Contact: Dr. Tom Hairgrove, 458-3216, tbhairgrove@ag.tamu.edu

 COLLEGE STATION – With cattle producers restocking herds in certain parts of Texas following drought, experts are urging ranchers to be mindful of bovine anaplasmosis, an infectious disease that can be transmitted among cattle by blood.

“Due to sustained drought in Texas, many cattle operations have been downsized or depopulated,” said Dr. Tom Hairgrove, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service program coordinator for livestock and food systems in College Station. “With restocking beginning on some operations, carrier cattle from areas where infection is common could be problematic.”

Cattle can become infected with bovine anaplasmosis through transfer of red blood cells. (Texas A&M AgriLife Research photo by Blair Fannin)

Hairgrove and Dr. Pete Teel, Texas A&M AgriLife Research entomologist at College Station, provided a briefing to faculty members recently in the department of animal science at Texas A&M University.

Cattle can become infected with bovine anaplasmosis through transfer of red blood cells, Hairgrove said.

“Horse flies and deer flies are mechanical carriers and the infected blood on their mouth parts is the only way they can spread the disease,” he explained. “Contaminated ear tagging instruments, needles and surgical instruments used while working cattle also can be a cause of transmission. Thoroughly clean instruments and change needles between cows.”

Biological vectors such as ticks can also be carriers. Teel said two Dermacentor ticks – the winter tick and the American dog tick –  may serve as both vectors and reservoirs to sustain the disease in Texas.

“The winter tick attacks cattle and other large animals such as deer and horses from October to April,” Teel said.  “They feed as larvae, nymphs and adult ticks on the same host, but may be groomed off as bloodfed-nymphs which molt to adults and then attach to another host. If the initial host is an infected cow, and the second is not, transmission of the anaplasma agent may occur.

“The American dog tick attacks a wide variety of animals and feeds separately on three hosts, one for larvae, nymphs and adults, respectively.

“Small-, medium- and large-sized animals are included, often in a progressive fashion,” Teel said.  “However, cattle are known to be attacked by nymphs, which fall off when blood-fed to become adult ticks. The adult ticks can then transmit the agent acquired as a nymph to a non-infected cow.  Spring and summer are the primary seasons of activity for the American dog tick. Thus, ticks are a year-round risk for transmission of the anaplasma agent.”

For ranchers, the potential for the disease is greater when co-mingling non-infected cattle with those that carry the disease. Such an example is when ranchers introduce purchased cattle to those in an existing herd, the purchased cattle could be carriers – on the flip side, introducing non-carrier cattle into a carrier herd could also be problematic,” Hairgrove said.

Cattle that survive initial infection become lifetime carriers of the infection and are important to disease epidemiology.

“Red blood cells have a 160-day lifespan and newly developed erythrocytes must be continually infected to maintain persistent  infection,” Hairgrove said. “Although all ages of cattle can become infected, the disease is usually not apparent in animals less than a year of age. Disease is more prevalent in cattle more than three to four years of age.”

There are preventive aids that ranchers can use.

“Ranchers should use strict adherence to sanitation procedures when using needles, surgical instruments, ear taggers, etc.,” Hairgrove said.

As an additional preventive measure, strategically feed Tetracycline during the vector season, he said. Beef producers can consult with their local veterinarian for additional control measures.

Overall, Hairgrove stressed there is not a widespread problem with the disease, but ranchers should become educated about bovine anaplasmosis.

“We are not saying the sky is falling, but if you have cattle that are carriers and then you start co-mingling cattle with those that aren’t infected, that’s when you have problems,” Hairgrove said.

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The award was established in memory of Miller of Martinsburg, W.V., a founding member and first president of the peach council, according to the group’s website. The award is given “to encourage and recognize noteworthy research relating to improved marketing and utilization of peaches and/or peach products.”

Byrne, who researches stone fruit and roses, was cited for his recent introduction of four new peach varieties suitable for growing in areas that do not receive the cold temperatures that most other peach varieties need to produce.

Dr. David Byrne, Texas A&M AgriLife Research peach breeder, examines trees in his plot in College Station. (Texas A&M AgriLife Research photo by Kathleen Phillips)

He said they are the first series low-acid white peaches for warmer climates.

“These releases are part of several decade-long projects in which I’ve been developing a range of stone fruit types adapted to the warm winter regions of the world,” Byrne said.

