ARS, on Lettuce and Fruit Flies

Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists at Salinas, California, have teamed with University of California-Davis colleagues to produce the first-ever parent iceberg lettuces resistant to verticillium wilt. The fungus pathogen, Verticillium dahliae, infects iceberg lettuces, causing the vulnerable plants to discolor, then to eventually wilt and die. Breeding lettuces with natural resistance remains the most environmentally friendly, economical and sustainable option for combating the fungus. Seeds of the three new parent lettuces are now available to researchers and plant breeders.

In a related news, research by the ARS U.S. Pacific Basin Agricultural Research Center (PBARC) in Hilo, Hawaii, and the ARS Kika de la Garza Subtropical Agricultural Research Center in Weslaco, Texas, have resulted in the development of improved techniques to minimize fruit fly infestation, reducing thereby pesticide use by as much as 8,000-fold by the state of California. These techniques include improved ways of producing sterile male fruit flies for release to short-circuit the breeding cycle, new biocontrols such as augmentative releases of parasitic wasps, more effective and more species-specific lures and baits, and better ways to manage crops.

The news releases are available at http://www.ars.usda.gov/News/docs.htm?docid=1261 and http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/pr/2007/070509.htm.