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From: "ARS News Service"
To: "ARS News List"
Subject: Bringing Back Native Soil Fungi
Date: Mon, May 14, 2001, 3:35 AM
STORY LEAD:
Bringing Back Native Soil Fungi
___________________________________________
ARS News Service
Agricultural Research Service, USDA
Don Comis, (301) 504-1625, comis@ars.usda.gov
May 14, 2001
___________________________________________
When you think of endangered species, you never think of soil fungi. Yet
the fungi that make plants hardier have had their numbers greatly reduced
by the intensive agriculture practiced in the United States since the
1950s.
Agricultural Research Service scientists are trying to figure out how to
put these beneficial soil fungi back, as farmers make the transition to
using less chemicals. Lead scientist Philip E. Pfeffer and colleagues David
Douds and Gerry Nagahashi at the ARS Eastern Regional Research Center in
Wyndmoor, Pa., are learning how to grow and package the fungi for
practical use on farms.
One approach the researchers are evaluating is to mix the fungi--called
mycorrhizae--into potting soil planted with grass or other host plants.
Farmers would buy these "inoculated" seedlings and plant them in compost.
Then, after the fungi multiplied, farmers would apply the colonized compost
with manure spreaders.
The mycorrhizal fungi are beneficial organisms that live on plant roots and
help them extend their reach for water and fertilizer. In exchange, the
plant gives the fungi the sugar they need to grow. The most common type
lives inside root cells and extends long, rootlike threads into the soil.
Farmers today have to rely on whichever of these native fungi survived
years of chemical use--from synthetic fertilizers to fungicides.
ARS scientists are testing the compost idea at the Rodale Institute
Experimental Farm in Kutztown, Pa., which was founded by the late Robert
Rodale, a leader in modern American organic farming. They also have
experiments under way at Stoneleigh Estates, near Wyndmoor.
An ultimate goal is to produce the fungi in large quantities efficiently
and economically, without host plants. They would then be applied as a
biofertilizer before planting.
You can read more about this research in the May issue of ARS' Agricultural
Research magazine, which can be found on the World Wide Web at:
http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/AR/archive/may01/fungi0501.htm
ARS is the chief scientific research agency in the U.S. Department of
Agriculture.
___________________________________________
Scientific contact: Philip E. Pfeffer, ARS Eastern Regional Research
Center, Wyndmoor, Pa., phone (215) 233-6400, fax (215) 233-6581,
ppfeffer@arserrc.gov.
___________________________________________
"Lon J. Rombough" wrote:
As is usual coming from you a very interesting posting.
The only wild fungus genus I know of being presently distributed in New
Zealand is Tricoderma, cultures of mixed species of which are being sold
here in several forms. For soil application one can get pellets to mix
in, or a water-dispersable powder which one can simply apply with a can
to established plants, and it is also available in the form of small
inoculated wooden dowels which can be inserted in the trunks of trees
suffering from the early stages of Silverleaf disease (Stereum
purpureum). If one is lucky the Trichoderma may stop the disase fungus
in its tracks without itself inconveniencing the tree. A somewhat
surprising concept, I think.
Moira
--
Tony & Moira Ryan
Wainuiomata (near Wellington, capital city of New Zealand)
Wow! A USDA agency is finally working with Rodale!
> ARS scientists are testing the compost idea at the Rodale Institute
> Experimental Farm in Kutztown, Pa., which was founded by the late Robert
the
> latest ARS news on the World Wide Web at
> www.ars.usda.gov/is/pr/thelatest.htm.
> * Feedback and questions to ARS News Service via e-mail:
isjd@ars-grin.gov.
David
compost
> with manure spreaders.
> The mycorrhizal fungi are beneficial organisms that live on plant roots
and
Agricultural
Very strange that there appears to be new need for culturing these fungi, since
I had access to supplies years ago, from some other source. How come the govt
we pay taxes to support is just NOW getting around to it?
"Lon J. Rombough" wrote:
