D6-Lmcattar Fanning Saturday, Novambar 23,1985
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BUSINESS NE
Sweep augers developed
diameter are available from Sudenga Industries. The
Sweeps are offered in five series with flight sizes from 5 1 /*” to
ll 1 /*" diameter. Capacities range from 550 to 6500 BPH.
The Sweeps are suitable for use in fertilizer. For more in
formation contact Sudenga Industries, Inc., Box 8, George, IA
51237.
Wisconsin father and son
top World Forage Superbowl
MADISON, Wise. - Orland
Reimer of Loganville, Wis., was
named a top winner at the recent
World Forage °uperbOwl, cap
turing three top placings in as
many divisions. Reimer received
first place in the hay, first cutting
division; first in the haylage, first
cutting category; and second place
in the hay, second-fifth cutting
division. The three winning entries
were produced with DEKALB 120
alfalfa
Also winning with 120 was
Or land’s son, Dan Reimer, who
received second place in the
haylage, first cutting category.
Other DEKALB-PFIZER winning
entries were grown by third place
winners Paul Sprecher, Sauk City,
Wis., in the hay, first cutting
division with DKI3S; and Forrest
Strieker, Wemersville, Pa., whose
stand of Advantage earned honors
in the haylage, first cutting
competition.
“We consider these awards to be
a real tribute to the fanners’
management,” says Mary Kay
Courtney, Alfalfa Product
Manager for DEKALB-PFIZER
GENETICS. “We’re pleased to
have our products put to the test by
these successful producers, and we
congratulate them on their out
standing performance.” One or
more of the top four placements in
in the 1985 World Forage Superbowl.
each of the four divisions was won
with DEKALB-PFIZER alfalfa
varieties. DeKalb 120 also won
three of the top four placings in the
1984 Forage Superbowl.
Reimer, a dairy operator who
farms 435 acres with his son, Dan,
says he is well satisfied with 120
alfalfa. “The fourth and fifth
cuttings were real good,” he says.
“120 comes back fast and has such
fine, leafy stems.”
His contest-winning stand is in
its third year. It was seeded at 15
pounds per acre, and 550 pounds of
potash was applied in split ap
plications, along with 75 pounds of
phosphate, 15 pounds of sulphur
and one pound of boron. Alfalfa
always has been the main hay crop
on Renner’s farm, and he adds.
“We used to have grass with it, but
for the last three years we’ve had
clear alfalfa.” He says that’s the
secret to growing better forage.
Reimer received a fifth-place
award with his hay increase in the
1984 Superbowl and previously was
honored as 1979 Sauk County Soil
Conservation Farmer of the Year.
The World Forage Superbowl is
sponsored by Holstein World Inc.,
the University of Wisconsin Ex
tension Service, Wisconsin Dairy
Herd Improvement Association
and the World Dairy Expo.
Monsanto scientists today reported on a new method for making plant cells, and whole
plants, resistant to the herbicide glyphosphate-the active ingredient in Roundup.® All
of these petunia plants have been sprayed with glyphosphate. The non-engineered
plants in the foreground are dead or dying, while the plants which contain an additional
gene for the production of a special enzyme are alive and growing. The Monsanto
technique was reported Nov. 2 at the First International Congress on Plant Molecular
Biology held in Savannah, Georgia.
SAVANNAH, Ga. - Monsanto
scientists today reported on a new
genetic engineering technique to
make plant cells and whole plants
resistant to the herbicide
glyphosate.
Robert T. Fraley and Dilip Shah
of the company’s Biological
Sciences Group coauthored a
paper on the research which was
presented today at the First In
ternational Congress on Plant
Molecular Biology. The conference
is sponsored by the University of
Georgia.
Glyphosate, the active
ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup
herbicide, kills plants by sup
pressing the activity of a plant
enzyme called EPSP synthase (5-
enol pyruvyl shikimate-3-
phosphate synthase) which
catalyzes the production of three
amino acids essential to plant
growth. Because EPSP synthase is
found only in plants and bacteria,
Firm tells of plan to buy
Kleen Leen from Purina
ST. LOUIS, MO - Pig Im
provement Company, Inc., an
international swine breeding
company with U.S.'headquarters
in Franklin, Kentucky, has sub
mitted a Letter of Intent to pur
chase Kleen Leen, Inc., a wholly
owned subsidiary of Purina Mills,
Inc.