He is currently in the process of releasing a series of yellow peaches, nectarines and flat peaches adapted for such regions. He has also actively investigated the origin of peach germplasm and, with various collaborators, has documented the health benefits of eating peaches and plums.

Byrne received his bachelor’s in plant science from Rutgers University in 1975 and his doctorate in plant breeding in 1980 from Cornell University.

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         That’s the gist of a new book, “Leadership in Agriculture: Case Studies for a New Generation.” Its authors pull upon their own global experience in agriculture and critique the  outcomes based on character and the cardinal virtues of prudence, justice, temperance and fortitude.

         This collaborative work by John Patrick Jordan, Gale Buchanan, Neville Clarke and Kelly Jordan pulls on their various administrative roles in the military, U.S. Department of Agriculture, state land-grant institutions and academia. Case studies look at a wide variety of issues that demanded strong leadership — from how a regional agricultural lab survived Hurricane Katrina to how leaders from around the nation were able to develop a shared vision to fund agriculture research.

Leadership in Agriculture: Case Studies for a New Generation, by John Patrick Jordan, Gale A. Buchanan, Neville P. Clarke and Kelly C. Jordan (Photo courtesy of Texas A&M University Press)

         “In essence, character is the sum total of an individual’s personality traits and the link between that person’s values and behavior,” the authors wrote. “Character helps enhance effectiveness.”

         Effective leaders, they add, must have the modern counterparts of the ancient virtues: wisdom, justice, moderation and courage.

         “The case studies are from our own experience – the good, the bad and the ugly,” said John Patrick Jordan of New Orleans, formerly USDA’s Cooperative State Research Service CEO and Agriculture Research Service Southern Regional Research Center director. “The book is about the act of motivating people to want to follow you in a direction with a specific goal, and that’s different than management. Fortitude and temperance, for example, are things that you don’t normally see in management books.”

         Clarke explained that leadership is getting people to do what needs to be done while management is “the doing, the practice.”

         “It’s not a textbook on procedures but a philosophical approach with general principles illustrated in case studies. We go past the ‘cookbook’ to how leadership works in diverse situations,” said Clarke of College Station, former Texas Agriculture Experiment Station director and U.S. Department of Homeland Security National Center for Foreign Animal Disease Defense head.

         Buchanan said that while working on another book about the importance of agriculture research he saw many instances “where leadership has made the difference in success.”

         “Likewise, there are many situations where lack of effective leadership has hampered success of agriculture,” said Buchanan of Tifton, Ga., who was an administrator in both Alabama and Georgia agriculture and served as USDA chief scientist and undersecretary for research, education and economics. “The success of agriculture made possible our civilization, and the continued success of agriculture will ensure the viability of our civilization. Character and leadership are inseparable. On countless occasions I have seen situations where character made the difference in effective leaders.”

         John Patrick Jordan, Clarke and Buchanan agreed that a pivotal part of the book is the leadership analysis by Kelly Jordan at the end of each case study.

Kelly Jordan, a retired U.S. Army officer who developed leaders for five years at the Culver Academies in Culver, Ind. before becoming the dean of students at Holy Cross College in Notre Dame, Ind., gives an outsider’s look at the leadership methods described in each case study pointing to the character traits and virtues that made a difference in the outcomes.

   “Leadership in Agriculture: Case Studies for a New Generation” is available at most online book suppliers or at Texas A&M University Press Consortium,  http://www.tamupress.com/.

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ETTER – Wheat freeze damage and wheat-related research will be the highlights of the Spring Crops Ag Day on May 22 at the North Plains Research Field near Etter.

The field day is hosted by Texas A&M AgriLife Research, the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service, North Plains Groundwater Conservation District and Texas Wheat Producers Board.

The program will begin with registration at 9 a.m. and will include the following presentations:

- Area wheat freeze damage, Dr. Calvin Trostle, AgriLife Extension, Lubbock.

- Drought tolerance research and irrigation level study, Dr. Qingwu Xue, AgriLife Research, Amarillo.

- Remote-sensing research to detect wheat performance, Dr. Prasana Gowda, U.S. Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service, Bushland.

- Wheat insect research, iWheat and Integrated Pest Management, Dr. Jerry Michels, AgriLife Research, Amarillo.

- Wheat disease research and management, Dr. Charlie Rush, AgriLife Research, Amarillo.

- Drought/insect/disease interactions, Dr. Shuyu Liu, AgriLife Research, Amarillo.

