News from OARDC

'I Look Forward to Working With You':
U.S. Rep. Renacci Tours OARDC Facilities
Jim Renacci, the new U.S. Representative for Ohio's 16th District (which includes Wooster) toured OARDC's campus last December 17 to learn more about educational and economic development assets in his district.
"I'm your representative. So I need to know as much as I can so I can represent you the best," Renacci said as he heard from administrators and researchers. "I'll start with the global picture and come back down to the basics. I look forward to working with you."
The tour included stops at the Molecular and Cellular Imaging Center (MCIC), which conducts state-of-the-art biotechnology research to improve crops and fight plant pests and diseases; quasar energy group's biodigester facility, a public-private partnership that generates clean energy from organic waste; and the Bioenergy and Bioproducts Research Laboratory, where scientists use crop residue, biofuel byproducts, and algae, among other things, to create new sources of renewable energy and industrial products.
"We very much appreciate Representative-elect Renacci taking an afternoon out of his already busy schedule to visit with us about the importance of our programs," said OARDC Director Steve Slack. "He clearly likes to work with facts and figures in determining his approach to issues; an approach that we both applaud and support."
--By Mauricio Espinoza

Going Viral
Research on viral contamination of produce to spread far and wide
In a new four-year, $1 million study, Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center scientists are leading an effort to reduce viral contamination of fresh produce.
Viruses, including human norovirus, hepatitis A virus, and rotavirus, account for more than two-thirds of foodborne illnesses worldwide. Yet most research on foodborne illness focuses on bacteria, such as Salmonella and E. coli, instead.
"Viruses, as they relate to food safety, are not well understood," said Jianrong Li, the project's principal investigator. "There's a real gap in the field that we will try to fill with this research."
The project, "An Integrated Approach to Prevent and Minimize Foodborne Enteric Viruses in Vegetables and Fruits," is funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Integrated Food Safety Initiative. It is designed to take what is learned in the lab into the classroom and the field.
The research portion of the project will examine how produce is contaminated by viruses in the first place, whether it's in the field or during processing. The study will also examine the effectiveness of three processing technologies --gaseous ozone, E-beam irradiation, and high-pressure processing--on eradicating viruses from contaminated produce.
Then, scientists will take their knowledge to growers and processors. Doug Doohan, produce specialist for OSU Extension based at OARDC in Wooster, already leads an Extension Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Food Safety Team. For this project, Doohan will train growers and processors to minimize the viral contamination of fresh produce.
Also, the researchers will develop a new course, "Foodborne Viruses and Food Safety," to be taught in Ohio State's Department of Food Science and Technology and College of Public Health. Course materials will be made available to other universities throughout the nation.
"Currently, if you look at standard food microbiology textbooks, there is little mention of viruses," Li said. "If you look at virology texts, there is no mention of food safety. This project will help us train the next generation of food safety professionals."
More: http://go.osu.edu/safeproduce.
--By Martha Filipic

'Mining' Plants Can Lead to New Pest Controls, Pharmaceuticals
Natural plant compounds help crops protect themselves against diseases and insects. They are also the source of more than 70 percent of human medicines and health-promoting foods. In the past they have been hard to find and usually scarce. But not for long.
OARDC plant pathologist Terry Graham is using a process called metabolite mining to identify new compounds never before seen in plants, particularly soybeans. Using soybean as a model, Graham and colleagues discovered that plants make the majority of previously unknown natural products during periods of stress or when defending against attacking pests.
The scientists used an herbicide, lactofen, to attack soybean plants and stimulate their disease-resistance mechanisms. As a result, the plants produced more than 30 new natural products--five never before reported in soybeans and two never found in any other plant. All of these natural products have potential to grow new Ohio businesses.
This research, however, does not stop with soybeans. Graham's interdisciplinary team, including researchers from Ohio State's College of Pharmacy, is using the same process to evaluate a wide range of plants for valuable natural products that could be used as herbicides, insecticides, or anti-cancer drugs.
"Dr. Graham's research on soybean and other plants, particularly in the area of plant defense, has led to a better understanding of their roles in pest resistance," said Douglas Kinghorn, Jack L. Beal Professor and Chair in the College of Pharmacy. "Due to our mutual academic interests, Dr. Graham and myself, along with other colleagues on campus, are collaborating to try and determine if plant secondary metabolites with known defense functions also have potential as anticancer agents in humans."
More information can be found at http://go.osu.edu/6z.
--By Mauricio Espinoza

