UC Davis News: Agriculture

Super-High-Density Olive Sector Thriving in California, Study Finds

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

A recently completed survey of California’s super-high-density olive sector, prepared by the UC Davis Olive Center, paints the picture of a young but vibrant industry, well positioned to develop olive oil into one of the state’s major agricultural commodities in the coming years.

"Super-high-density" refers to the relatively new practice of dramatically increasing the density of olive tree plantings.

“The super-high-density olive sector has achieved impressive growth in just a decade,” said Dan Flynn, executive director of the olive center. “This survey, the first conducted exclusively of this sector of the state’s olive industry, highlights grower practices and suggests areas in which the University of California might be able to provide assistance.”

In old, traditional olive production systems of the Mediterranean region, olive trees were grown in nonirrigated orchards, with trees planted as much as 60 feet apart or at a density of just 12 trees per acre. During the 1980s in Spain and Italy, the introduction of irrigation systems and improved methods of training trees enabled growers to move toward much denser plantings.

Dense planting of olive trees using such methods began in California in 1999. In just a decade, density rates in the state have increased to as high as 908 trees per acre, according to the new survey. This method of trellising olive trees eventually resembles a hedge that can be mechanically harvested, dramatically decreasing production costs.

The survey found that 12,127 acres of super-high-density olive trees were planted in California as of the end of 2008, with 78 percent of the acreage planted between 2005 and 2008. Most of the growers reported that they decided to venture into this sector because it offered “favorable income potential.” Most of the new olive plantings replaced permanent crops or row crops.

The survey, mailed to 69 super-high-density olive growers throughout California, had an 87-percent response rate. It found that Glenn and San Joaquin counties dominated the industry, in terms of planted acreage. Glenn County had 4,227 acres, or 35 percent of the state’s total super-high-density olive plantings, and San Joaquin County had 3,713 acres, or 31 percent of the total. They were followed by Butte County, with 1,128 acres of super-high-density olive orchards, or 9 percent of the total.

The survey also found that:

• The Arbequina, native to Spain, was the olive variety most commonly planted in the super-high-density system, accounting for 78 percent of the state’s acreage;

• Planting densities ranged from 453 trees per acre to 908 trees per acre, with a statewide average density of 662 trees per acre.

• 2008 was the first year of harvest for 13 percent of the responding growers, and 69 percent of the respondents had not yet harvested as of the fall of that year.

• Those growers who had harvested reported that the first day of harvest ranged between Oct. 10 and Oct. 29, median olive yield was 4 tons per acre and median olive oil yield was 40 gallons per ton.

• Almost all super-high-density growers used drip irrigation, with 64 percent of them relying on well water to irrigate their orchards, 24 percent using irrigation district water and 10 percent using surface water.

• Less than half of the respondents provided information on how much irrigation water they used. Among those who did provide information, the average annual water use for super-high-density olive plantings was 21 inches per year.

“This may be an area where University of California scientists and farm advisors can help growers calculate water usage in inches,” Flynn said.

When asked to identify particular areas of interest or concern, survey respondents mentioned that they would like to learn more about converting to or further developing organic production practices, would like to see more olive oil mills in Northern California, and would like to convert further acreage to super-high-density plantings. Moreover, some expressed a desire to discontinue super-high-density plantings but continue traditional planting methods. Others noted that they were concerned about loss of acreage due to frost.

The complete survey report, prepared by Nicole Sturzenberger, Dan Flynn, and Elizabeth Clow, is provided online by the UC Davis Olive Center at http://www.olivecenter.ucdavis.edu.

About UC Davis

For 100 years, UC Davis has engaged in teaching, research and public service that matters to California and transforms the world. Located close to the state capital, UC Davis has 31,000 students, an annual research budget that exceeds $500 million, a comprehensive health system and 13 specialized research centers. The university offers interdisciplinary graduate study and more than 100 undergraduate majors in four colleges — Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Biological Sciences, Engineering, and Letters and Science — and advanced degrees from five professional schools — Education, Law, Management, Medicine and Veterinary Medicine.

New Maize Map to Aid Plant Breeding Efforts

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

In a massive survey of genetic diversity in maize, also known as corn, researchers across the United States, have developed a gene map that should pave the way to significant improvements in a plant that is a major source of food, fuel, animal feed and fiber around the world.

