Crop News Weekly: Elusive Biofuels Enzyme

How many times have you heard it said, "The growing season is too short." Regardless where you farm (with a few exceptions), the growing season is always too short. But what amazes me the most is how fast the weeks and months go by. As hard as it is to believe, the month of August is a few days away and harvest is not far behind.

But enough about my approaching senility and how fast life seems to be speeding by. We're charged up with a lot of news and issues this week and I invite you to take a few moments to catch up on the latest. Happy reading.

In a wood near you, powerful microbes quicken the decay of fallen tree branches. These adroit decomposers perform that essential role by producing specialized enzymes.

In the United States and abroad, biofuels researchers prize these enzymes because they may speed and simplify the process of making bioethanol, and coproducts, from the cellulose in the cell walls of energy crops such as switchgrass.

One of the most sought-after of those specialty enzymes may now be easier for today’s researchers to find. That’s thanks to an assay created by Agricultural Research Service (ARS) chemist Charles C. Lee and colleagues at the agency’s Western Regional Research Center in Albany, Calif.

An internationally recognized genetics researcher who visited the LSU AgCenter Rice Research Station said he is confident that the European Union eventually will accept genetically modified foods. But in the meantime, he is focusing his work on third-world countries.

Dr. Paul Christou of the University of Lleida in Spain said he has been part of a team that works to introduce genes into corn, causing the plant to produce higher levels of multiple nutrients.

He said many Africans will not eat yellow corn that has higher levels of nutrients, preferring less nutritious white corn. But because they will eat processed corn that has been colored, he set out to genetically engineer a dark colored corn containing increased levels of important vitamins and minerals such as vitamin C, beta carotene and folate.

In a field tucked into the northern side of this college town, just across from the Kansas State University football complex, some unusually tall plants are growing. They are part of the university´s research into promising biofuel feedstocks that may ultimately power vehicles of the future.

"We are studying sorghums and perennial grasses because we think these will be used in the non-irrigated acres in Kansas to produce biomass," said K-State professor of agronomy, Scott Staggenborg. "On our irrigated acres, corn will remain the crop of choice (as a biofuel feedstock), but on our dryland acres - especially in extremely dry environments, perennial grasses may be the crop of choice. Plus, since sorghum has the ability to perform better than corn when it is hot and dry, it gives us options." - Southwest Farm Press

University researchers often say they need three years of testing to determine whether a new product will perform up to expectations.

John Bradley doesn’t quite have three years of data with Carbon Boost-S, but he’s getting there. He and other Floratine BioSciences, Inc., researchers and cooperators believe what they’ve seen in two years of research shows tremendous potential.

Bradley, former director of the University of Tennessee’s Milan Experiment Station and former conservation-tillage specialist with Monsanto, joined FBS in 2007. Since then, he’s been testing Carbon Boost-S and other FBS products on a number of crops.

Drought has caused some uncommon crops, including corn and sorghum, to be baled, grazed or used for livestock forage. With this practice come some environmental conditions that could cause the plants to contain toxic levels of nitrate or prussic acid.

Nitrate is present to some degree in all forages; however when plants are stressed, normal plant growth does not occur, which may result in plants accumulating too much nitrate, or toxic levels. Nitrate poisoning can occur if the forage consumed contains high levels of nitrate, if a sudden diet change occurs, if conditions causing anemia exist, or if livestock consume supplements of urea or high-protein feeds along with forage containing moderate levels of nitrate.

Many kinds of plants can accumulate nitrate, including plants in the sorghum family, like johnsongrass, sudangrasses, sorghum hybrids, corn, small grains, careless weed or pigweed. Under dry conditions, plant roots continue to absorb small amounts of nitrogen, but the plant has too little water to keep growing, thus nitrate accumulates and is stored in the lower leaves and stems. - Jeffrey R. Stapper, County Extension Agent-Ag/Natural Resources

U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, today issued the following statement announcing his appointment to the Senate Agriculture Committee. In addition to his new seat on the Senate Agriculture Committee, Sen. Cornyn will continue to serve on the Senate Finance, Budget and Judiciary Committees.

"From the cowboys on the Chisholm trail in the late 1800s to the success of today's cotton farmers-agriculture has always been at the heart of Texas' economy and our farmers and ranchers play a vital role in our state's economy. I look forward to serving on the Senate Agriculture Committee to advance Texas' priorities and ensure our state's agriculture industry continues to thrive.

At the outset of his talk, Donnie Miller tells those attending the Northeast Louisiana Research Station field day that his presentation will be “a little different.”

This particular tour stop, says the station’s research coordinator, is on weed control, “but I won’t be talking about controlling traditional weeds. The definition of ‘weed’ is simply a plant that’s growing out of place.

“We run into situations every year where crops are planted and there’s a stand failure — the population isn’t up to par due to inclement weather — but some of the plants do survive. With mild and sometimes dry winters, there are also times plants that survive” from the previous cropping season. - David Bennett, Farm Press Editorial Staff

Soybean growers in Jackson County have proven their persistence in the face of rainfall amounts of more than 35 inches since March, Randy Chlapecka, the county Extension staff chair for the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture, said Tuesday.

Some areas received nearly 10 inches in the last 10 days.

The heavy rains since the week of July 13 “have continued to compound an already serious situation with our soybean crop in Jackson County. Some producers have planted fields as many as four times.”

Rainfall totals of 30 to 35 inches between March 10 and June 14 made it difficult to plant soybeans in a timely manner. When planting could occur it “would be followed by heavy rains and the soybeans would have to be replanted,” Chlapecka said. - Mary Hightower, U of A Division of Agriculture

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