Scientists score breakthrough in disease control
UNIVERSITY PARK -
Scientists at Penn State have made
a “breakthrough” in managing
genes to solve some of the age-old
problems of protecting crops from
diseases.
From experiments, the scien
tists have discovered that single
genes once considered ineffective
in controlling diseases - and thus
discarded - are resistant when
combined.
EPHRATA Morris Brown, Jr.,
president of PennAg Industries
Association, Thursday called upon
national leaders to form a more
consistent and definite policy to
continue the economic health of the
nation’s top industry
Agriculture.
"This week we celebrated
Agriculture Day nationally,”
Brown stated “Let’s take time to
assess the assets that agriculture
and related industries have
provided us and take steps to
continue its economic growth. ”
US. agriculture, with a 1980
record $927 billion in assets, em
ploys over 15 million people and
has been a top inflation fighter
with productivity growth five
tunes that of non-farm businesses
during the last five years.
Ag-related businesses were also
active in exporting $4O billion farm
products in 1980 to qualify as the
nation’s top exporter.
“We have noted two recent
examples of inconsistencies in our
national ag policies concerning the
U S 5.R.,” Brown said
“On the one hand, the U S has
apparently decided to continue the
gram embargo which has proven
more annoying than effective to
the Soviets. Indeed, some students
of Russia even suggest the con-
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Used in plant breeding vestigatmg the powdery mildew
programs, such genes complement disease of wheat, they found that
other genes and can strengthen disease resistance known as race
greatly the disease resistance of specific and race non-specific are
plants, according to Richard R. both conditioned by the same
Nelson and David R. MacKenzie, genes.
plant pathologists with the “This discovery makes it
Agricultural Experiment Station possible to use more of the race
at Penn State. non-specific genes in breeding
Nelson and MacKenzie programs, thereby improving the
developed a disease model to disease resistance of plant
evaluate genetic strategies. In- varieties,” Nelson stated.
Local group
consistent ag policy
tinuation of the embargo may be
counter-productive to our ex
pectation. Soviet ag policy makers
are under greater-than-ever
pressure to make their nation self
sufficient.”
“On the otherhand,” Brown
continued, “PennAg has learned
the Soviet officials have been
working to obtain American
projections of Russian crop
production. These projections are
based on satellite runs over the
Soviet Union.”
According to a report recently
released in U.S. News & World
Report, Soviet agricultural of
ficials in Moscow have admitted
the U.S. information on their
country’s outlook is better than
that available from the Kremlin.
When contacted, Washington
officials neither demed nor con
firmed that such information has
been shared with the Soviets,
service and Direct-Herd sales!
(January/81 USDA Production and January/80 HFA Type Summaries)
asks
although they did note that all such
crop production information is
made public at regular intervals
and therefore could be used by
Russian officials.
Whether or not such information
is given directly in indirectly,
Brown believes a more consistent
ag policy is needed; one that is
devoid of political overtones and
protects the future of the nation’s
top industry.
Other leaders m the agricultural
community have echoed Brown’s
sentiments. Stressed in the call for
such a national commitment have
been such key elements as:
assurance of fair rate of return on
investment; preservation of prime
agricultural lands; support of
research and development;
renewed emphasis on the federal,
state and local government part
nership; and reasonable laws and
regulations
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One immediate practical ap
plication of this information will be
to control nee blast, a disease of
worldwide significance. The
disease is so destructive that rice
grown in much of the tropical
world must be sprayed weekly
with fungicides or the crop will die.
“Major areas of Africa and
South America could now be
growing nee were it not for this
disease,’’ MacKenzie said. “The
casual fungus is so genetically
explosive that the usefulness of a
nee variety lasting more than two
years is considered unique.”
The Penn Staters are now
working with scientists of the
International Center for Tropical
Agriculture in Cali, Colombia,
South Amenca. The project is
reorganizing breeding strategies
to enable genes to resist the rice
blast. The project is financed by
the Rockfeller Foundation through
the Agricultural Experiment
Station.
Benefits for American farmers
-
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Sire: Round Oak Rag Apple Elevation EX & GM
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Lancaster Fanning, Saturday, March 21,1981—023
Penn State plant pathologist Richard Nelson, left, and
David MacKenzie, right, examine wheat and rice seedlings in
their search for new sources of resistance to disease. Their
research into gene management is expected to contribute to
a more stable food production.
Will come from this new discovery,
the Penn Staters point out, as plant
breeders begin to conserve genes
for resistance rather than
discarding them out of frustration.
“Plant breeders may soon be in
a position to manage many of the
classic diseases of major food
crops, greatly reducing our
dependence on fungicides and the
prospect of famine,” Nelson af
firmed.
Resistance to plant disease is
said to “break down” when
variants among disease organisms
become dominant. Unfortunately,
changes in the population of
disease organisms can occur
rapidly. Diseases among crops like
wheat and rice currently limit
production of these crops in many
parts of the world.
MacKenzie and Nelson indicated
in their report that the science of
plant breeding requires a constant
war against disease organisms
such as bacteria, fungi, and
viruses.
599 F
+ 32F