Quincy, Marianna,
Monticello, Live Oak
Research and Extension Updates
Vol. 3 No.
20 September 24, 2001
From the Director: Our goal is to provide the faculty with the
latest news from the Center research projects and extension activities, and
other timely information items. Please feel free to use the contents of the
newsletter in your county newsletters and education activities as you wish. If
you'd like additional details on newsletter items, contact the faculty member
author or our editor,
Regards, Dr.
Dates of Interest:
October 16-18: Sunbelt Expo, Moultrie, GA
October 30-November 1: Green Industry Updates
November 8-9:
Annual
Tomato Disease Workshop,
November 13: Cow-calf Seminar Tuesday, Agriculture Center,
Marianna 4:00 PM
November 28-December 2: Farm Bureau Beef Cattle Marketing Tour of
Oklahoma
Follow-Up News Articles
Peanut Field Day, held at NFREC-Marianna last month was
a big success with 180people registered for the event.
Dr. Dan Gorbet and Mr. Ed Jowers gave a welcome to
those in attendance. There were a variety of speakers during the field
tours as follows: “Peanut Breeding and
Varieties” by Dr. Dan Gorbet, University of
Florida.
“Interactive Effects of Herbicides and Insecticides on
Tomato Spotted Wilt Virus of Peanut” Dr. Greg MacDonald
and Mr. Nasir Shaikh, University of Florida.
“Results with Strip-Tillage Peanuts”, Dr. John Baldwin,
University of Georgia.
“UGA Spotted Wilt Risk Index Validation Studies” by Dr.
Jim Todd and Dr. Albert Culbreath, University of Georgia. “Genotype Evaluations
for Spotted Wilt Resistance” by Dr. Albert Culbreath and Dr. Jim Todd,
University of Georgia. “Rotation and Conservation Till Peanuts” by Dr. David Wright, University of Florida. “Nematodes
in Peanuts” by Mr. Stan Hendley and Dr. Jim Rich, University of Florida.
A noon luncheon was held at Sunland
Environmental Park.
Pecan Field Day was held on September 6 at Monticello Country Club and NFREC-Monticello. About 60 attendees were on hand for the last
field day at Monticello.
Mr.
Larry Halsey, Jefferson Co. Extension Director, gave a welcome to guests and
later “CORE Pesticide Training.
Dr.
The
North Florida Research and Education Center
display recently traveled to the FAEP conference with Dr.
Dr. Prakash Pradhanang conducted a seminar on "Detection and
Management of Bacterial Wilt on Tomato and Potato" at the Meeting Center
at NFREC-Quincy on September 20. Dr. Pradhanang
is a post doc working with Dr.
New greenhouse under construction in Marianna.
Thanks to Ray Jordan
for this picture.
NFREC
Mini History Lesson
W. H. Chapman, Assistant
Agronomist at North Florida Station, was granted a military leave of absence on
May 21, 1942.
(1942 Annual Report)
Personnel
Our
thoughts and good wishes are with Mr. & Mrs.
Raymond Bass, whose daughter-in-law is recovering from injuries she
received while on the second day of her job at the Pentagon when a plane hit
the building during terrorist attacks September 11. More details to follow. Mr. Bass is a
long time employee of NFREC-Quincy.
Dr. Hanna
Sulewska has
been working at the North Florida Research and Education Center since May. She is from the Agriculture
University in Poznan, Poland and will be returning to her native country in a
few days. As an Associate Professor in
Poland, Hanna teaches courses in crop
management to college students. She also
helps students set up their programs of education, work on research experiments,
prepares and advises them on writing and defending their dissertations. Hanna’s bachelor and Master’s degrees are in plant genetics and plant
breeding. She earned her Ph.D in crop
management with an emphasis in production of corn. Hanna has been very enthusiastic
about her work at NFREC. She said she
appreciated the chance for some practical field experiments here. In particular, she liked the experience with
cotton and peanuts, since they
are not crops grown in her native Poland.
Gadsden County
The Gadsden County Master Gardener Volunteer
Program completed its first Master Gardener Volunteer
Training on August 30, 2001. The
training sessions, which ran from June 7 to August 30, provided Extension
Service and horticultural training to the nine program participants.
The program
offers a minimum of 50 hours of instruction that covers topics including lawn
care; ornamental trees and shrubs; insects, disease, and weed management; soils
and plant nutrition; vegetable gardening; door yard fruits; wide flowers;
customer service and other related plant topics. Instructional training was provided by county
extension faculty as well as Extension programs specialists from Florida
A&M University and the University of Florida. In exchange for training, participants are
asked to volunteer time to the Gadsden County Extension program. At least 50
hours of volunteer service within one year following the training is required
to earn the title of "Florida Master Gardener."
The type of service done by Master Gardeners varies
according to community needs, and the abilities and interest(s) of the Master
Gardeners. Some Master Gardeners answer telephone requests for information
related to gardening, staff insect/disease clinics, assists in new and on going
projects such as plant demonstration plots, and 4-H. They may help establish community garden
projects, work with 4-H youth, or assist the county agent(s) on related
programs. The Master Gardener Coordinator in the County Extension office
decides how volunteer time can be best utilized.
