- (Focus Area) Agriculture
- Author: Ben A Faber
- Posted by: Gale Perez
Sterile Pollen Technique Shows Promise for Palmer Amaranth Weed Control
Newly published research provides a novel and sustainable weed-management strategy
WESTMINSTER, Colorado – 22 May2024 – Recently published research in the journal Weed Science shows that a sterilization technique commonly used to control insect pests can be modified to control weeds that require pollination to reproduce. More specifically, the researchers determined that employing a sterile pollen technique (SPT) could effectively disrupt Palmer amaranth (Amaranthus palmeri S.) reproduction.
Palmer amaranth remains among the most detrimental weeds in North American agriculture, and its resistance to several herbicide groups makes its control a serious challenge. Yet, researchers in this study were able to find a promising new control method for Palmer amaranth and possibly for many other difficult-to-control weeds.
“Our results indicate that SPT, using irradiated pollen, can be a valuable approach for reducing weed-seed production,” says Mohsen B. Mesgaran, Ph.D., a plant sciences assistant professor at the University of California Davis, and the article's corresponding author. “SPT also holds potential for broad-spectrum weed control by mixing sterile pollen from multiple weed species in a single application.”
Additionally, the researchers found that SPT shows promise for managing troublesome herbicide-resistant weeds that have survived in-season control efforts.“We observed the greatest reduction in seed set when irradiated pollen was introduced to the stigma through artificial pollination prior to open pollination,” notes Mesgaran. “It appears that irradiated pollen exerts a preventive effect on naturally occurring pollen that arrives later.”
While the researchers determined that a dose of 300 units of ionizing radiation (Gy) strikes the optimal balance to achieve both efficient Palmer amaranth pollination and seed sterility, challenges still remain. For example, irradiated pollen is currently less competitive than naturally occurring pollen. Thus, field managers may need to employ additional measures to successfully control Palmer amaranth with SPT, such as dispersing irradiated pollen in the field before male anthesis and releasing it multiple times.
More information about SPT and Palmer amaranth control can be found in the article (by Wenzhuo Wu and Mohsen B. Mesgaran), “Exploring sterile pollen technique as a novel tool for management of Palmer amaranth (Amaranthus palmeri).” The research is featured in Volume 72, Issue 3 of Weed Science, a Weed Science Society of America journal, published online by Cambridge University Press.
Original source: Weed Science Society of America (https://wssa.net/2024/05/sterile-pollen-technique-shows-promise-for-palmer-amaranth-weed-control/)
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Titled "Robert E. Page, Jr.: The Spirit of the Bee," it's a great article chronicling his life, his love of bees, and his massive number of achievements. Rice captured it well.
Rob, a native of Bakersfield and now 74, received his doctorate in 1980 from UC Davis, studying with major professor Norman Gary and doctoral research mentor Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. He advanced to professor and chair of the Department of Entomology (now the Department of Entomology and Nematology). A second career emerged when Arizona State University (ASU) recruited him.
Today Page holds the titles of ASU University Provost Emeritus and Regents Professor Emeritus as well as UC Davis Distinguished Emeritus Professor and Emeritus Chair of the UC Davis Entomology Department.
Page is known for his research on honey bee behavior and population genetics, particularly the evolution of complex social behavior. One of his most salient contributions to science was to construct the first genomic map of the honey bee, which sparked a variety of pioneering contributions not only to insect biology but to genetics at large.
Page pioneered the use of modern techniques to study the genetic basis of social behavior evolution in honey bees and other social insects. He was the first to employ molecular markers to study polyandry and patterns of sperm use in honey bees. He provided the first quantitative demonstration of low genetic relatedness in a highly eusocial species.
He is "arguably the most influential honey bee biologist of the past 30 years," his peers say.
At UC Davis, Page worked closely with Laidlaw. Together they published many significant research papers and the landmark book, “Queen Rearing and Bee Breeding” (Wicwas Press, 1998), considered the most important resource book for honey bee genetics, breeding, and queen rearing.
For 24 years, from 1989 to 2015, Page maintained a UC Davis honey bee-breeding program, managed by bee breeder-geneticist Kim Fondrk. Their contributions include discovering a link between social behavior and maternal traits in bees. Their work was featured in a cover story in the journal Nature. In all, Nature featured his work on four covers from work mostly done at UC Davis.
Page authored two books: The Spirit of the Hive: The Mechanisms of Social Evolution (Harvard University Press, 2013) and the Art of the Bee: Shaping the Environment from Landscapes to Societies (Oxford University Press, 2020). In 2023, he launched a publicly accessible YouTube Channel, https://youtube.com/@artofthebee.
When Rice asked Page "Who was the most influential person in your education," Page replied: "Today, all my research approaches, the way I thought about things, everything I did I can point back to four people. Norm Gary taught me the importance of knowing behavior and having good behavioral assays. He was superb at it. Nobody knows better what bees will do than Norm Gary, but he doesn't care much about why they do it. Which then brings me to my training in evolution from Tim Prout, who was an evolutionary biologist and population geneticist. He taught me population genetics, which I use to develop a population way of thinking about the work that I do. Harry Laidlaw taught me the value of breeding and the value of attention to detail. When we wrote papers together, we went over every word. Harry believed that every word had to be there for a reason. Every word had to be right. Robert A. Metcalf, an incredible guy, really turned me on to social insects, and got me interested in using molecular and biochemical markers. Everything I did for the rest of my career came from those four people."
This week we asked Gary, now 90, what it was like to have Rob as his graduate student.
In a June 17th email, Gary wrote: “When I first met Rob Page at the beginning of his graduate studies, I was immediately impressed that he was a very exceptional student in all respects! He was enthusiastic about insect behavior, especially honey bee behavior. I became his major professor. His fascination with behavior soon evolved into behavioral genetics. Consequently, I encouraged him to conduct his graduate research under the direction of Harry Laidlaw whose research program focused on honey bee genetics."
"Rob and I shared several bee research projects, one of which involved research on honey bees to determine if insects would be adversely affected by exposure to microwaves from solar power satellites that were under consideration as a future source of energy for mankind. Rob excelled in all activities. His enthusiasm was contagious! He richly deserves the many rewards he has received during his career, especially for his superior skills in research, teaching, and leadership in every facet of the academic world.”
You may know Norm Gary as not only a professor, scientist, musician, and author but one of the world's most incredible professional bee wranglers. He used to wear full-body bee suits and play the b-flat clarinet. (See Bug Squad blog of Nov. 30, 2016). He once trained bees to fly into his mouth to collect food from a small sponge saturated with his patented artificial nectar. He holds the Guinness World record (109 bees inside his closed mouth for 10 seconds) for the stunt.
It's all about The Bees for Rob Page and Norm Gary.
It's always been about The Bees.
- Author: Bruce A Linquist
- Editor: Taiyu Guan
- Editor: Consuelo B Baez Vega
1. Fallow stale-seedbed (FSS): field was fallowed in 2022. It was disked and leveled then. It was not flooded during the winter. No tillage was done in 2023.
2. No-till. We have three strict NT treatments. Rice was grown in 2022. After harvesting (harvested to limit ruts), the straw in the field was subjected to one of three treatments:
a Chopped (NT-Chop)
b. Half removed to simulate baling (NT-Remove)
c. Burned (NT-Burn)
We planted May 2, 2023, flushed once after planting and then applied a permanent flood on June 2. Our results were very promising. Yields were highest (86-87 cwt/ac) following a fallow year (FSS); and those yields were comparable to water-seeded yields at the station. Yields in the other no-till systems were a bit lower.
This year, we are doing a more rigorous and replicated study with three treatments from last year: FSS, NT- Remove and NT-Chop. These are being compared to a water-seeded control. We are quantifying water use, examining different N and weed management strategies, quantifying pests and diseases, and taking greenhouse gas measurements.
This year we planted all NT treatments on May 1. It was the first planted rice at the Rice Experiment Station. We have a good stand in all treatments. We applied herbicides and fertilizer the week of May 26 and the permanent flood was applied on May 29 and 30.
We would like to invite you all out to see this experiment and discuss this system. We are having a field day at the Rice Experiment Station on June 18 starting at 9:00 am. We encourage anyone interested to come.
- Author: Ben A Faber
We are happy to invite you to participate in the upcoming Dragon Fruit Workshop to be held at the Miami-Dade County Extension Service (Homestead, FL) during July 17-18, 2024. This is a free event, where lunch and light refreshments will be provided. This meeting is part of the grant entitled “Evaluating the Potential Expansion and Diversification of the Dragon Fruit Industry in North America” (FLA-TRC-006408). At this workshop you will learn about Dragon fruit pollination, production and post-harvest practices, insect pests and diseases, and more.
We will also visit two Dragon fruit plantings. You can find the tentative agenda at the end of this message. In order to attend in-person or online you MUST register (the link below). We will be sharing more information as the date gets closer.
https://ufl.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_0SpTDLWnPxRoRuJ
If you have additional questions, please contact Dr. Romina Gazis (r.gazisseregina@ufl.edu) or Shelby Weber (shelby.weber1@ufl.edu)
Tentative Agenda
DAY 1 [July 17, 2024 / 8 am – 5 pm]
8:00 – 9:00: Registration, coffee & snacks.
9:00 – 9:15: Welcome words from the organizers. Housekeeping items.
9:15 – 10:10: State Reports. Five States (FL, CA, TX, PR, HI).
10:10 – 11:00: Growing dragon fruit in a changing climate.
11:00 – 11:30: Dragon Fruit Diseases [general]
11:30 – 12:00: Dragon fruit stem and fruit canker.
12:00 – 1:00: LUNCH [included for all participants]
1:00 – 1:30: Dragon Fruit Pests and Pollinators.
1:30 – 2:00: Cultural practices related to crop health.
2:00 – 3:00: Section industry perspective.
3:00 – 4:00: Section economics.
4:00 – 5:00: Section postharvest and consumer preferences.
5:00 – 5:10: Wrap up / Housekeeping items for day 2.
DAY 2 [July 18, 2024 / 8 am – 5 pm]
8:00 – 9:00: Group meet up, coffee & snacks.
9:00 – 12:00: Visit to two dragon fruit fields (two local plantings).
12:00 – 1:00: LUNCH [included for all participants]
1:00 – 2:00: Visit to TREC's Dragon Fruit variety planting.
2:00 – 3:00: Industry brainstorming session and research priorities selection.
3:00 – 4:00: Closing Remarks and future efforts.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
But such is the case with UC Davis distinguished professor James R. Carey.
A member of the UC Davis Department of Entomology faculty since 1980, he was one of seven retiring or retired faculty members honored at a retirement event on June 11 at the UC Davis Alumni Center.
"A giant in our department" and "a scholar in every sense of the word."
That's how UC Davis distinguished professor emeritus Frank Zalom characterized him.
Carey, who holds a joint appointment as a senior scholar in the Center for the Economics and Demography of Aging at UC Berkeley, is internationally known not only for his research in insect biodemography, mortality dynamics, and insect invasion biology but for his groundbreaking teaching program that centers on the strategic use of digital technology.
He is retiring this month.
In his five-minute allocated speech, Zalom, an integrated pest management specialist and a past president of the Entomological Society of America (ESA), noted that Carey developed much of his highly cited work on cohort life tables early in his career. "This led to his highly regarded work on biodemography and longevity that are widely recognized across many scientific disciplines beyond entomology. He is a scholar in every sense of the word."
"Jim's career long attention to invasive species, and in particular, his challenges to the dogmatic approach taken by regulatory agencies to their detection and eradication," Zalom said. "He has framed his challenges in the concept of invasion biology. He has urged the agencies to base their approaches on the entirety of available data and has taken it upon himself to thoroughly compile and analyze data on the occurrence of tephritid fruit flies in the United States as a prime example."
"Jim has been one of the giants of our department during the last 44 years, and I hope that he will continue to engage in his intellectual pursuits as an emeritus professor," Zalom concluded.
Highly honored by his peers, Carey is a fellow of four professional societies: ESA, American Association for the Advancement of Science, California Academy of Sciences, and the Gerontological Society of America. When ESA elected him a fellow in 2011, the organization described him as "the world's foremost authority on arthropod demography" and that he "is the first entomologist to have a mathematical discovery named after him by demographers – the Carey Equality — which set the theoretical and analytical foundation for a new approach to understanding wild populations."
