Texas A&M AgriLife researchers are changing how melon cultivars are improved

Texas A&M AgriLife Research scientists at the Vegetable and Fruit Improvement Center in College Station are using a “table-to-farm” approach to create a safer, healthier and more sustainable melon supply chain in the U.S. by considering consumer preference at the dinner table.

Leading the team is Bhimu Patil, Ph.D., Texas A&M College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Department of Food Science and Technology interim department head and Regents Professor, Bryan-College Station. Patil’s team is using a multi-pronged approach to improve breeding, bolster the consumption of regionally produced specialty melons and strengthen the competitiveness and sustainability of the U.S. melon industry.  

The research has been supported since 2017 by a  $4.4 million grant  by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s, USDA, National Institute of Food and Agriculture. USDA-NIFA has also designated  the Vegetable and Fruit Improvement Center as a National Center of Excellence on Melons.

Collaborative study shows K777 effective in combatting SARS-CoV-2 virus 

An enzyme inhibitor could become a new weapon in the arsenal to fight COVID-19 as a result of collaborative research by Texas A&M University, the University of Texas Medical Branch – Galveston, the University of California San Diego and others.

The SARS-CoV-2 virus associated with COVID-19 is highly contagious and has led to a global pandemic. To date, more than 130 million people worldwide have been infected and more than 2.8 million have died from COVID-19.   

The study, recently published on the ACS Chemical Biology website, shows that small concentrations of an enzyme inhibitor called K777 strongly impede the infection of several cell lines by SARS-CoV-2, which causes COVID-19. It also demonstrated the efficacy of K777 in reducing the ability of the virus to infect host cell lines without causing harm to the host cells.

AgriLife Research fundraiser aims to help set Vernon as Texas ‘Hibiscus Capital’

About 600 hardy hibiscus plants, which were part of plant breeding trials at the Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center at Vernon, went home with community members across Wilbarger County.

The third-annual hibiscus giveaway was part of a joint event held by the center at Vernon and the City of Vernon — taking place during the National Garden Bureau’s Year of the Hardy Hibiscus.

“The plants we give to the city for this event make a lovely addition to any residential garden or in front of businesses and public buildings since they are no longer needed in the breeding process,” said Dariusz Malinowski, Ph.D., Texas A&M AgriLife Research forage and ornamental breeding professor in the Texas A&M University Department of Soil and Crop Sciences, Vernon.

The plants grow 2-3 feet tall and wide and can withstand both hot summers and harsh winters, which makes them fit for gardens in many areas of the country.

“It’s wonderful that these hibiscuses can be enjoyed by those living here or visiting the area,” Malinowski said.

Texas A&M AgriLife-led research to analyze method’s effectiveness, economics

Adopting the ecologically sensitive, low-cost conservation management pasture-cropping practice could help landowners regain the health and resiliency of soils sustaining degradation over the years.

Pasture cropping, a relatively new and innovative land management system, integrates direct seeding of cool-season annual crops into dormant perennial warm-season grasses. It was pioneered by Colin Seis, an Australian farmer.

Now the potential for implementation of the practice in the Southern Great Plains is being investigated by a Texas A&M AgriLife-led team of researchers through the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture, NIFA, grant-funded project “Enhancing Soil Ecosystem Health and Resilience Through Pasture Cropping.”

Cross-disciplinary project targets fall armyworm, western corn rootworm

Two researchers in Texas A&M University’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences have received a $499,865 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Institute for Food and Agriculture to study corn resistance mechanisms against the insect pests, the fall armyworm and the western corn rootworm.

Michael Kolomiets, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Plant Pathology and Microbiology, and Julio Bernal, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Entomology, will collaborate on the cross-disciplinary project involving molecular genetics and entomology to increase resistance to these insect pests.