The new map, a special type of gene map known as a haplotype map, charts genetic diversity and recombination across the genome of 27 inbred lines of maize. The research team, led by U.S. Department of Agriculture scientists at Cornell University and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York and including plant scientist Jeffrey Ross-Ibarra of the University of California, Davis, will report its findings in the Nov. 20 issue of the journal Science.

“We are hopeful that the information that this haplotype map reveals about the genetic diversity of maize will provide a foundation for efforts to understand maize evolution and the genetic basis of complex traits that may prove key to maize improvement,” Ross-Ibarra said.

Maize (Zea mays L.), with its genome of an estimated 30,000 genes distributed along 10 chromosomes, is about 70 percent the size of the human genome. In constructing the haplotype map, the researchers identified several million genetic variations — or polymorphisms — in the DNA sequence among the 27 maize inbred lines, as well as 10-fold to 30-fold variation in the rates at which genes recombine.

“This approach yielded evidence that points to hundreds of regions in the genome that were probably involved in the domestication of maize and-or geographic differentiation among various lines of maize,” Ross-Ibarra said.”

The research team also included scientists at the University of Missouri, Columbia, and the University of Arizona, Tucson.

Funding for the mapping effort was provided by the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Trinchero Family Gift Will Support UC Davis Grapevine Program

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

A $1 million gift from Trinchero Family Estates, a family-owned wine company in the Napa Valley, will help the University of California, Davis, build new facilities for a program that provides disease-free rootstock to California nurseries and is of critical importance to the grape and wine industries.

The donation was presented to the university Nov. 12 at a meeting of Foundation Plant Services, a program of the UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences that produces, tests, maintains and distributes premium plant materials.

“We are delighted with the Trinchero family’s decision to help us expand our facilities for Foundation Plant Services,” said Neal Van Alfen, dean of the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. “Their generous gift helps California grape growers maintain access to healthy planting stock, which is essential for a competitive and economically viable industry.”

“For decades, UC Davis has educated many top industry leaders in the wine community and we have benefited from the winemakers, viticulturists and scientists who have studied in UC Davis halls,” said Bob Trinchero, board chairman of Trinchero Family Estates. “Foundation Plant Services has helped shape our industry by providing state-of-the-art technologies and services for growing the finest grapes. Our decision to make this contribution to UC Davis and its Foundation Plant Services was based on our exceptional experiences with the university and its profound effect on the wine business.”

Grape rootstocks are one of the principal horticultural crops supported by Foundation Plant Services. In 2008, the program released five new grape rootstocks with resistance to nematodes and phylloxera — two of the most damaging vineyard pests.

In 1994, the unit moved into the university's National Grapevine Importation and Clean Stock Facility located west of the Davis campus. Since then, its programs have more than tripled, necessitating expansion for new staff and information technology needs.

The Trinchero Family Estates gift will support construction of a planned $3.8 million, 5,600-square-foot new building adjacent to the current facility. The project aims to achieve LEED silver certification with a variety of sustainable design features, including water and energy efficiency. It will include a meeting room for hosting classes and stakeholder gatherings.

“I’m extremely grateful for this gift and overwhelmed with the Trinchero family’s generosity,” said Foundation Plant Services Director Deborah Golino. “This new building will help us build greater capacity to better serve the California grape and wine industries. And we’re thrilled that it is in the process of being named the Trinchero Family Estates building.”

About Trinchero Family Estates

Trinchero Family Estates is owned and operated by the Trinchero family, who came to the Napa Valley in 1947. Immigrants from northern Italy in the 1920s, the Trincheros purchased an abandoned 19th-century winery named Sutter Home in St. Helena. For the next quarter century, the family ran Sutter Home as a small mom-and-pop winery.

Second generation winemaker Bob Trinchero, son of founder Mario Trinchero, was the creator of Sutter Home White Zinfandel, a wine first sold in the winery tasting room in 1973. The wildly successful white zinfandel allowed the Trinchero family to expand their winery portfolio to include 23 different wine labels, including Sutter Home, Trinchero Napa Valley, Napa Cellars, Terra d’Oro, Montevina, Trinity Oaks, Folie à Deux, Ménage à Trois, and the alcohol-removed wine, Fre. The company also imports Angove Vineyards and Little Boomey wines of Australia, and markets and sells the Three Thieves and Joel Gott brands. Trinchero Family Estates also produces luxury-class single-vineyard wines from the family's estates in prime growing regions throughout the Napa Valley. Their 13-acre sustainably farmed cabernet sauvignon vineyard brings the family's Napa Valley vineyard holdings to more than 200 acres.

About Foundation Plant Services

Foundation Plant Services is a self-supporting unit of the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences at UC Davis. It is dedicated to the distribution of disease-tested, true-to-identity plant materials that are produced by UC researchers, improved by UC researchers, or valuable to California’s agricultural community. It is responsible for clean stock programs for grapes, strawberries, deciduous fruit and nut trees, roses, and sweet potatoes; a hybrid pistachio rootstock seed program; and importation programs for grapes, strawberries and chestnuts. These programs have played a key national and international role in distributing new crop varieties and healthy planting stocks.

It takes many years to establish the healthy live plant collections that are the core of clean stock programs. Clean planting stock programs use disease detection, pathogen elimination techniques, and isolation strategies to produce, maintain, and propagate healthy planting stock. Clean plant programs must use state-of-the-art technology to ensure that producers stay competitive in the global market. Collections must be continually protected from infection, monitored for disease, farmed, and documented.

About UC Davis

Study Reveals How Plants and Bacteria ‘Talk’ to Thwart Disease

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

When it comes to plants’ innate immunity, like many of the dances of life, it takes two to tango. A receptor molecule in the plant pairs up with a specific molecule on the invading bacteria and, presto, the immune system swings into action to defend against the invasion of the disease-causing microbe.

Unwrapping some of the mystery from how plants and bacteria communicate in this dance of immunity, scientists at the University of California, Davis, have identified the bacterial signaling molecule that matches up with a specific receptor in rice plants to ward off a devastating disease known as bacterial blight of rice.

The researchers, led by UC Davis plant pathologist Pamela Ronald, will publish their findings in the Nov. 6 issue of the journal Science.

“The new discovery of this bacterial signaling molecule helps us better understand how the innate immune system operates,” Ronald said.

“Because similar pairs of receptors and bacterial signaling molecules are known to exist not only in rice but also in other plants, as well as animals and humans, we are hopeful that this work will lead to new strategies for controlling diseases in plants and people,” she said.

Disease resistance background

In 1995, Ronald’s laboratory identified the XA21 gene, which produces a receptor protein that recognizes Xanthomonas oryzae pv. Oryzae, also known as Xoo, which causes bacterial blight disease. Xoo and other species of Xanthomonas infect virtually every crop species in the world.

Subsequent discoveries revealed that receptors with striking structural similarities to the XA21 receptor protein exist in other plants, flies, mice and even humans. These receptors were later named pattern recognition receptors or PRRs because they have the ability to recognize molecules that occur across species in a large class of disease-causing microbes. These receptors then can launch a protective immune defense on behalf of the plant or animal.

Together, the receptors (PRRs) and the microbial molecules they recognize comprise a previously unknown system of immunity called innate immunity. As the name suggests, this form of immunity is built into the genetic makeup of the plant, rather than developing over time with repeated exposure to disease-causing microbes. Unlike animals, plants do not produce antibodies.

The new findings

In their newly published study, Ronald and her colleagues identified a peptide -- a compound that they call ax21 -- as the molecule that binds with the XA21 receptor protein. The binding triggers a defense response against the bacterial disease.

The researchers note that ax21 is also found in many other species of Xanthomonas as well as in Xylella fastidiosa, a microbe that causes the devastating Pierce’s disease in grapes. Furthermore, ax21 is even found in Stenotrophomonas maltophilia, a bacterium that causes respiratory tract infections in humans.

“These studies have led to a convergence in our understanding of the molecular mechanisms that govern how disease-causing microbes interact with the plants and animals they infect,” Ronald said.

“We are hopeful that these discoveries will benefit agriculture and medicine in the United States and around the world by leading to development of treatments that will disrupt bacterial infection,” she said.

Working with Ronald on this study were Sang-Won Lee, Sang-Wook Han, Malinee Sririyanum, Chang-Jin Park and Young-Su Seo, all researchers in the UC Davis Department of Plant Pathology.

Funding for the study was provided by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and by the National Institutes of Health.

About UC Davis

For 100 years, UC Davis has engaged in teaching, research and public service that matter to California and transform the world. Located close to the state capital, UC Davis has 31,000 students, an annual research budget that exceeds $500 million, a comprehensive health system and 13 specialized research centers. The university offers interdisciplinary graduate study and more than 100 undergraduate majors in four colleges -- Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Biological Sciences, Engineering, and Letters and Science -- and advanced degrees from six professional schools -- Education, Law, Management, Medicine, Veterinary Medicine and the Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing.