Carey holds two degrees from Iowa State University: a bachelor's degree in fisheries and wildlife biology (1973), and master's degree in entomology (1975). He received his doctorate in entomology from UC Berkeley in 1980, the same year he joined the UC Davis faculty. As a doctoral student in 1978, he worked in the laboratories of population biologists Richard Lewontin and Richard Levins at Harvard University.
Carey is a former director (2003-13) of an 11-university consortium funded by the National Institute on Aging (NIH/P01) on the evolutionary ecology of lifespan. The 10-year, $10 million federal grant on “Aging in the Wild,” encompassed 14 scientists at the 11 universities.
Carey co-authored the book “Biodemography: An Introduction to Concepts and Methods” (Carey, J. R. and D. Roach. 2020; Princeton University Press), hailed as the “definitive textbook for the emerging field of biodemography, integrating biology, mathematics and demography.” To supplement the book, Carey created a free-access, video guidebook with a playlist of 175 separate presentations, subtitled in 300 different languages. It can be accessed on the UC Berkeley Population Sciences website at https://bit.ly/3FTge7u.
Carey earlier authored three books, Demography for Biologists (Oxford University Press 1993), "Longevity" (Princeton University Press, 2003), and Longevity Records: Life Spans of Mammals, Birds, Amphibians and Reptiles (Odense, 2000), as well as more than 250 journal articles and book chapters.
Internationally Recognized Teacher. An internationally recognized teacher, Carey was named a semi-finalist for the 2017 Baylor University Robert Foster Cherry Teaching Award (an international competition). He received ESA's Distinguished Teaching Award in 2014, after winning the 2014 distinguished teaching award from the Pacific Branch, ESA (PBESA). Another highlight was receiving PBESA's C. W. Woodworth Award in 2013. PBESA covers 11 Western states, plus parts of Mexico and Canada, and U.S. territories.
Carey developed a technological-savvy teaching program, a groundbreaking model for 21st Century instruction using short, concise videos. In so doing, he taught faculty, staff and students how to create succinct videos, and how to record seminars. All are geared toward ease of learning and increased knowledge retention.
Carey became interested in the use of digital technology in academia when he chaired the UC Academic Senate University Committee on Research Policy. He subsequently described a framework or “road map” for using video capture of seminars to increase research synergy across the 10 UC campuses. The University of California TV station, UCTV, then used this publication as a roadmap for creating the video platform, UCTV Seminars. The website has tallied more than 10 million seminar downloads.
Longevity Course. Carey taught an upper division undergraduate course titled "Longevity" (fall quarter and summer session), based on biodemographic concepts in both non-human species and humans. He also offered seminars and workshops on best practices in visualization concepts and presentation strategies, including a weeklong course annually to PhD fellows in Kampala, Uganda enrolled in the 9-university Consortium for Advanced Research Training in Africa (CARTA).
Another honor he received was the UC Davis Academic Senate's Scholarly Public Service Award. In the nomination package, his colleagues praised him for carving "impressive milestones in biodemography, research, teaching and outreach during his 40-year professional career, not only raising the profile of entomology nationally and internationally, but serving as an entomology ambassador to scientists in a wide range of disciplines, particularly demography and gerontology."
Some of his accomplishments:
One-Minute Entomology. Carey innovated the concept of the “one minute expert” by launching student-produced videos that are 60 seconds in length. He and UC Davis distinguished professor Lynn Kimsey (now emerita) engaged their students in producing more than 125 videos, and in the process, learning insect identification, succinct writing and speaking, best practices for slide presentation, peer review and teamwork.
How to Make an Insect Collection. Carey taught undergraduate and graduate students how to gather information and produce short videos for “How to Make an Insect Collection.” The award-winning project, considered by ESA as the best of its kind on the internet, includes a playlist of 11 short videos showing different aspects of insect collecting--from use of nets and hand collecting to pinning mounting and labeling.
Basics of Term-Paper Writing. His students have continually won the top awards at the UC Davis-sponsored Norma J. Lang Prize for Undergraduate Information Research in the category of Science, Engineering and Mathematics (SEM). One of his students has won first place in the SEM category in each of past five years. Five others have won either second or third place honors.
"A giant in the department, a scholar in every sense of the word."