X-Nico

16 unusual facts about Agricultural Research Service


Black pearl pepper

It was developed by Arboretum Floral and Nursery Plants Research Unit scientist Rob Griesbach and John Stommel of the Agricultural Research Service’s Vegetable Laboratory.

Centrocercus

The Agricultural Research Service (ARS) of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) investigated some of the reasons for the declining sage-grouse population.

Frances Meehan Latterell

During her career as research plant pathologist, US army biological laboratories, Fort Detrick, Maryland and plant pathologist, US Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Frederick, Maryland, she conducted extensive research on cereal diseases, including gray leaf spot of corn and rice blast.

Generic Model Organism Database

The GMOD project is funded by the United States National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation and the USDA Agricultural Research Service.

Glomalin

Glomalin was discovered in 1996 by Sara F. Wright, a scientist at the USDA Agricultural Research Service.

Muscodor albus

Researchers at the Agricultural Research Service investigated the antimicrobial effects of Muscodor albus on Botrytis cinerea, which causes the common grey mold found on table grapes.

Myrothecium verrucaria

Since 1998, the United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service (ARS) has experimented with using M. verrucaria as a biologically-based herbicide against kudzu vines.

Oxytetracycline

Researchers at the Agricultural Research Service studied the breakdown of oxytetracycline in manure depending on various environmental conditions.

Paracoccus marginatus

In 1999, the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service and Agricultural Research Service collected and reared four species of wasp from Mexico in a biological pest control experiment.

Pichia

Researchers of the Agricultural Research Service found that when pistachio trees were treated with P. anomala the growth of A. flavus was inhibited up to 97%.

Protist

Researchers from the Agricultural Research Service are taking advantage of protists as pathogens in an effort to control red imported fire ant (Solenopsis invicta) populations in Argentina.

Quisqualic acid

Research conducted by the USDA Agricultural Research Service, has demonstrated quisqualic acid is also present within the flower petals of zonal geranium (Pelargonium x hortorum) and is responsible for causing paralysis of the Japanese beetle.

Sunbutter

Beginning in 2000, in cooperation with the Agricultural Research Service of the United States Department of Agriculture, SunGold Foods’ parent company, Red River Commodities, began a two-year project to develop a substitute for peanut butter that would be made from sunflower seeds.

Thomcord

Thomcord was developed in 1983 by Californian grape breeders working for the Agricultural Research Service (ARS), an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), as part of a test to better understand a new seedless grape breeding procedure.

Under Secretary of Agriculture for Research, Education, and Economics

The Agricultural Research Service (ARS) is the largest intramural research agency of USDA.

The Under Secretary for Research, Education, and Economics is a high-ranking official within the United States Department of Agriculture that provides leadership and oversight for the Agricultural Research Service, Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service, Economic Research Service, National Agricultural Library, National Agricultural Statistics Service.


Cecil Salmon

He worked for the Agricultural Research Service and during his time in Japan, Salmon collected wheat samples and found a dwarf strain which came to be called Norin 10 and which later triggered the Green Revolution.