pressed from a sample leaf of each plant and inoculated into virus free tester seedlings of bar ley or wheat. (Thorough sampling is important because the virus may not be present m all leaves of a mildly infected plant.) After 10 days, if these inoculated seed lings show no sign of the disease, they are inoculated with a viru lent strain of the virus. If they still fail to react, the virulent strain must have been blocked by a mikL strain trans mitted in the juice from the se lected plant. The plant is there fore considered a virus carrier and is discarded. On the other hand, if inocu lated seedlings develop stripe mosaic, no blocking has occurred. The selected plant is considered healthy and suitable for produc ing virus-free seed. The selected plants can be sam pled and tested several times, and the tester plants can be inoc ulated with the virulent strain at lesjst twice to detect possible escapes. The synergy test is a rather radical departure from the coif ventional concept- of screening disease-free plants. It is based on another McKinney discovery: that' plants infected with both stripe mosaic virus and brome-mosaic virus produce accentuated reac-, tions. That is, the two viruses team up and pack a bigger wallop than either can alone. So McKin ney Used the brome virus to be tray the stripe-mosaic into show ing itself. To run the test, brome-mosaic virus is inoculated directly into the selected plants. Those already infected with milk or latent stripe-mosaic virus -become se verely stunted and show heavy chlorotic markings on the leaves. These phmts are virus carriers and should be discarded. A “milk” reaction indicates that the plant is infected with the brome virus only. Thus, these plants are considered free of strip'e-mosaic infection and good for propagating purposes. (The brome-mosaic virus is not seed borne and will not affect subse quent yields of grain.) The synergy test requires less time and work than the blocking test and may prove to be more practical, the Beltsville research ers believe. Is Better Fed Than America WASHINGTON Herschel D. Newsom, Master of the National Grange, bis pointed out that Americans are not well fed com pared with many sections of the rest of the world. Newsom said evidence of this was that the U. S. stands 13th in the per capita consumption of milk and dairy products. -Ireland leads the World in'the per -person consumption of milk and dairy products,-he said, with an annual per capita consump tion amounting to nearly 1,500 pounds. Five nations, namely, New Zealand, Sweden. Australia,- and Canada all consume over 1,000 pounds per capita per .year, he pointed out, while the United States figure stands at about 700 pounds.. Red meat consumption in this, country, he said, is less than 175 pounds per person, placing it fifth among the world’s family of nations. Only in the field of poultry meat, Newsom says, do the people in our nation lead the world. Average consumption of SPECIAL BUYI SOFA BEDS As Low As .$59.00 WWNAAAA^AAAAAAAA^WVWVWSA^VVSA i 4500 SQUARE FEET OF \ NATIONALLY ADVERTISED 5 FURNITURE ON DISPLAY \ ' cf nrp Wniii-Q- Mon., Tues., Wed. 9 A.M. to 6 P.M. Hours. ThurS j Fri j Sat — 9AM t 0 9 P . M . DELIVERY AVAILABLE EASY TERMS FREE PARKING NOW ... 2 STORES TO SERVE YOU BETTER MARTINDALE INTERCOURSE FURNITURE STORE BRANCH PH. HILLCREST 5-2932 PH. SOB-3752 “The Cash Discount Stores” ■———~—*- - * ■ - . . I ★ CLOISTER RELIEF ASSOCIATION I | - EPHRATA, PENNA. | 1 -s . , Announces to Members and Interested Persons < E | jyj ACCIDENTAL DEATH BENEFIT ... $2OOO I D CURRENT NATURAL DEATH dW AftA ( BENEFIT .. ~ $-LUUU , (Maximum assessment per death—sl.lo per member) vj I MOTE: To be eligible you must be between 16 .and ( *“ 55 years of age, inclusive. Those above age J 50 must submit with their application an ap- ( N plication from a member who is NOT over age < i _ 30. Enrollment ends for this above 50, ( 1 O 7/20/57. | i W HOW TO ENROLL; Secure information and appli- ] 1 cation cards from G. R. KLINEFELTER, INS. . | AGENCY, 23 W. MAIN ST., EPHRATA. Re- , , turn application and $1.50 to above address. < THE EMBLEM OF QUALITY and SERVICE Wolgemuth Bros., Inc. Phones: Mount Joy 3-9551 and 3-8311 | farm Marketing Cash 11 Upfour Per Cent Latest AMS figures on the de mand and price situation show that farmers received 8.4 bilion dollars from farm marketings m the hirst four months of 1957, up three per cent from the same months of 1956. Receipts from livestock and livestock products, at 5.3 billion dollars, were six per months of 1956. Crop receipts were 3 J billion dollars, about the same as last year. poultry meat in the U. S. is bet ter than 35 pounds annually per person, white' Canada, holding second place has an average of around 30 pounds. ', Uruguay is the top red meat eating country with a per capita consumption of 232 a year. Australia,, second, consum es 288 pounds per person; JJew Zealand, third, 192 pounds; Ar gentina, fourth. 182 pounds. Newsom said that “this is -evi dence enough that farmers are going to have to take a far more active interest in self-help sales promoting and merchandising programs. We are in competition with every other industry m the country,” he said, “for the con sumer’s dollar, and we are not getting our share.” n^fepV Florin, Pennsylvania
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers