- (Focus Area) Agriculture
- Author: JD Trebec
Before moving to California about a decade ago, I lived in Tucson, Arizona. Although my new home in Woodland is rightfully known as the Food Front, thanks to the fertile farmland that surrounds it, Tucson also has a highly regarded relationship with food. Tucson is one of two cities in the United States recognized by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as a City of Gastronomy in recognition of its Sonoran food culture. The city is a center of regional foods that arose in northern Mexico and the Southwestern US. These run the gamut from Sonoran-style hot dogs to wild foods like cactus fruit to local varieties of squash and beans developed by the indigenous people of the border region.
One Tucson crop that I brought with me to try in the fertile soils of the Sacramento Valley is my favorite bean, the tepary. Tepary beans were domesticated by the Tohono O'odham nation of the Sonoran Desert. Tepary beans are a cultivar of Phaseolus acutifolius, a bean species well adapted to life in the desert. The bean plants have narrow teardrop-shaped leaves that turn their surface parallel to the sun's rays to reduce water loss when the sun is too intense.
Traditionally, tepary beans are planted in areas of stormwater runoff from the late summer monsoons in the Southwestern US. They need wet soils to germinate but then are extremely drought tolerant and can survive the vagaries of desert rain and the dry autumn that follows the monsoon. Too much water actually reduces the number of beans produced as more energy is put into growing foliage. The plants grow quickly and beans may be harvested in as little as two months.
The beans are small, about the size of a lentil, with a nutty taste and firm texture. Different varieties are colored brown, black, or white. They are high in protein and research has identified amino sugars specific to the species that protect the bean from heat and prevent the bean's protein from denaturing. I love the beans in my vegetarian chili, but they make a great bean dip or pot of beans as well.
I had always assumed that tepary beans were only known in the Tucson area so I was surprised when I spotted them as an ingredient in snack foods from India. While trying to discover when they were introduced to India, I found that they were once grown in California as well. A USDA pamphlet states that in 1918, California had 17,000 acres planted in tepary bean, but market forces and public preferences caused the tepary bean to fall from favor in the 1920's.
There has been some recent interest in harnessing the tepary bean's heat and drought tolerance as the world becomes warmer which has led to reduced yields in common beans that don't do as well in the heat. A 2015 NPR story describes how Colombian researchers have managed a cross of tepary and common beans that is already benefiting farmers in Central America and Africa. I'm happy to see a little respect for tepary beans, but don't understand why they aren't more widely grown as they are delicious and already adapted for a warmer future.
USDA information: https://plants.usda.gov/DocumentLibrary/plantguide/pdf/cs-pg_phac.pdf
- Author: Ben A Faber
Get the latest skinny on avocado workshops and other subjects at the latest Topics in Subtropics Newsletter, as well as links to past newsletters.
Topics in Subtropics Summer Issue 2024
This edition includes the following:
- Cherimoya Growers Handbook Available On-Line
- Learning From the Rain
- Optimizing Avocado Irrigation Management Practices Using Soil Moisture Sensing
- Pest Alert: Fig Wax Scale
- Ag Labor Management Resources
- Upcoming meetings
- Avocado Irrigation workshops
- Avocado Sunblotch Viroid (ASBVd)
Past Newsletters:
https://ceventura.ucanr.edu/Com_Ag/Subtropical/?newsletterlist=3197
![topics in sub masthead topics in sub masthead](/blogs/blogcore/blogfiles/108342.png)
- Author: Ben A Faber
Unlock the Secrets to Healthy Avocados:
Learn about Avocado Sunblotch Viroid
September 13,2024
9am-12:30pm
The Farm Bureau,Escondido
420 S Broadway,Escondido,CA 92025
Registration link:
https://forms.gle/12LxUUdkPb8DmNdm8
Fatemeh Khodadadi fatemehk@ucr.edu(845) 901-3046
Presentations:
- Fatemeh Khodadadi: Understanding ASBVd: from discovery to diagnostic hurdles
- Elize Jooste:An overview of ASBVd in South Africa:transmission challenges and how to mitigate the spread
- Peggy Mauk:Protecting California's avocado genetic resources through sunblotch viroid detection
- Mehdi Kamali:Rapid and sensitive detection of Avocado Sunblotch Viroid Disease (ASBVd) using our digital methodology
![sunblotch sunblotch](/blogs/blogcore/blogfiles/108172.jpg)
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
UC Davis distinguished professor emerita Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart Museum of Entomology for 34 years until her retirement on Feb. 1, 2024, is among the 17 emeriti featured in a newly released video tribute to emeriti, an annual public service project by UC Davis distinguished professor Walter Leal.
The 17 featured represent about 20 percent of UC Davis faculty who retired in 2023-24.
Kimsey is a recognized authority on insect biodiversity, systematics and biogeography of parasitic wasps, urban entomology, civil forensic entomology, and arthropod-related industrial hygiene. A UC Davis entomology alumna, she received her undergraduate degree in 1975 and her doctorate in 1979.
Kimsey joined the entomology faculty in 1989 and became the Bohart Museum director in 1990. Although officially retired, she continues her research and as executive director of the Bohart Museum Society. She writes and publishes the quarterly newsletter.
In the video, Leal notes that Kimsey "is an entomologist interested in the systematics of stinging wasps, insect biotic diversity, and urban entomology...she provided insect diagnostics for the public and corporations, non-profit organizations, and governmental agencies."
"Her research focused primarily on cuckoo wasps, hornets, and tiphiid wasps, describing more than 30 new genera and 300 new species of wasps. Her fieldwork included biotic surveys of the insect fauna of various desert sand dune systems in California and tropical habitats in Central America and Southeast Asia."
Kimsey served as president of the International Society of Hymenopterists from 2002-2004, and as a member of the board of directors of the Natural Science Collections Alliance in 2000 and 2001. The Pacific Branch, Entomological Society of America (PBESA) singled her out for its highest honor, the C. W. Woodworth Award, in 2020. She received the PBESA Systematics, Evolution, and Biodiversity Award in 2014 and was a member of "The Bee Team" that won the PBESA Outstanding Team Award in 2013. The UC Davis Academic Senate honored her with its Distinguished Scholarly Public Service Award in 2016 in recognition of her outstanding work. And in 2023, CA&ES selected her as the recipient of its Exceptional Faculty Award. She was honored with a 21-insect net salute in April.
In addition to the faculty highlights, Leal included brief messages by Chancellor Gary May, Provost Mary Croughan, and Suad Joseph, the UC Davis Emeriti Association (UCDEA) president. UCDEA interviews and records emeriti who have made "significant contributions to the development of the university." See Video Records Project.
"I know our emeriti are feeling the energy at UC Davis as we prepare to greet our incoming class of students," said Chancellor May in the video transcript. "I want to extend a welcome to all our emeriti professors and encourage you to remain involved in our vibrant campus activity just as you've been such an important part of our success."
Those featured on the video tribute, in order of appearance:
- Stuart Meyers, professor emeritus, Department of Anatomy, Physiology, and Cell Biology, School of Veterinary Medicine
- Peter Mundy, emeritus distinguished professor, Department of Education, and the Department of Psychiatry, College of Letters and Science
- Vaidehi Ramanathan, professor emerita, Department of Linguistics, College of Letters and Science
- Scott Simon, distinguished professor emeritus, Department of Biomedical Engineering, College of Engineering
- Bruce German, distinguished professor emeritus, Department of Food Science and Technology, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences
- Lynn Kimsey, distinguished professor emerita, Department of Entomology and Nematology, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences
- Leonard Abbeduto, professor emeritus, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, School of Medicine
- Lynette Hart, professor emerita, Department of Population Health and Reproduction, School of Veterinary Medicine
- Frank Sharp, distinguished professor emeritus, Department of Neurology, School of Medicine
- Stephen Wheeler, professor emeritus, Urban Design and Sustainability, Department of Human Ecology, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences
- Esther Kim, professor emerita, Eye Center, School of Medicine
- Julia Menard-Warwick, professor emerita, Department of Linguistics, College of Letters and Science
- Mohamed Hafez, professor emeritus, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, College of Engineering
- Geoffrey Schladow, professor emeritus, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, College of Engineering
- Gail Taylor, distinguished professor emerita, Department of Plant Sciences, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences
- Paul FitzGerald, distinguished professor emeritus, Department of Cell Biology and Human Anatomy and Department of Ophthalmology and Vision Science, School of Medicine
- Alan Balch, distinguished professor emeritus, Department of Chemistry, College of Letters and Science
Additionally, Leal spotlighted (1) an emeriti “caught on camera” (Geerat J. Vermeij) heading to work two years after his retirement ("to stress how many members of the Emeriti remain engaged in UC Davis affairs"), and (2) UC Davis faculty member (Alan Balch) who broke the record on the number of years of service to the University of California (56 years, which included 52 at UC Davis).
Leal creates an annual tribute to UC Davis emeriti as a public service to celebrate their accomplishments as they enter a new chapter in their lives. It is a zero-budget, one-person production.
Leal launched his first "Tribute to Our New Emeriti," featuring 24 professors from eight colleges and schools who transitioned to emeriti in 2021-2022. (See news story.) The 2022-23 tribute is here. (See news story)
Leal, a member of the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology faculty since 2013, is a former professor and chair of the Department of Entomology. He is the first UC Davis faculty member to win all three of the Academic Senate's most coveted awards: in research, teaching, and public service. Leal received the 2020 Distinguished Teaching Award for Undergraduate Teaching; the 2022 Distinguished Scholarly Public Service Award; and the 2024 Distinguished Faculty Research Award.
![UC Davis distinguished professor Lynn Kimsey is featured in the newest UC Davis video tribute to emeriti, a public service project of UC Davis distinguished professor Walter Leal. UC Davis distinguished professor Lynn Kimsey is featured in the newest UC Davis video tribute to emeriti, a public service project of UC Davis distinguished professor Walter Leal.](/blogs/blogcore/blogfiles/108400.jpg)
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Nematodes are where it's at!
Two UC Davis nematology doctoral students were invited to give research presentations at the international Society of Nematologists' conference in Park City, Utah and they excelled.
Meet the two young women: Alison Blundell, a doctoral candidate who was invited to compete in a 12-minute student oral competition to discuss her research on root-knot nematodes, and doctoral student Veronica Casey, invited to share her research on "Pathogenic Hitchhikers."
Their major professor, Shahid Siddique, encourages his students to participate in the Society of Nematologists (SON), an international organization that advances the science of nematology in both its fundamental and economic aspects.
Blundell, who anticipates receiving her doctorate in 2026, won second place in the international competition with her presentation, “Overcoming Resistance: Unraveling the Mechanisms Behind Root-Knot Nematode Evasion of Tomato Mi-Gene.” She received a $250 prize.
Blundell researches plant-parasitic nematodes specifically root-knot nematodes, and their molecular mechanism to defend against plant immune systems. In her abstract, she wrote: "Root-knot nematodes (RKNs) are among the most devastating pathogens of crops, causing substantial yield and economic losses worldwide. These parasitic organisms can infect over a hundred different plant species and can evade plant defense mechanisms by secreting a concoction of effectors. For decades, the Mi-1 resistance gene has been effective in detecting and inhibiting RKNs in tomatoes. However, the underlying mechanisms by which Mi-1 detects these pathogens remain largely unknown. In recent years, resistance-breaking populations have emerged in both greenhouse and field settings, posing a threat to the potency and effectiveness of the Mi-1 gene and, consequently, the tomato industry. "
"We used two strains of M. javanica, one strain VW4, which is recognized by Mi-1, and another strain, VW5, which was selected from VW4 and can overcome resistance mediated by Mi-1," Blundell explained. "Utilizing the newly constructed reference genome for M. javanica (VW4), we compared genomes of VW4 and VW5 and identified an approximately 50 kb region that is present in VW4 but missing in VW5. This missing region contains seven protein-coding genes, three of which encode putative effectors and are currently being tested as potential avirulence genes for Mi-1."
"In addition, we have conducted a series of infection assays on different host plants lacking Mi-1, and the results revealed a significantly lower egg count in VW5 when compared to VW4. We plan to expand these assays by testing additional M. javanica resistance-breaking strains collected from fields all over California to determine if this trade-off is consistent across other strains. Overall, our results suggest that although VW5 can overcome Mi-1, there is a trade-off in the form of compromised reproduction. This research helps to better understand the mechanism and components of Mi-1 and develop strategies for addressing resistance-breaking populations."