The transaction is subject to the
execution of a definitive
agreement, but is expected to be
completed by December 31,1985.
“The combination of our two
companies will allow us to build an
organization well able to afford the
very best research and develop
ment so necessary in our business
and to spread these benefits fur
ther through the U.S. swine in
dustry,” said Ken Woolley, PIC
President. “The quality and
quantity of our products and
services will be second to none,
and our competitive ability to
distribute them will be
unrivalled.”
Mr. Woolley said the next two
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Monsanto develops plants
immune to herbicide
glyphosate is non-toxic to all
mammals, animals and humans.
Dr. Fraley and Dr. Shah
reported that they and their
colleagues, Drs. Robert B. Horsch,
Harry Klee and Stephen G.
Rogers, have developed a method
to insert a modified plant gene for
EPSP synthase production into the
plant cell chromosome where it
directs the overproduction of the
enzyme, providing the cell with
resistance to glyphosate. Using
tissue culture techniques, the
modified cells were regenerated
into whole plants which survived
when sprayed with the herbicide.
“The development of glyphosate
resistant crop plants could reduce
the amount of herbicides farmers
use to control weeds, making
farming more efficient and
economical," said Dr. Fraley,
manager, Plant Molecular
Biology. “Right now, farmers use
several different herbicides on
months will be a period of tran
sition, with all operations merged
as of January 1,1906.
Kleen Leen, Inc., one of the first
swine breeding companies
established in the U.S., was
founded in Liberty, Indiana, in
1962, and became a wholly-owned
subsidiary of the Ralston Purina
Company, parent company of
Purina Mils, Inc., in 1971. Its of
fices are located in St. Louis,
Missouri, and Research and
Development facilities are located
in Clarence, lowa, and William-
sburg, Indiana.
Pig Improvement Company,
established in England in 1962 with
the objective of developing and
marketing genetically improved
breeding stock, formed the U.S.
company in 1975 and currently
operates in 17 countries. Already
the largest swine seedstock
company in the world, this
acquisition will allow to
significantly improve its ability to
serve the needs of hog producers.
iISI
their land to control a variety of
weeds. If they could use
glyphosate, which is effective
against virtually all plants, they
could reduce the number of
chemicals they use and the
number of tri p the> iake across
the field.”
“The research on glyphosate
resistance reported today
represents a significant
achievement in Monsanto’s plant
genetic engineering program,”
said Howard A. Schneiderman,
senior vice president, research &
development. “Further research is
required, but the long range
product potential is indeed ex
citing.”
The Monsanto scientists iden
tified a gene in the chromosomal
DNA of a petunia plant which
directs the production of EPSP
synthase. The EPSP synthase
enzyme contains a unique protein
segment, called the chloroplast
transit peptide (CTP), which
enables the enzyme to be tran
sported into the chloroplast of the
plant cell where it catalyzes the
production of essential amino
acids. The EPSP synthase gene
containing the CTP segment was
then inserted into a plasmid from
Agrobacterium tumafaciens-a
bacterium which, in nature, can
insert its DNA into the DNA of
plant cells.
When the Agrobacterium cells
containing the engineered
plasmids were mixed with leaf
cells from petunia or tobacco
plants, the Agrobacterium in
serted the plasmids into the plant
cells where the EPSP synthase
gene was incorporated into the
cells’ chromosomes.
The transformed plant cells
were then grown on tissue culture
media containing glyphosate. “At
0.5 millimolar glyphosate there
was no growth on the controls,
while the transformed cells con
taining the new gene, showed
substantial growth, proving that
the EPSP synthase gene conferred
glyphosate resistance on the plant
cells,” Dr. Shah said. “These
transformed cells were
regenerated into whole plants
which when sprayed with
glyphosate were able to survive
and grow.”
“We believe that the EPSP
synthase enzyme encoded by the
newly inserted EPSP synthase
gene is processed by the cell in the
same manner as its native en
zyme. The CTP sequence allows
the enzyme to be transported into
chloroplasts where it carries out
its catalytic functions,” said Dr.
Shah.