- Wheat breeding trials: Damage assessment/recovery, Dr. Jackie Rudd, AgriLife Research, Amarillo.

- Suggested wheat varieties for the High Plains, Rudd.

- Seed availability, Steve Brown, Texas A&M Foundation Seed Service, Vernon.

- Statewide Small Grain Extension Program, Dr. Clark Neely and Dr. Travis Miller, AgriLife Extension, College Station.

Lunch will be provided and accompanied by updates on the North Plains Research Field activities, Texas Wheat Producer Board and North Plains Groundwater Conservation District. Additionally, Dr. Steve Amosson, AgriLife Extension, Amarillo, will present “Panhandle Regional Water Planning: Ag water demands.”

Three Texas Agriculture Department continuing education credits will be offered for private pesticide applicators in integrated pest management.

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COLLEGE STATION – Scientists with Texas A&M University and Texas A&M AgriLife Research had a unique opportunity to compare recent patterns of drought-induced woody plant mortality on the Edwards Plateau in Texas to the extended drought of the 1950s.

A tree killed by drought at the Texas A&M AgriLife Research station at Sonora. (Texas A&M AgriLife Communications photo credit by Dirac Twidwell)

Dr. Bill Rogers, an associate professor in the Texas A&M ecosystem science and management department, said it is important to understand how climatic extremes such as drought cause shifts in vegetation.

These shifts can alter semi-arid ecosystems, potentially affecting the abundance of forage and browse available for livestock and wildlife, as well as land/atmosphere feedbacks, carbon and water cycles, and disturbance dynamics, Rogers said.

A recently completed study led by two doctoral students from Rogers’ research lab, Dirac Twidwell and Carissa Wonkka, examining the effects of severe drought on woody plants in Texas will be featured in the international journal, Applied Vegetation Science.

“This is one of the first assessments of the effects our recent drought has had on native vegetation,” Rogers said. “It is also particularly novel because we are able to compare our findings to a study that was conducted at the same research site during the drought of the 1950s.”

The research site was the Texas A&M AgriLife Research Station in Sonora, managed by Dr. Charles “Butch” Taylor. Following the drought from 1951-1957, a study was conducted at the site to quantify rates of dieback for various woody plant species.

In 2011, during the most severe drought on record since the 1950s, the study was repeated in the same long-term grazing treatments established in 1948. The primary species they looked at were southern live oak, scrub oak or sandpaper oak, persimmon, and Ashe juniper or blueberry juniper.

Twidwell said the study, in addition to comparing the patterns of drought-induced woody plant dieback to that from the extended drought of the 1950s, was designed to determine if composition of the woody plant community shifts consistently across the landscape following dieback, or if shifts depend on differences among species, soils, land use and plant demography.

The study showed the recent severe droughts across Texas resulted in high levels of woody plant dieback in areas that have for decades experienced woody encroachment, he said. Periodic drought events since 2000 killed nearly 25 percent of woody plants and decreased woody plant cover 18 percent.

However, measurements taken after the 1950s drought ended showed woody plant cover had decreased 44 percent compared to pre-drought estimates taken in 1949, Twidwell said.

“Based on weather records from the research site dating back to 1919, the drought of the 1950s was more prolonged and severe than any other period from 1919-2011,” he said. “While recent droughts have been severe, historical records at this site show the seven-year drought of the 1950s was worse and lasted considerably longer.

“Woody plant die-off was almost three times worse in the 1950s than in our 2011 study. This gives us an indication of how vegetation may continue to change on the Edwards Plateau if the current drought continues for a number of years.”

Neither drought, however, resulted in widespread shifts from one woody plant community to another, Wonkka said.

“Even with reductions in cover of 44 percent and 18 percent following the droughts of the 1950s and 2000s, respectively, woody plant communities did not transition to a grassland or savanna or an alternate woody-dominated plant community,” she said. “Rather, the system remained as an oak savanna following the 1950s and a juniper woodland interspersed with clusters of oak in 2011.”

A unique finding in this study is that long-term livestock management practices have the potential to influence the direction of vegetative change following drought, Twidwell said.

High mortality rates of mature juniper trees in deep soils, combined with the recruitment of oak species where cattle, goats and deer had been excluded on the research site for the last 60 years, caused shifts in vegetation from a juniper woodland to a live oak-dominated overstory with a diverse understory, he said.