Pathogenic Hitchhikers
Doctoral student Veronica Casey delivered her invited presentation on “Pathogenic Hitchhikers: Investigating the Synergy of Bacteria and Nematodes on Plant Health.”
a"In the vast scope of soil ecology, plant-parasitic nematodes can forge alliances with other microbial adversaries, such as the disease complex formed between nematodes and bacterial wilt-causing Ralstonia spp.," Casey wrote in her abstract. "These disease complexes exacerbate disease symptoms and yield losses. Plant-parasitic nematodes are microscopic roundworms that cause approximately $100 billion in yield loss a year, and most of the damage is attributed to root-knot nematodes (RKNs; Meloidogyne spp.). Bacterial wilt is caused by multiple Ralstonia species, namely Ralstonia pseudosolanacearum, R. solanacearum, and R. sygzii that enter the plant's roots to colonize its vascular system. Prior to Ralstonia infection, RKN infection may facilitate bacterial disease by increasing access to the vascular tissue."
"However, little research has been conducted to elucidate the molecular details of this interaction," Casey pointed out. "Previous reports of RKN and Ralstonia spp. in the field hypothesized that the infection was due to root wounding and physiological changes. In this study, I will determine the nature of the interaction between Ralstonia and nematodes at both ecological and molecular levels. This research project will explore the hypotheses that 1) Ralstonia adheres to the cuticle of nematodes using specialized appendages called pili and 2) de novo xylem formation in the galls increases Ralstonia transport into the plant. A common strategy for preventing nematode infection is by using resistant plant cultivars."
"However, resistance-breaking nematode populations have arisen and we plan to utilize resistance-breaking nematodes, which are most likely to interact with bacterial wilt in the field," Casey noted. "This presentation will report on the attachment and greenhouse experimental results of the RKN-Ralstonia complex. The escalation of climate change is leading to increased instances of pathogenicity; therefore, it is crucial to uncover disease complexes which can have monumental consequences on food security. A meticulous study into the nematode and Ralstonia disease complex will support the management of these damaging pathogens across the world."
Blundell and Siddique also delivered invited presentations in the illustration workshop. Blundell gave her presentation on "Become an Illustrator Mender Simply by Using BioRender," and Siddique, "Doodle Your Data: Adobe Illustrator for Nematodes."
Other lab mates from the Siddique lab also participated in the SON meeting. (See news story). In the ecology session, doctoral candidate Chris Pagan participated from the UC Davis lab of distinguished professor Steve Nadler, former chair of the Department of Entomology and Nematology. Pagan's presentation: "Nematode Community Structure in the Rhizopsheres of Southern California Creosote (Larrea trientata).”
Of note, Blundell and Casey were among the four graduate students from the Siddique lab who received travel awards. Blundell won a Corteva award and Casey, a Certis award. Also receiving travel awards wer Ching-Jung Lin, a Bayer CropScience award and Romnick Latina, a N. A. Cobb Foundation award.
Honorary Member. At the 2024 conference, UC Davis distinguished professor emeritus Howard Ferris was selected a Honorary Member, the highest award that SON offers. (Feature story pending; wait 'til you hear his exciting life story!)
UC Davis nematologists are already looking forward to the next annual meeting: July 13-17 in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. Meanwhile, you can chat one-on-one with them at the annual UC Davis Biodiversity Museum Day, usually held in February on the UC Davis campus. It traditionally featuring a dozen or so UC Davis museums. Student nematologists are spotlighted on the current website.
![Doctoral candidate Alison Blundell delivering her award-winning presentation in the 12-minute student competition at the international Society of Nematologists. She won second place. (Photo by Veronica Casey) Doctoral candidate Alison Blundell delivering her award-winning presentation in the 12-minute student competition at the international Society of Nematologists. She won second place. (Photo by Veronica Casey)](/blogs/blogcore/blogfiles/108393.jpg)
![Doctoral student Veronica Casey of the Siddique lab delivering an invited presentation on “Pathogenic Hitchhikers: Investigating the Synergy of Bacteria and Nematodes on Plant Health.” Doctoral student Veronica Casey of the Siddique lab delivering an invited presentation on “Pathogenic Hitchhikers: Investigating the Synergy of Bacteria and Nematodes on Plant Health.”](/blogs/blogcore/blogfiles/108394.jpg)