Earth Day and Clean WAter

In light of Earth Day (April 22), The University of Florida has created an infographic “Five Water Purification Designs for Third World Communities” to help people visualize five water purification designs that can benefit developing nations, according to ufonline.ufl.edu.

The infographic highlights statistics reported by the World Health Organization (WHO) which states 748 million people lack access to safe drinking water sources, an estimated 1.8 billion people use a fecally contaminated source for drinking water, 2.5 billion people do not have access to basic sanitation facilities and over 840,000 people die from water-related diseases each year.

“Contaminated water is the number one cause of death in developing countries, causing diseases such as cholera, hepatitis, typhoid fever, malaria, ascariasis, dengue fever and many other deadly illnesses,” states the introduction to the infographic. “

In fact, contaminated water is the number one public health concern globally based on its impact to society, according to the WHO.  Fortunately, the WHO estimates that 10 percent of the global disease burden could be prevented with improved water supply and sanitation.

In light of this, a number of innovations and technologies are providing growing solutions to this problem.”

The infographic highlights five purification solutions including: UV, solar purification, ceramic filters, a water-purifying bicycle and personal filter straws.

It is worthwhile reproducing in this format.  Not all methods are equal in efficacy, but having clean water is just so important on developing areas of the world, as well as after natural catastrophes, which do seem to occur so often.

See below for the infographic:

You can find more information, as well as the infographic, here.

Upland Cotton Genome Sequenced

USDA Scientists, International Colleagues Sequence Upland Cotton Genome

By Dennis O'Brien
April 21, 2015

Resulting "roadmap" could help improve yields, fiber quality and plant resilience

WASHINGTON, April 21, 2015—U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists and their partners have sequenced the genome of the world's most widely cultivated and genetically complex species of cotton, a milestone that will make it easier to address increasing threats to cotton by tapping into its natural defenses. The results were published today in two Nature Biotechnology reports.

Sequencing the genome of Upland cotton (Gossypium hirsutum) will help breeders develop varieties of cotton that are better equipped to combat the pests, diseases and higher temperatures and droughts expected to accompany climate change. Cotton growers have experienced a plateau in yields since the early 1990s, and most commercial varieties lack genetic diversity, making cotton vulnerable to natural threats. 

The findings will help researchers and breeders in the years ahead develop cotton varieties with improved fiber qualities, higher yields and more tolerance to heat, drought and diseases anticipated due to climate change. Cotton is grown on 12 million acres in 17 states and is a $6 billion crop in the United States, and a major crop worldwide.

"There is a vast, untapped reservoir of genes in wild cotton plants that could offer us stronger and more effective defenses to the numerous challenges faced by cotton growers. Sequencing of a genetic standard in cotton gives us the roadmap to identify and tap into that reservoir of genetic variability," said Chavonda Jacobs-Young, administrator of the USDA's Agricultural Research Service (ARS). ARS is USDA's principal intramural scientific research agency.

The studies are the result of nearly a decade of international collaboration. ARS scientists Richard Percy and Russell Kohel (retired) are coauthors and John Yu is corresponding author of one publication. They are based in College Station, Texas. ARS scientist Brian Scheffler, based in Stoneville, Mississippi, is a coauthor of the other. The two teams sequenced the genome of the genetic standard of Upland cotton, Texas Marker-1, which is often used in studies and in developing new genetic lines.

Upland cotton is the result of millions of years of evolution and thousands of years of domestication. The sequencing efforts were made possible because several of the scientists involved in today's studies recently sequenced the two "parent" species of most commercial cotton varieties—an Old World cultivated cotton and a New World wild cotton.

The results will allow scientists to analyze two sets of extensive DNA data, compiled independently of each other, compare the results and exploit cotton's genetic diversity by tapping into the potential of genes found in the 10,000 accessions of exotic and wild cotton plants in the ARS Cotton Germplasm Collection in College Station, Texas.

The papers, with a list of the contributing authors, can be found at:

http://www.nature.com/nbt/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nbt.3207.html

http://www.nature.com/nbt/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nbt.3208.html

ARS is USDA's principal intramural scientific research agency, and this research supports the USDA priority of promoting American agriculture by conducting cutting-edge research and expanding markets at home and abroad.

[ Press release from the USDA]  

Glyphosate Use Under Threat - "Probable Carcinogen"

U.S. regulators may recommend testing food for glyphosate residues

By Carey Gillam  (Reuters) - U.S. regulators may start testing food products for residues of the world's most widely used herbicide, the Environmental Protection Agency told Reuters on Friday, as public concern rises over possible links to disease.

Glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup herbicide, has come under intense scrutiny since a research unit of the World Health Organization reported last month it was classifying glyphosate as "probably carcinogenic to humans."

The herbicide is considered safe by the EPA, as well as many foreign regulatory agencies, including in the European Union.

Still, a number of companies, consumer groups and advocacy organizations have been sampling foods, as well as human urine and breast milk, to try to determine the pervasiveness of glyphosate residues.

Glyphosate is used on corn, soybeans, sugar beets and other crops genetically altered to withstand it. It is also used by farmers growing wheat and other crops. Its use has surged with the advancement of genetically engineered crops.

The U.S. government, which annually tests thousands of foods for pesticide residues, does not test for glyphosate, in part because it has been considered safe.

That could change, the EPA said in a statement Friday. "Given increased public interest in glyphosate, EPA may recommend sampling for glyphosate in the future," the agency said in an email response to a Reuters inquiry.

Monsanto Co, the maker of Roundup, on April 1 posted a blog seeking to reassure consumers about glyphosate residues, saying trace amounts are safe. It did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The EPA said the ultimate decision rests with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and its Pesticide Data Program. In the past, the EPA had advised the USDA that "glyphosate residues do not pose a risk to human health," the EPA said.  However, Peter Wood, spokesman for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, said the "EPA makes the determination which commodities and pesticides are tested." He said that sampling is based on EPA "data needs" and EPA has so far not requested glyphosate testing on any commodity.

Both agencies said that testing for glyphosate residues would be more costly than for other pesticides.  Since 1991, the USDA's testing program has tested thousands of food samples each year for residues. It informs the USDA whether residues exceed tolerance levels for the pesticides set by the EPA.  In 2013, the USDA tested for about 400 different pesticides on a variety of foods as well as in groundwater and drinking water.

Only in one year, 2011, did the agency conduct testing for glyphosate. Those tests, on 300 soybean samples, found 271 of the samples had residues. All of them fell below the EPA-set tolerance level of 20 parts per million, with residues ranging from 0.26 to 18.5 ppm.


(Reporting by Carey Gillam in Kansas City; Editing by Dan Grebler, Christian Plumb and Ken Wills)

---------------------------

This article was reported late last week by Reuters following a recent report by the WHO that seemed to show glyphosate as a carcinogen.  This whole story has some way to run yet, as data is reexamined by many agencies around the world.

It has not been stated, as far as I have examined, what the level is to create carcinogenic damage nor where risk levels are.  It is a bit of a bombshell, given prior research over many that had indicated the product was NOT carcinogenic.

Residue levels are low in samples tested in the USA, and about 10% were free, although numbers of tests are still low and this percentage may quickly change.

Definitely watch this space.

It could be that regulations over use of products containing glyphosate may change - get tighter is likely - and maybe that may not be all that bad.  There are some users of the product I have seen are pretty careless and overuse is also common.

  

Zenith Zoysia Seed to Develop a New Oval in the Tropics - Part 4 - Maturing the Grass

It always take some time to develop an oval to the stage where it is getting ready to use.

Plants need to thicken and develop a dense sward above the ground surface while also developing their roots so they can effectively resist all the pressures on the grass that occurs during the playing of ball games or anything else planned for the oval  - it has to mature.

There will need to be regular mowing at about a 7-10 day interval - even more frequent in some cases - to help thicken the sward as lateral growth is encouraged, to fill any thin or bare spots.  Fertiliser is applied - normally at about 4 week intervals [ that is about how long normal agricultural type fertiliser can supply nutrients, particularly nitrogen, although other types [ phosphorus, potassium, trace elements] may be available for longer] for about 12 weeks,

Weed control is vital during this phase, to ensure the favoured grass is encouraged and impediments to growth removed.  Disease management and control may also be an issue in some cases.

In the period from around 45 days through to around 95 days after sowing the Zenith Zoysia area had a second application of fertiliser at about 8 -9 weeks [ 56+ days from sowing] and will be due for another at 12 -14 weeks, except this time it will be a slow release fertiliser, better suited to ongoing turf growth and with an availability period of 12 -16 weeks, thus preventing rapid growth, yet continuing to provide adequate nutrition for the turf for many weeks.

Weed control was instituted with several applications of herbicide.  The earlier applied residual herbicide continued to provide annual grass and some broadleaved weed control, but was boosted with two applications of a product that gives excellent knock down, but not very much residual weed control of broad leaved weeds - Kamba -M, applied at around 70 days after sowing and more recently at approximately 95 days from sowing.  Ideally the latter one would have been sooner, but a 48 hour dry period after application is needed for best results - and it continued to rain every few days!  Makes that a bit tricky.  The second application seems to have been very effective.

However, there have been issues with grass weeds.  While some grass weeds can be controlled with selective herbicides, the real culprit has been Bothriochloa spp plants - a particularly hard to control grass weed, and with few options for herbicide use.  The area did have a lot of these plants initially and were controlled with glyphosate before seed sowing, but the residual seed in the ground has germinated around the same time as the zoysia seed and slowly developed into a problem that requires hand removal.  The dense turf as it develops will eventually prevent most, if not all, future germination from the residual seeds, as well as the seed in the ground dying.  But in the meantime seedlings of it have to go...........  Resorting to hand weeding is almost inevitable in fine turf development, but it is labour and time intensive.  And requires many revisits to the same area to ensure it is all gone, as you can often miss small plants.

By mowing at 7-10 day intervals the weedy grass has time to put up a seed head between mowing periods, allowing easy identification, yet if removed in that 6-10 day time frame it is short enough to prevent any more seed development as full flowering has not started.  A real problem also exists in that the same species is all around the outside of the oval, and could easily re reintroduced to the oval area through mowing, especially if careless mowing of the oval surrounds is carried out.  Not an easy situation to rectify.  Although low levels are present initially, good progress in eliminating the Bothriochloa spp on the oval is progressing okay, but may require a few more weeding / mowing cycles, and ongoing vigilance.

Before mowing - 90 days from sowing

Before mowing - 90 days from sowing

Before mowing - 90 days from sowing

Before mowing at 90 days from sowing

before mowing - 90 days from sowing

After broad leaved weed control 98 days from sowing

Very effective broad leaved weed control at 98 days from sowing

At 98 days - Bothriochloa spp - grass weed in dense Zenith zoysia turf - note emerged seed head 7 days after mowing