Genome Sequence for the Domestic Horse to Be Unveiled

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

The whole genome sequence of the domestic horse has been completed by the genome-sequencing center of The Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, in collaboration with an international team of researchers that includes scientists at the University of California, Davis.

Findings from the genome sequence have important implications for improved breeding of horses, which constitute a $39 billion industry in the United States alone, and for studies of human health. They will be reported in the Nov. 6 issue of the journal Science.

“This very high-quality genome sequence of the horse is important because it gives us access to specific sequence information that we can now apply to identify the genes for specific traits in the horse,” said geneticist Cecilia Penedo of UC Davis’ Veterinary Genetics Laboratory, a co-author on the paper.

As a collaborator in the international Horse Genome Project, Penedo contributed to the genome sequencing effort by supplying DNA from Arabian horses and Quarter horses and by working on a horse linkage map, which identified a linear order of genetic markers along the horse chromosomes.

Also collaborating on the project from UC Davis were James Murray, a professor of animal science who has worked with the Horse Genome Project since its inception in 1995, and Stephanie Pedroni, then a UC Davis staff researcher and genetics graduate student.

“Having access to multiple genome sequences makes it easier to understand all genomes, including our own,” Murray said. “By looking at the horse genome, we can better understand human biology and human diseases.”

In reporting the horse genome sequence, the researchers noted that there are more than 90 hereditary conditions that affect both humans and horses. Because horses share these conditions, which include infertility, inflammatory diseases and muscle disorders, the horse is an important model for improving the understanding of human diseases.

The sequencing project revealed that the horse genome is somewhat larger than the dog genome and smaller than the human and cow genomes. In comparing the horse and human chromosomes, the researchers discovered that 17 out of 32 -- or 53 percent of -- horse chromosome pairs are composed of material from a single human chromosome, while only 29 percent of dog chromosomes are composed of material from a single human chromosome. This indicates that fewer chromosome rearrangements separate humans from horses than separate humans from dogs.

The researchers were also surprised to find on horse chromosome 11 the existence of an evolutionarily new centromere. Centromeres are key structural features of chromosomes that are necessary for their movement when cells divide, a function that ensures normal distribution of all genetic material to each daughter cell. The functional but evolutionarily immature centromere in the horse may provide a model to study factors responsible for how centromeres function.

Penedo noted that the completion of the high-quality horse genome sequence has provided researchers around the world with ready access to specific gene sequences that can be applied to mapping various traits of the horse.

She and genetics graduate student Leah Brault are using this information in their research focused on identifying the cause of equine cerebellar abiotrophy, a genetic, neurological condition found almost exclusively in Arabian horses. Studies have shown that a horse can carry the gene for equine cerebellar abiotrophy and not be affected by it. However, if two horses carrying the gene are bred, there is a 25-percent likelihood that the resulting foal will manifest the condition, which causes serious neurological problems including head tremors and poor equilibrium.

The sequencing of the horse genome was funded by the National Human Genome Research Institute, the Dorothy Russell Havemeyer Foundation, the Volkswagen Foundation, the Morris Animal Foundation, and Italy's Programmi di Ricerca Scientifica di Rilevante Interesse Nazionale.

About UC Davis

Federal Stimulus Funds to UC Davis Will Bring 250 Jobs

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Federal stimulus grants to UC Davis will put some 250 people to work on earthquake safety, new sources of clean energy and West Nile virus control, among dozens of other research projects. So far 53 of the jobs are in place, with the rest expected to come on line in the near future.

UC Davis job numbers were announced today as part of a national report from the White House on initial outcomes from the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, and are based on an analysis of $69.9 million in stimulus awards the campus had received as of Sept. 30. Overall, UC Davis has submitted more than $500 million in proposals for stimulus funds.

According to the White House report, awards to UC Davis have generated 53 full-time-equivalent positions on campus, ranging from lab technicians to professors.

At least 200 additional employees will be required to carry out research projects funded by the stimulus awards, campus officials say. Further job-creation numbers will be reported to the federal government at the end of the year.