Because many areas on the Edwards Plateau have been heavily browsed by goats and deer for decades, the study suggests that drought-induced shifts on deep soils away from juniper woodland and toward a plant community more similar to the oak savanna occurring prior to juniper encroachment is unlikely to be realized unless the drought becomes worse.

“Juniper will likely continue to dominate the woody plant community on both shallow and deep soil areas on much of the Edwards Plateau following the most recent drought, albeit at lower densities,” Twidwell said.

He said the widespread changes in land management on the Edwards Plateau from mostly livestock production to wildlife and hunting enterprises may sufficiently decrease browsing pressure in some areas to cause the shift from juniper woodland to a diverse shrub understory.

“To improve our understanding of climate-induced vegetation change, modeling projections need to be down-scaled to a finer spatial resolution that is relevant to land managers,” Twidwell said. “Many regional planners rely on predictive climate-vegetation models to understand potential shifts in vegetation that may result from short- and long-term changes in climate.”

In this study, specialized responses to drought were observed as a result of complex localized interactions, such as ecohydrological differences among soil types, plant water-use strategies, density-dependent relationships among plants, and legacy effects of livestock management, he said.

“Studies such as this play an important role in improving these models and projecting how drought will impact the types of vegetation important to land managers,” Twidwell said.

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COLLEGE STATION – In addition to being one of the most important tropical fruits consumed worldwide, recent studies by researchers at the Institute for Obesity Research and Program Evaluation at Texas A&M University in College Station have shown that mangos also may help prevent breast cancer.

“We wanted to investigate the anti-inflammatory and cell-toxicity properties of mango polyphenols on breast cancer and non-cancer cells,” said Dr. Susanne Talcott, director for research at the institute and assistant professor, nutrition and food science department, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

A team of scientists from the Texas A&M University System recently completed two studies on how mango polyphenols may affect cancer and non-cancer breast cells. (Photo courtesy Institute for Obesity Research and Program Evaluation, Texas A&M )

“There was already some research done showing that polyphenolic compounds, such as those found in the mango, have cancer-fighting properties,” said Talcott, who also works in conjunction with Texas A&M AgriLife Research.  “Those compounds appear to have antioxidant properties that may contribute to decrease oxidative stress, which can lead to the onset of chronic diseases such as cancer. In addition to that, polyphenolics have been shown to be anti-inflammatory.

“We recently completed one in vitro study and one using mice to see if the polyphenols found in mango did, in fact, exhibit inflammation- and cancer-fighting properties.”

Breast breast cancer is one of the leading causes of cancer death among women, and diet has been shown to have a preventive or protective role against several types of cancer, Talcott said.

“It has been estimated that around 30 percent of cancers may be prevented with a healthy lifestyle and diet,” she noted.

Talcott said interest in mango has been increasing in recent years and experimental data has already shown bioactive compounds present in mangoes exert anti-inflammatory, anti-carcinogenic, antiviral and antibacterial properties.

“This is due to the presence of botanical compounds such as phenolic acids and flavonoids, and carotenoids,” she said.

Talcott said several dietary polyphenols already have been tested to determine their potential role in growth inhibition, proliferation and destruction of breast cancer cells.

“Based on this premise, we extracted mango polyphenols and tested their effects in vitro, or separate from their normal biological context, on commercially obtained non-cancer and cancer  breast cells,” she said.

The mango used for the study, the Keitt variety of Mangifera indica, was provided by the National Mango Board, and polyphenolics were extracted from these.

Both non-cancer and cancer breast cells were treated with mango polyphenolics at different concentrations, and results were shown in Gallic acid equivalents per milliliter, or ug GAE/ml, of liquid sample.

Kimberley Krenek, Ph.D. student, left, and Dr. Hercia Stampini, visiting professor from Brazil, make cell cultures for mango research. (Photo courtesy Institute for Obesity Research and Program Evaluation, Texas A&M)

The study showed that at 5 ug GAE/ml mango Keitt polyphenols decreased sample breast cancer cell proliferation by approximately 90 percent, and at the same concentration, decreased the proliferation of sample non-cancer cells by approximately 20 percent.

“These results of the study indicate that the cell-killing effects of mango polyphenols are specific to cancer cells, where inflammation was reduced in both cancer and non-cancer cells, seemingly through the involvement of miRNA-21 — short microRNA molecules associated with cancer,” Talcott said.

She said the research also showed mango polyphenols exerted anti-inflammatory activity and reduced the expression of miRNA-21, depending on the amount used.