Florida Master
Gardeners are representatives of the
If you are interested in
the Gadsden County Master Gardener Program please call Alex Bolques,
875-7255.
PROGRAM
UPDATES
Plant Pathology
08/16/01
– Inflorescence (Seed head) blight occurrence on Pennisetum species
Hank
Dankers, Senior Biological Scientist (850) 875-7140
Richard
Cullen, Senior Biological Scientist (850)
James
Kimbrough, Mycologist (352) 392-2158
North
Florida Research and Education Center
30
Research Road, Quincy, FL 32351
A
Pennisetum species sample was sent to the Plant Diagnostic Clinic in
Quincy from a nursery in Escambia County with symptoms on the seed heads
resembling unopened smut galls (Fig. 1). Closer examination showed dark stroma
with erumpent, open cupulate pycnidia and hyaline, 1-celled acicular conidia
(Fig. 2). The disease causal agent was identified as an Ephelis species
a known parasite of grasses (Cenchrus
species and
Cynodon
dactylon).
This disease appears to be an atypical occurrence as it is not listed as
disease of Pennisetum and has been
received by us previously on four samples of Sorghastrum nutans in
September of 2000 from the same area.
Fig. 1 Fig. 2
* Bulletin No. 14. Diseases
of Disorders of Plants In Florida. S. A.
Afieri, Jr., K. R. Langdon, J. W. Kimbrough,
N. E. El‑Gholland C.
Wehlburg. DPI. 1994
Illustrated
Genera of Imperfect Fungi, 4th edition. H. L. Barnett and B. B.
Hunter. Page 184. 1987.
http:\\www.ars.usda.gov\is\np\pearlmillet\qepi.htm
. Ephelis Panicle Infection.
(Momol,
NFREC News, 3-20)
Peanut Stunt Virus
Reported in Perennial Peanut in North Florida and Southern Georgia (NFREC
Extension Rept. 2001-6)
A.R. Blount, R.K. Sprenkel, R. N. Pitman, B. A. Smith, R.
N. Morgan, W. Dankers, and T. M. Momol
UF/IFAS,
NFREC-Marianna and Quincy, FL, USDA-ARS, Griffin, GA, and the Cooperative
Extension Service, Univ. of Georgia, Tifton, GA.
Peanut
stunt virus (Clemson isolate, Cucumovirus) causes a disease in a number of
economically important crops including peanut, tobacco, soybean, clover and
snap bean. The virus was first described in North Carolina and Virginia in
1964. Since then, it was found in France, Japan, Korea D.P.R. (North), Korea Republic,
Morocco, Poland and Spain. Leaves from
peanut plants infected with peanut stunt virus are malformed and curl up at the
edges. Infected leaves may be paler green and/or yellowed. The fruit of plants
infected with the virus is frequently small, malformed and the shells are
commonly split open to expose seed. Infected peanut seed do not play a role in
the spread of the disease, since only seed too small for planting are infected
at a high enough rate to act as a source of infection. The virus can over
winter in wild or forage legumes (clovers, alfalfa, lespedeza, etc.) and then
spread to other crops in the spring by aphids that carry the virus in their
mouthparts after feeding on infected plants. Known aphid vectors include Aphis
craccivora (cowpea aphid), A. spiraecola (spirea aphid) and Myzus
persicae (green peach aphid), but not Aphis gossypii (cotton aphid);
Aphididae.
Recently, the presence of the virus has been confirmed in
perennial peanut (Arachis glabrata) in Jackson and Gulf Counties, Florida and
Lowndes County, Georgia. Confirmation of the virus was done by ELISA assay of
foliage and rhizome material at the USDA-ARS, Griffin, GA, using symptomatic
plants found in these counties. Diseased plants exhibited symptoms, which
included stunted plants, chlorosis, malformed leaves, and reduced foliage
yield. The plants were also tested for Cucumber Mosaic Virus and Tomato Spotted
Wilt Virus, but all results were
negative.
Usually,
the virus is introduced into a cultivated peanut (A. hypogaea) field either by
infected seed or by an aphid vector from a reservoir host such as white clover.
In the field, the virus may multiply and be spread to other plants by an aphid
vector. In the fall, the virus is
transmitted to other hosts, such as white clover, where it over winters. At
this time, it is not known what role perennial peanut may play as a reservoir
of the virus in the vicinity of peanut fields. Little is also known about the
potential for forage production loss and stand longevity.
(Blount,
NFREC News 3-20)
Thought for the Day: Opportunity
dances with those already on the dance floor.
(H. Jackson Brown, Jr.)
E-Mail: cvergot@ifas.ufl.edu
Phone:
(850) 875-7112
The
Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences is an Equal Employment Opportunity
Affirmative Action Employer authorized to provide research, educational
information and other services only to individuals and institutions that
function without regard to race, color, sex, age handicap or national origin.
COOPERATIVE
EXTENSION WORK IN AGRICULTURE, FAMILY & CONSUMER SERVICES, STATE OF
FLORIDA, IFAS, UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, AND
BOARDS OF COUNTY COMMISSIONER COOPERATING
An Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action
Institution