"In addition to creating and preserving jobs in a difficult economy, these grants will support important research in medicine, basic sciences and engineering that will have long-term benefits for the economy of California and the nation -- and they will help us to train the next generation of scientists," said Barry Klein, vice chancellor for research at UC Davis.

"Moreover, we are optimistic that discoveries made in the course of stimulus-funded research will create new enterprises and additional long-term, sustainable jobs," Klein said.

Signed into law by President Obama in February, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act charged the National Institutes of Health and National Science Foundation with distributing $11.2 billion in stimulus funds to scientists around the country.

The program is intended to save or create more than 3.5 million jobs nationwide over the course of two years, while helping to revitalize the nation's scientific research enterprise.

According to information available online from federal agencies that administer research funding, UC Davis faculty had received 176 stimulus grants worth $69.9 million as of Sept. 30. The projects include:

* $2.3 million to study the spread of tuberculosis, which kills some 1.7 million people worldwide each year

* $2 million to develop a new, more powerful electron microscope

* $1.5 million to the Clinical and Translational Science Center, which focuses on bringing promising medical research to the bedside

* $780,000 for research on building foundations that can withstand earthquakes

* $685,000 for cardiovascular research

* $548,000 for tools for predicting outbreaks of West Nile virus

* $490,000 to study the use of ultrasound in cancer treatment

* $478,000 for influenza virus studies

* $379,000 to explore causes of autism

* $378,000 for engineering and implanting replacement knee joint tissue

* $330,000 for technology that could lead to new materials for storing data

* $240,000 for research on cobalt water-splitting catalysts, a possible source of clean energy

* $206,000 to explore use of virtual reality technology for social-skills training of children with autism

Stimulus funds also are helping to fund a summer program to bring high school and college students, and teachers from schools at all levels, to university labs to learn about stem cells. Stimulus funds also help to pay graduate students studying for doctoral and master's degrees in science or engineering at UC Davis.

Stimulus funds have significantly boosted research funding the campus receives from established government and philanthropic channels. Support from external sources has more than doubled from $299 million in 2000-01 to $622 million for the 2008-09 fiscal year.

The stimulus program requires quarterly reporting by grant recipients of estimated jobs created. For the first quarterly report, due Sept. 30, UC Davis used payroll records to calculate jobs supported by stimulus funds. That calculation yielded an estimate of 53 full-time-equivalent positions in place. The estimate of an additional 200 jobs is based on analysis of the budgets of awards received, many of which have not yet shown up in the payroll system.

"The payroll count method is transparent, verifiable and accurate, while the budget estimate gives a realistic picture of the expected job count from funds received to date," Klein said.

He noted, however, that calculation methods are not yet uniform nationally, or even within the University of California system.

About UC Davis

Psychiatrist-Philanthropist Gives $1 Million for Infancy Studies

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Dr. Robert Dorn, a Davis psychiatrist who devoted his career to understanding and treating mental health problems that originate in the earliest years of life, has given $1 million to support infant development research at UC Davis.

"People can get patched up, and sometimes that works very well. But I'd like this research to be about prevention, not repair," Dorn said. His gift will support a faculty member who conducts research into the social and emotional development of babies.

Dorn, 88, was associated with the UC Davis Department of Psychiatry for more than 20 years. He continues to serve as a volunteer associate in child development in the Department of Human and Community Development, and also maintains a part-time private psychiatry practice in downtown Davis.

The Robert M. and Natalie Reid Dorn Endowed Chair on Infancy will support a faculty member who will collaborate widely with faculty from other disciplines on research that ultimately will help parents and caregivers to better meet the needs of infants. Recruitment for the chair is under way.

The chair is named for Dorn and his wife of 40 years, Natalie, who died five years ago. The gift is the largest ever received by the Department of Human and Community Development.

“Something very important takes place at the beginning of life,” Dorn said. “If there is a good bond between the baby and its mother or the caregiver — if the baby ‘thrives’ — these early connections lay the groundwork for healthy development. As a clinician, I help patients recover from problems that often originate in late pregnancy, early infancy, the toddler phase or childhood. I hope this gift will help us prevent these problems."

The endowed chair holder's research will be based at the UC Davis Center for Child and Family Studies, a program of the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences dedicated to advancing the field of child development. Dorn was a longtime volunteer at the center, one of a contingent of seasoned child development professionals who donated their time to work with mothers and toddlers. The group became known as the "grandparents group."