A second study by this research group using hairless mice showed mango polyphenols also suppressed cell proliferation in the breast cancer BT474 cell line and tumor growth in mice with human breast carcinoma cells transplanted into them.

“The tumor-fighting potential of mango polyphenolics may at least in part be based on those same properties which reduced cancer cell proliferation and reduce inflammation that may be involved in carcinogenesis,” Talcott said.

She said the mango polyphenols in the mice study also reduced expression of a cell-regulating protein that affects cell oxygen absorption. And a preliminary microRNA profile screening showed the polyphenols also targeted several microRNA important to cancer-cell proliferation.

“The earlier in vitro study and the study using the mice have moved us closer to determining whether mango polyphenols will have cancer-fighting effects on human beings,” Talcott said. “So far, the indications are positive, but a lot of work will have to be done to determine the actual concentration of mango metabolites in target tissues.”

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Writer: Steve Byrns, 325-653-4576, s-byrns@tamu.edu

Contact: Dr. Giri Athrey, 979-845-1885, gathrey@tmail.com

COLLEGE STATION – Malaria is responsible for about 700,000 deaths annually in sub-Saharan Africa alone, and a team of Texas A&M University researchers is doing their best to help stem this perpetual tide of human suffering.

Dr. Giridhar “Giri” Athrey, post-doctoral associate with Texas A&M’s department of entomology vector biology group, is the lead author of a study recently published in the open-access journal PloS Genetics http://www.plosgenetics.org/doi/pgen.1003097 .

The research aims for the first time to accurately measure pre-and post-control mosquito populations using DNA technology.

The nine-member team is led by Dr. Michel Slotman in Texas A&M’s department of entomology, and also includes Dr. Theresa Hodges of that department.

The team demonstrated for the first time through replicated studies that two vector control programs – spraying and pesticide-treated bed nets – have dramatically reduced malaria transmitting mosquito populations.

“Malaria is a disease transmitted by female mosquitoes in the genus Anopheles,” Athrey said. “Several control strategies have been used over the past 40 to 50 years to combat mosquito populations with varying degrees of success. One of the reasons malaria is so difficult to defeat is that Anopheles gambiae, the primary carrier or ‘vector,’ has a high preference for human blood meals, and relatively low densities of this vector can maintain high rates of infection among humans.”

Athrey said one of the main aims of anti-vector programs is to eventually eradicate mosquito populations, but more immediately to reduce them to very low numbers, translating into reduced malaria transmission. This is usually done with insecticides. The problem is assessing how well a control measure is actually working, and if several control measures are being tried, to determine which is the most effective.

“It’s often very difficult using conventional population monitoring methods, such as counting trapped mosquitoes, to know to what extent the insecticide has had an impact,” he said. “That’s what this whole study centers around, accurately measuring mosquito populations to determine whether vector control has been effective and which control regimes are the most effective, thus saving the most lives.”

Athrey said measuring mosquito populations is fraught with difficulties. Traditional counting and trapping methods can be difficult to compare, or may be subject to large fluctuations due to the weather. The insect’s complex life cycle also complicates the issue, so populations can fluctuate wildly with changing seasonal conditions.

In contrast to previous attempts, this study demonstrates that the approach taken has the power to detect mosquito population size changes across relatively short time periods, he said. Importantly, two negative control populations from Cameroon and Mali, which experienced no vector control, showed constant or slightly increasing mosquito populations.

The paper stems from two malaria control programs in Equatorial Guinea. The first was initiated on Bioko Island in 2004. A second program was later started on the country’s mainland in 2007. The programs included both spraying and pesticide-treated bed nets.

“We used DNA data from 1,500 mosquito samples taken from 2004-2010 for three species and seven sites spread across the country,” he said. “We then integrated this data with recently developed computational approaches to accurately estimate the effective population sizes both before and after widespread mosquito control was carried out.”

They found that six of the seven sampled populations from different sites were reduced from 55-85 percent following the start of the control programs.

“This study provides key insights into how mosquito populations respond to indoor residual spraying and insecticide treated-bed nets over time, a hitherto poorly understood aspect of malaria mosquito biology,” Athrey said. “That’s important, because it not only informs ongoing field operations about the impact the control program is having, but also indicates the limits of what can be achieved with existing approaches. This study also demonstrates the utility of genetic approaches to rapidly assess the success of a vector control program.

