AMES, lA. - Even if you could
say it. Sphaeronaemella helvellae
does not sound friendly, but it may
turn out to be, according to Nader
G. Vakili, research plant
pathologist with the U.S. Depart
ment of Agriculture’s Agricultural
Research Service, Ames, lowa.
Vakili was studying fungi that
parasitize com stalks when the
was surprised to see one fungus
Nominations sought for 6 Conservation
HARRISBURG - Nominations
are being accepted for the national
“Conservation Teacher- of- the-
Year” awards program according
to Pat Weiss, executive director of
the Pennsylvania Association of
Conservation District Directors,
Inc. The competition is open to all
full-time teachers working at the
kindergarten through high school
level who have developed an
outstanding program of con
servation education.
The National Conservation
Teacher-of-the-Year will receive
$l,OOO in cash and an expense paid
trip to Reno, Nevada for the 1987
annual convention of the National
Association of Conservation
Districts. The national second
place winner will receive a $5OO
cash award and the first place
regional winner will receive $2OO.
Co-sponsored by NACD and the
Delaware receives
$50,000 for
nitrate research
NEWARK, Del. - Dr. Donald L.
Sparks, a soil chemist at the
University of Delaware
Agricultural Experiment Station,
has received a $50,000 matching
grant from the U.S. Department of
Interior, Geological Survey, to
conduct a study of soil nitrate
retention as it affects groundwater
pollution in mid-Atlantic soils. The
goal of this project is to find ways
to manage nitrogen applications to
these soils that will minimize
water contamination and to
determine the ability of these soils
to retain nitrates.
Groundwater is the major source
of water on Delmarva and along
much of the East Coast. Nitrate
leaching into groundwater is a
problem in many coastal plain
soils.
Although these soils are not
usually thought to retain nitrate,
several recent studies at other
area experiment stations suggest
that in some cases nitrate reten
tion may be occurring, depending
on fertilization practices.
However, the mechanism for
retention is not known.
The fate of excess applied
nitrogen is extremely important
because of its potential effect both
on groundwater quality and
subsequent crop yield. It is also of
great concern to those who land
spread organic wastes such as
poultry manure, sludge and
compost. The nitrogen in these
materials is a potential fertilizer
as well as pollutant and must be
managed.
Understanding the soil’s
capacity to retain nitrate would
make it possible to estimate the
fertilizer potential and leaching
hazards involved in land-spreading
a nitrogen source.
Sparks’ study will be the first to
investigate nitrate retention
behavior in mid-Atlantic coastal
soils.
Corn researchers pit fungus against fungus
growing on another. The fungi
didn’t look much different from
one another, and all the fungi in
Vakili’s culture material came
from com stalks, so it seemed
reasonable to assume that they
were all parasites of com.
However, that was not the case.
Through his microscope Vakili
saw one fungus growing only
where another one wa« omwina
Teacher of the Year ’
Deutz-Allis Corporation, the
purpose of the awards program is
to encourage the development of
creative learning experiences in
conservation for young people.
“Any teacher in a public or private
school in a conservation district
who puts emphasis on con
servation as a regular part of the
instructional program is eligible
for nomination,” said Ms. Weiss.
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even inside the fungus’s mycelium,
a web-like filament that spreads
through the tissue of the host plant,
so small it is not usually visible to
the eye.
He observed, what he later
identified as S. helvellae, growing
to the end of the victim’s
mycelium, stopping its growth and
destroying the spores of its victim.
Interested teachers can obtain
additional information and
nomination forms from the Penn
sylvania Association of Con
servation District Directors, Inc.,
telephone 717-236-1006. The awards
program also honors the con
servation districts judged to have
provided the most effective
stimulus and help for conservation
education programs within the
district.
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He had found a mold-eating mold.
Since that day, four years ago,
Vakili has been working to find
ways to use S. helvellae, and other
friendly fungi that he has found, to
control those that attack com
stalks, causing them to fall over
before the ears can be harvested.
He now has a collection of seven
mold-eating fungi that he believes
can be used to complement the
disease resistance that plant
breeders are constantly adding to
commercial com varieties.
Such biological disease control
systems can reduce field losses as
well as the cost and environmental
risk of applying chemical
pesticides, Vakili says.
In six years of field tests to
measure stalk rot damage on more
than 200 commercial corn
varieties, losses averaged 5.6
percent. That would equal a loss of
about 500 million bushels each year
for the United States.
Experiments have shown that
some com lines benefit more from
treatment with Vakili’s mold
eating fungi than do others, in
dicating that com breeders should
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be able to develop com lines that
provide a favorable environment
for the mold-eating fungi.
“We should be able to breed
fungi for greater virulence against
destructive fungi. And, breed com
lines that are more compatible
with the mold-eating fungi,” Vakili
says.
The mold-eating mold has a
sexual stage in its life cycle, not all
fungi do, and therefore genetic
changes to increase the virulence
against disease fungi should be
easier to make, he says.
Vakili tested five of his mold
eating fungi against seven pest
fungi. Six of the seven were
inhibited by one or more mold
eating molds.
In addition to disease control,
another advantage of using a
fungus to control a fungus is
safety, Vakili said. Seed com is
commonly treated with fungicides
that are toxic to animals, so
unused seed com cannot be used
and must be destroyed. If mold
eating fungi were used as a
fungicide, unused seed com could
be safely fed to livestock.
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