Dorn and his late wife moved to Davis in 1980. From 1981 to 1986, he served as chief of child and adolescent psychiatry at UC Davis School of Medicine and Medical Center. He renamed the program “Child, Adolescent and Family Psychiatry” during his tenure to emphasize the importance of family to an individual's mental health. Dorn remained a clinical professor of psychiatry at UC Davis until 2007.

Dorn earned his medical degree at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. Following a stint in the military, he completed a medical residency and pursued additional medical training in England. He studied at the Institute of Psychoanalysis in London and worked at the University of London's Institute of Psychiatry and at The Institute of Neurology, Queen Square. He also became a member of the British Psychoanalytical Society.

During his years abroad, Dorn worked with Anna Freud, the daughter of Sigmund Freud. His teachers and mentors included John Bowlby, a pioneer in attachment theory, Jungian psychiatrist E.A. Bennet, and neurologist McDonald Critchley. Dorn incorporated elements of these varied approaches to therapy in his work as a psychiatrist.

The idea of a gift began as a discussion with UC Davis faculty about the need for additional research into the role that early emotional experiences play in human development.

“The social-emotional development of infants is extremely important as a foundation for life,” said Zhe Chen, professor and chair of human and community development. “One of the most significant and exciting research areas focuses on early attachment and neuropsychological development. We really appreciate Bob’s vision and effort in helping us build an endowed chair in this area.”

In creating an endowed chair, Dorn has strengthened UC Davis’ ability to pursue its academic mission, Chen said. Appointment to an endowed chair is one of the highest honors a university can bestow upon a faculty member. Created through funds that are permanently invested in order to provide annual interest income in perpetuity, these endowments support stellar teaching and research while ensuring the advancement of knowledge for generations to come.

Although Dorn is expansive in conversation about child development, he is almost shy in his role as a philanthropist.

“Your community gives to you, and you give back to your community,” Dorn said of his gift.

“I was lucky to be part of a nurturing community that made kids feel like we belonged," he said, recalling his childhood in Cleveland. "When children receive the right nurturing at the beginning of life, they grow into compassionate adults who are able to nurture the next generation.”

With his gift, the psychiatrist hopes to make possible insights and discoveries that will nurture compassionate adults for many generations to come.

About UC Davis

For 100 years, UC Davis has engaged in teaching, research and public service that matter to California and transform the world. Located close to the state capital, UC Davis has 31,000 students, an annual research budget that exceeds $500 million, a comprehensive health system and 13 specialized research centers. The university offers interdisciplinary graduate study and more than 100 undergraduate majors in four colleges — Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Biological Sciences, Engineering, and Letters and Science — and advanced degrees from six professional schools — Education, Law, Management, Medicine, Veterinary Medicine and the Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing.

$15 Million Horticulture Research Program to be Led by UC Davis

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Intent on helping the world’s poorest people break out of a persistent cycle of poverty by producing and marketing high-value crops, the U.S. Agency for International Development has selected the University of California, Davis, to lead a new $15 million, five-year global Horticulture Collaborative Research Support Program.

The new program will select and support U.S. and international partners as they undertake research, training, curriculum-development and outreach activities in the neediest countries, most located in sub-Saharan Africa, southern Asia and Latin America.

The collaborative research effort will be responsible for developing and leading a broad range of activities that demonstrate how horticulture can help reduce hunger and malnutrition, and raise the incomes of the rural poor.

“This is not an easy task,” said Jim Hill, associate dean of International Programs in UC Davis’ College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. “In seizing this opportunity we are committing ourselves to making sure that the rural poor have access to appropriate technology, markets, resources, training and supportive government policies.

“We are excited about the opportunity that USAID has provided,” Hill said. “Our focus now is on jump-starting the program so that we can fund research and implementation projects in the near future.”

The new program will be housed in the college’s Department of Plant Sciences under the leadership of Professor emeritus Ron Voss, a recognized extension specialist in the area of vegetable production and small farms.

There are eight other existing USAID Collaborative Research Support Programs around the nation, including a global livestock program led by UC Davis. Like the older programs, the new horticulture program will provide funding to foster collaboration among U.S. land-grant colleges and universities and institutions in developing countries.

(Land-grant institutions, including the University of California, were designated in the mid-1800s by the federal government to focus on teaching agriculture, science and engineering.)

The newly created horticulture program will address priorities that were identified in the USAID-sponsored Global Horticulture Assessment, conducted and written in 2004-2005 by a team of international horticultural and development experts led by Patrick Brown, a UC Davis plant science professor.

Voss noted that in the developing world, women provide as much as 90 percent of the labor for production of horticultural crops, yet often have limited access to resources, receive lower wages and have less stable jobs than men. Gender equity will, therefore, be one of the overarching themes of the new horticulture program. Other areas of emphasis will be innovative technologies and information accessibility.

Research topics will include improving germplasm or plant genetic material; local plant varieties; and sustainable production methods in horticultural crops that will ensure success in the marketplace. Because as much as 40 percent of the food grown in the target countries never reaches the table, there will be a special focus on reducing postharvest losses. Training aimed at decreasing the incidence of food-borne illnesses also will be provided.

Other key priorities will include developing and strengthening private-sector relationships, particularly related to markets and marketing, as well as improving local support for horticultural producers through short- and long-term student and professional training.

The results of research projects funded by the new horticulture program will be made available through a readily accessible database of information and training tools. All research projects in the program will include outreach and evaluation components to provide farmers, horticulturists, marketers and consumers in the developing world with the tools they need to improve their horticultural crop production, as well as their livelihoods, nutrition and health.

“Those improvements will translate into enhanced nutrition and human health, as well as improved social and economic conditions, for poor -- mostly rural -- communities, and especially for women in those communities” Voss said.

“By harnessing the research, training and outreach expertise of the land-grant universities in the U.S. to work with local developing country partners, we are confident that we can improve their knowledge generation and horticultural capabilities in much the same way that the land-grant system helped to revolutionize American agriculture,” he added.

Statewide Horse Day to Draw 4-H Youth to UC Davis

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

UC Davis’ Department of Animal Science will host the annual State 4-H Equine Field Day Saturday, Oct. 24 beginning at 10 a.m. More than 200 4-H members, parents and adult leaders are expected to participate in the daylong event, which will include educational presentations as well as a tour of the campus breeding facility and horse barn, a demonstration of a horse drill team and rides on a wagon pulled by draft horses.

Speakers from UC Davis will include equine facility supervisor Joel Viloria; animal science doctoral candidate Gerry Brown; veterinary resident Laramie Winfield and equine dental technician Tony Basile.

Presentation topics will include horse conformation and judging, shoeing and hoof care, health issues, equine dentistry, draft horses and driving, horse nutrition, riding in timed games known as gymkhana events, horse knowledge bowl, saddle fitting and tack, and foal behavior.

The California Cowgirls Rodeo Drill Team will perform at 12:30 p.m. in the Cole Facility arena, and internationally known horse trainer Charles Wilhelm will present a demonstration with horses at 2 p.m. in the arena.

4-H Field Day participants must be at least 9 years old or in the 4th grade or above, and should wear closed-toed shoes and bring an equestrian helmet to participate in the wagon ride. Admission on the day of the event will be $25 per person.

The daylong event will be held at the Cole Facility Horse Barn, located on La Rue Drive and Putah Creek Lodge Road on the UC Davis Campus. The Cole Facility can be reached by taking the UC Davis exit from Interstate 80. From the off-ramp, turn right onto Old Davis Road. After you pass the information booth, turn left onto California Avenue. Go past one stop sign, cross a small bridge and then turn left onto La Rue Road. Pass Bioletti Way on the right and park in Lot 47 on the right. Parking is free on the weekend.

New Centennial Olive Oil Goes on Sale

Fri, 09 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

The UC Davis Olive Center will begin selling this year’s Centennial Blend of extra virgin olive oil Wednesday, Oct. 14, at the campus bookstore in the Memorial Union. On that day, the oil will be sold for the special price of $10 per bottle, rather than the normal $12, and free olive oil tastings will be offered from 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. at the entrance to the bookstore.

The oil also can be purchased online beginning Thursday, Oct. 15, at $12 per bottle from the UC Davis bookstore at http://bookstore.ucdavis.edu.

This is the second year that the award-winning olive oil program at UC Davis’ Robert Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Science has offered the Centennial Blend, commemorating the 100-year partnership between UC Davis and California’s olive growers and processors. This premium olive oil combines Spanish, Greek and Italian varietals from UC Davis trees and from olive producers in Butte, Glenn, San Joaquin, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Solano, Sonoma, Stanislaus, Tehama and Yolo counties.