“In the Equatorial Guinea study, we found that both spraying and insecticide-treated nets resulted in much reduced population sizes of mosquitoes, compared to population sizes before vector control programs began. And truthfully, reliable data like that is needed to improve existing vector control programs, which ultimately helps save more lives, and that is what we are interested in.”

Other team members contributing to this study were: Dr. Michael Reddy, department epidemiology and public health, and Dr. Adalgisa Caccone, department of ecology and evolutionary biology, both at Yale University; Dr. Hans Overgaard, department of mathematical sciences and technology, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, As, Norway; Dr. Abrahan Matias, Medical Care Development International, Malabo, Equatorial Guinea; Frances Ridl, Malaria Research Lead Programme, Medical Research Council, Durban, South Africa; and Dr. Immo Kleinschmidt, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London.

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The Water Day “Let’s Talk About Water” program will be held from 9 a.m. to noon on May 21 at the Landmark Inn, 402 Florence St. in Castroville. (Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service photo by Jason Ott)

“Even places that historically have been able to provide adequate water to their population face occasional water shortages,” said Jason Ott, AgriLife Extension agent for agriculture and natural resources, Medina County. “For example, in 2011 Texas suffered the worst single-year drought in recorded history, with economic losses to the agricultural sector alone estimated at more than $7.6 billion.”

Ott said the event will be an opportunity for people to learn more about water availability issues affecting the region and to get information on some of the techniques and initiatives in place for conserving precious water resources.

The agenda begins with registration from 9-9:30 a.m. and presentations will include:

–“Resource Conservation through Education,” Sky Lewey, resource protection and education director, Nueces River Authority, Uvalde.

–“Our Aquifer: Conserving and Managing Groundwater,” Dr. Calvin Finch, director, Water Conservation and Technology Center, part of the Texas A&M University System, San Antonio.

–“Rainwater: How To Catch It and What To Do With It,” Ott, Hondo.

–“The 40-Gallon Challenge,” Chet Smith, AgriLife Extension agent, Uvalde.

The cost for the Water Day program is $15. Attendees are requested to RSVP to the AgriLife Extension office for Medina County at 830-741-6180 by May 17.

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COLLEGE STATION – According to the Centers for Disease Control, about one in six Americans gets food poisoning each year. Additionally, virus infection risks from consumption of raw oysters in the U.S. are estimated to cost around $200 million a year.

Results of a recent study by Texas A&M University System personnel and others on the effects of electron beam irradiation on viruses in raw oysters will be published in the June issue of the Applied and Environmental Microbiology journal. (U.S. Department of Agriculture — Agricultural Research Service photo by David Kingsley)

To address the issue of health risk from eating raw oysters, Texas A&M University graduate student Chandni Praveen, along with Texas A&M AgriLife Research scientist Dr. Suresh Pillai and a team of researchers from other agencies and institutions, studied how electron-beam pasteurization of raw oysters may reduce the possibility of food poisoning through virus.

Other entities involved in the study included the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and University of Texas School of Public Health-El Paso regional campus.

The results of this study will be published in the June issue of the leading microbiology journal, Applied and Environmental Microbiology.

“The study was performed using a human norovirus surrogate called murine norovirus (NoV), and a hepatitis A (HAV) virus along with advanced quantitative microbial risk assessment tools,” explained Pillai, professor of microbiology and director of the National Center for Electron Beam Research at Texas A&M University. “A salient feature of e-beam pasteurization technology is that it uses commercial electricity to generate the ionizing radiation that inactivates the viruses. It is a green technology because no chemicals are involved.”

Pillai said the FDA already has approved the use of electron beam technology as a pathogen intervention strategy to control the naturally occurring Vibrio vulnificus bacterial pathogen in shellfish.

According to the FDA, raw oysters contaminated with Vibrio vulnificus can be life threatening or even fatal when eaten by someone with liver disease, diabetes or a weakened immune system.

“We’re all for any means of technology that enhances the safety of our product,” said Sal Sunseri, co-owner of P&J Oysters and a representative of the Louisiana Oyster Dealers and Growers Association. “While we provide a safe product, we know there are at-risk groups, and that processing methods like freezing, high-pressure treatment and electron-beam irradiation reduce or eliminate the risk for those groups and enhance the overall safety of our product.”

At this time, however, electron-beam technology is not being used for commercial oysters sold in the U.S.