Distiller's Grains Research Helps Livestock, Corn, Ethanol Industries
Thirty percent of the 146 million bushels of Ohio-grown corn used by the state's growing ethanol industry ends up in a byproduct called distiller's grains (DGS). DGS is a great feed for cattle and sheep and is also cheaper than corn and hay.
In the past, nutritional requirements limited the use of DGS to 25 percent per ration. This reduced potential savings, employment opportunities, and profitability for ethanol plants. OARDC research is changing that.
Animal scientists Steve Loerch and Francis Fluharty have developed a nutrition strategy that allows pregnant beef cows and sheep to be fed up to 80 percent DGS, and growing heifers and feedlot steers up to 70 percent DGS--more than doubling potential use of this feeding in Ohio.
Likewise researchers at OARDC have developed technologies for modifying DGS for non-ruminant food animals such as swine, further expanding the market and profitability of ethanol production. DGS has moved from being a "byproduct" to a highly valued "co-product" with a market value of $180 million in Ohio alone.
"As tight as profit margins are right now, we can't afford not to use distiller's grains to reduce our feeding costs and remain in business," said Stan Smith, owner of Smith Simmental Farm in Canal Winchester and an OSU Extension program assistant. "Ohio State's research is helping us do that."
Estimates indicated that increased use of the 1.2 million tons of distiller's grains generated by Ohio's ethanol industry can reduce feeding costs by 20–50 percent compared to using corn and hay; decrease manure output by 50 percent, contributing to environmental quality; and nearly eliminate the need to treat grazing lambs for internal parasites, greatly enhancing profitability of the sheep industry.
Additionally, this research can lead to Ohio cattle producers saving over $100 annually per cow, for a total of $20 million; and support continued ethanol and corn production in Ohio, creating new jobs and enhancing economic stability in multiple sectors of agriculture.
More information can be found at http://go.osu.edu/6k and http://ohethanol.com.
--By Mauricio Espinoza

CFAES Receives $1.1M Grant to Support Ag Research, Outreach in Senegal
CFAES will partner with Senegal's Université Gaston Berger (UGB) to build up that West African nation's agricultural research and outreach capabilities, thanks to a $1.1 million grant from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and Higher Education for Development (HED).
The project resulted from two highly competitive grant selection processes of the Africa–U.S. Higher Education Initiative. Last year, Ohio State successfully competed for a $50,000 planning grant (there were 20 recipients out of 300 applicants nationwide). In phase II of the initiative, the Ohio State–UGB partnership was one of 11 projects chosen out of 33 applications nationally. The $1.1 million award provides support for two years, with the possibility of an additional three-year renewal.
Ohio State will work with the newly created agricultural science program at UGB, training its 17-member faculty on research and outreach activities based on the U.S. land-grant model. Ultimately, UGB will establish an experiment-station and outreach network similar to OARDC and OSU Extension, respectively.
"We've had a relationship with UGB for the past few years, traveling there to deliver lectures and helping them set up their agricultural program," said principal investigator and project co-director Richard Dick, a professor of soil microbial ecology in the School of Environment and Natural Resources who has more than a decade of experience working in Senegal. "This grant will allow us to formalize and actively collaborate with UGB in the formation of new degree programs and a new agricultural research and extension center."
Specifically, the Ohio State–UGB project calls for the creation of an agro-ecology program for sustainable food production, addressing the severe environmental degradation in the fragile African Sahel region and developing the emerging irrigated fruit and vegetable export industry in northern Senegal. This program will involve the development of comprehensive associate and bachelor degrees and use of e-education technologies.
--By Mauricio Espinoza