“This is a well-balanced blend that contains a bouquet of green apple with aromatic grassy flavors and a hint of banana and ripe olives,” said Dan Flynn, executive director of the olive center.

Proceeds from sales of the UC Davis Centennial Blend will benefit the UC Davis Olive Center, supporting future research and education. More information about the olive center is available at http://www.olivecenter.ucdavis.edu/.

About UC Davis

Food Scarcity and Prices Likely to Rise Without Infusion of Ag Research Dollars, Economists Predict

Tue, 29 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Food around the world is likely to become scarcer and more expensive if the United States and other developing countries don’t bolster their investment in agricultural research, warns a team of economists from the University of California, Davis, and the University of Minnesota.

In a Policy Forum paper published this month in the journal Science, the researchers documented a slowdown since 1990 in the growth rate of general agricultural productivity and in the growth rates of yields of specific crops including corn, rice, wheat and soybeans -- the world’s major food and feed crops.

“The long-term consequences of a continuing slowdown in agricultural productivity growth could be dire, with more than one billion people around the world already suffering from malnutrition,” said UC Davis agricultural economist Julian Alston, an authority on the economic impact of government policy on agriculture.

“It is critical that the United States and other developing countries revitalize their investments in agricultural research and development, which has been the main driver of long-term growth in agricultural productivity,” he said.

Alston and his colleagues, Philip Pardey and Jason Beddow of the University of Minnesota, noted that a number of factors -- including climate change, land degradation, shifts to less productive areas, higher resource costs, evolving pests and diseases, and changes in governmental policies -- have all contributed to the slowdown in agricultural productivity growth.

“But part of the slowdown in productivity growth must be blamed on a slowdown in the growth rate of public and private investment in agricultural research and development, combined with a shift in research emphasis,” Alston noted.

Some research and development funds that were allocated for agriculture in recent decades have been redirected from productivity and toward improving food safety and product quality as well as to medical, energy and industrial uses of agricultural commodities, according to the researchers.

“Research and development have helped maintain yields as new pests, diseases and other environmental problems arise,” Alston said. “And development of new knowledge and technology has historically resulted in more abundant supplies of food at more affordable prices.

“Typically, such investments have benefited industrialized countries as well as developing nations, where more efficient agricultural systems can help alleviate hunger and poverty and reduce pressure on natural resources,” he said.

Funding for this study was supplied by the University of California; the University of Minnesota; the U.S. Department of Agriculture; the Giannini Foundation of Agricultural Economics; and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, through the HarvestChoice Initiative.

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Bugs in Boxes Shed Light on Biological Invasions

Fri, 18 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Bugs in boxes are helping UC Davis researcher Alan Hastings improve scientific tools used to predict the spread of invasive plants and animals.

In today's edition of the journal Science, Hastings and a University of Colorado colleague report their latest findings from both a tightly controlled laboratory experiment and a mathematical model: When they released 600 identical beetles and let them spread at will through 30 identical landscapes over 13 generations, there was a surprising degree of difference in the outcome.

Some of the beetles went far and fast, traveling across 31 landscape patches in the 15-month experiment, while others went only a third as far. The rest fell somewhere in the middle.

Hastings said the results suggest that it won't be as easy as some had hoped to catalog all the factors that influence the spread of an invasion.

If it is difficult to predict the course of an invasion, it will be difficult to control it. And there are hundreds of destructive invaders in the U.S. alone, from kudzu to zebra mussels to the light brown apple moth.

"There appears to be this intrinsic variability, even in the simplest ecological settings, that means that difficulty in prediction is a basic feature of ecological systems," said Hastings, a professor in the UC Davis Department of Environmental Science and Policy.

Hastings is currently a principal investigator or co-investigator on four grants totaling more than $1 million. These studies range from researching the dynamics of salmon and cod populations to species' response to global climate change.

Hastings' collaborator and co-author Brett Melbourne was previously a postdoctoral scholar at UC Davis, and is now an assistant professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Colorado, Boulder.

If invasion forecasts are to improve, Melbourne said, ecologists will have to keep trying to quantify the randomness in environmental and biological processes. "Ecological forecasts will become more like weather forecasts, with a stated range of probability but not certainty, like when the meteorologist says there is a 75 percent chance of rain on Thursday."

The study, "Highly Variable Spread Rates in Replicated Biological Invasions: Fundamental Limits to Predictability," is online at http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/325/5947/1536.

It was funded by the National Science Foundation.

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