“For the study, we chose the norovirus and hepatitis A virus, as these are pathogenic threats to those consuming shellfish, and chose oysters as they are a type of mollusk that’s more commonly eaten raw,” said Praveen, a doctoral candidate in the toxicology program of the Food Safety and Environmental Microbiology Laboratory at Texas A&M.

Praveen said she and the other researchers also chose the viral pathogens as opposed to bacterial as they were more difficult to treat and also require a host species.

“Bivalves such as oysters are also filter feeders that obtain their food by pumping water through their system and filtering small organisms,” she said. “This can lead to the possible accumulation of NoV and HAV viral pathogens, as well as bacterial pathogens.”

Pillai said non-thermal food processing technologies are needed to reduce these infection risks.

“This is the first study that has attempted to quantify the reduction in infection risks of raw oysters contaminated with different levels of virus when pasteurized at FDA-approved doses,” he said.

Pillai said that the study showed if a serving size of 12 raw oysters were contaminated with approximately 100 hepatitis A and human noroviruses, an e-beam dose of 5 kGy (kilograys) would achieve a 91 percent reduction of hepatitis A infection risks and a 26 percent reduction of norovirus infection risks. A kilogray is a unit of absorbed energy from ionizing radiation.

Pillai said the study showed that if electron-beam pasteurization technology was included as part of a comprehensive food safety plan to reduce illnesses from raw oysters, significant public health benefits and, by extension, significant savings in medical and related expenses due to foodborne illness, can occur.

The study can be found in the June issue of Applied and Environmental Microbiology or online at the American Society of Microbiology website, http://aem.asm.org.

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The meeting, hosted by the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service and the Texas State Soil and Water Conservation Board, will be from 6-8 p.m. at the Nacogdoches County Farm Bureau Conference Facility, 2302 NW. Stallings Drive, Nacogdoches.

Registration will begin at 5:30 p.m.

The topic of bacterial-source tracking related to the water quality of the Attoyac Bayou will be the main area of discussion during the partnership’s May 16 meeting in Nacogdoches. (Texas Water Resources Institute photo)

“The primary focus of this meeting will be to present and discuss the findings of the bacterial-source tracking analysis conducted on water samples collected between July 2010 and August 2012,” said Anthony Castilaw of Castilaw Environmental Services and Attoyac Bayou watershed coordinator. “The sources of bacteria present in the bayou have generated considerable interest at past meetings,”

Bacterial source tracking results help landowners make informed management decisions regarding the best approach for reducing bacteria contributions to the water body, he said.

“This information paired with water quality data, load duration curves and the SELECT model output covered in March will all paint the picture of where bacteria loadings are coming from,” Catislaw said.

Lucas Gregory, a Texas Water Resources Institute project manager, said the meeting also will include presentations on the decision-making process from this point forward and outline the approach for putting together the Attoyac Bayou watershed protection plan.

Texas Water Resources Institute is part of Texas A&M AgriLife Research, the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service and the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Texas A&M University.

“With the completion of bacterial-source tracking, all of the information needed to develop the watershed protection plan is now available,” Gregory said. “After this meeting, the focus for the Attoyac Bayou Watershed Partnership will turn to making decisions on what recommended management strategies to include in the plan.”

At the meeting, Dr. Matthew McBroom, associate professor in the Arthur Temple College of Forestry and Agriculture at Stephen F. Austin State University, will discuss the recent U.S Supreme Court ruling on local management plans announced in March. McBroom said a 7-1 decision by the court affirmed that local efforts adequately address potential water-quality pollution.

“It also effectively reversed a decision from a lower court requiring national pollution discharge elimination system permits for nonpoint pollution loadings,” he said. “This decision really gives credence to local planning efforts like the one here in the Attoyac Bayou and justifies the relevance and appropriateness of these plans for protecting water resources. What this decision did was emphasize the protective aspect of local plans. It essentially shields those with these plans in place from future regulation.”

The Texas Water Resources Institute, which manages the project, is part of Texas A&M AgriLife Research, AgriLife Extension and the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Texas A&M University. It is cooperating with the Angelina-Neches River Authority, Castilaw Environmental Services, Stephen F. Austin State University and Texas A&M AgriLife Research to carry out this program.

Funding for the development and support of the Attoyac Bayou Watershed Protection Plan is provided in part through a Clean Water Act nonpoint source pollution grant provided by the Texas State Soil and Water Conservation Board and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

For more information, see the project website: http://attoyac.tamu.edu/ or contact Gregory at lfgregory@ag.tamu.edu or 979-845-7869.

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