This article summarizes the knowledge to date on biology of the potato leafhopper, Empoasca fabae (Harris), including its distribution, development, migration, agricultural host plants, and mechanics of injury to host plants. Damage to alfalfa, potatoes, soybeans, and snap beans, and treatment guidelines, are summarized. Particular attention is given to integrated pest management options in alf...

Shoot meristem tissues of alfalfa, Medicago sativa L., were found by high performance liquid chromatography analyses to contain the uncommon polyamines, norspermidine and norspermine. The chemical structures of norspermidine and norspermine, purified from alfalfa, were confirmed by comparison of mass spectra with those from authentic standards. The discovery of norspermidine and norspermine in ...

Beginning in 2000, snap bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) crops exhibiting virus-like symptoms on the foliage (leaf distortion, yellow and green mottling, and mosaic) were increasing in frequency on a regional scale across the northern United States and Canada (10,20). These crops also produced fewer pods or pods that were either twisted or necrotic (hence unmarketable). Across the Midwest and north...

Effects of plant-bound condensed tannin (CT)-containing sainfoin vs. CT-free alfalfa (or low-CT alfalfa-sainfoin mixture), plant stage of maturity, and their interaction on enteric methane (CH4) emissions, diet digestibility, and N excretion were studied, using 8 ruminally cannulated beef heifers in 2 sequential short-term experiments (Exp. 1 and 2). In Exp. 1, first growth legumes were harvest...

Sufficient codominant genetic markers are needed for various genetic investigations in alfalfa since the species is an outcrossing autotetraploid. With the newly developed next generation sequencing technology, a large amount of transcribed sequences of alfalfa have been generated and are available for identifying SSR markers by data mining. A total of 54,278 alfalfa non-redundant unigenes were...

Cytokinin is required for the initiation of leguminous nitrogen fixation nodules elicited by rhizobia and the delay of the leaf senescence induced by drought stress. A few free-living rhizobia have been found to produce cytokinin. However, the effects of engineered rhizobia capable of synthesizing cytokinin on host tolerance to abiotic stresses have not yet been described. In this study, two en...

A large set of genome-wide markers and a high-throughput genotyping platform can facilitate the genetic dissection of complex traits and accelerate molecular breeding applications. Previously, we identified about 0.9 million SNP markers by sequencing transcriptomes of 27 diverse alfalfa genotypes. From this SNP set, we developed an Illumina Infinium array containing 9,277 SNPs. Using this array...

The objectives of this study were to expand the database and determine the intestinal digestibility of rumen undegradable protein (dRUP) of common dairy feeds and to determine the effects of feeding 37.9% wet corn gluten feed on these estimates. Two ruminally and duodenally fistulated steers were assigned randomly to a crossover design with 4-wk periods. The mobile bag technique was used to det...

Building a 2,000-square-foot house leaves about a ton of gypsum wallboard waste from end cuts, window and door cutouts, and broken boards. In the United States, three million tons of gypsum wallboard waste is dumped in landfills each year. In addition to depleting space, microbial action can decompose gypsum to malodorous hydrogen sulfide gas, which at high enough exposures can cause irritation...

Molting is a process by which a hen's reproductive tract is rejuvenated prior to the beginning of a laying cycle. This process is often artificially induced in commercial settings in order to extend the productive life of a flock of hens. The most common method for the induction of molt is feed withdrawal for a period of several days. It has been noted that feed withdrawal, while effective in i...