Friday, June 25, 2021
CapitalPress.com 9
Researchers developing heat tolerance in tomato seeds
By MATTHEW WEAVER
Capital Press
Researchers are working
to identify genes that boost
heat tolerance in seeds.
The researchers at the Uni-
versity of California-Davis
and the University of Florida
received a $1.1 million grant
from the Foundation for Food
and Agriculture Research.
Most seeds have a tough
time sprouting and growing
in temperatures above 105
degrees Fahrenheit. For some
seeds, the best temperature is
70 to 90 degrees.
The researchers want to
see how heat aff ects the seed
quality, said Kent Bradford, a
UC-Davis professor.
“We grow lettuce every
day of the year to meet the let-
tuce market, which means we
have to plant every day of the
year somewhere,” Bradford
said. “Plants pay more atten-
tion to temperature than any-
thing except light.”
The impact of the environ-
ment on the mother plant can
aff ect a seed’s performance.
The work has the most
direct implication for seed
companies.
It’s important for them that
Carl Jones
Researchers are using a wild tomato relative to look for
heat tolerance and seed quality traits, the better to im-
prove seed performance. UC-Davis professor Kent Brad-
ford says the results could benefi t a wide variety of crops.
the seeds germinate at roughly
the same time, Bradford said.
Later-germinating seeds are
either weeds or require a sec-
ond harvest.
Farmers would also be
more confi dent that the seed
they use will perform, Brad-
ford said.
The researchers are pri-
marily using tomatoes as a
model crop. California pro-
duces about a third of the
world’s processing tomatoes,
Bradford said.
“It’s a global crop,” he
said. “A lot of the tomato seed
is produced under fairly con-
trolled conditions in the green-
house, because it requires
hand pollination. If we can
fi nd what are the optimal con-
ditions, that helps them opti-
mize seed production.”
Tomatoes don’t fare well
as the weather gets hotter.
“We are approaching that
temperature more and more
frequently in the summer in
California,” Bradford said.
Some wild tomato relatives
are more temperature-tolerant
than domesticated plants, he
said. They’re looking for heat
tolerance in tomato seed from
Peru and Chile.
The researchers will iden-
tify important genes in those
seeds. Once identifi ed, more
resistant genes can be added
using conventional breed-
ing or by removing a spe-
cifi c gene, which is not con-
sidered a genetically modifi ed
organism, or GMO, Bradford
said. GMO plants could pres-
ent more regulatory and mar-
keting hurdles, which many
companies aren’t anxious to
take on, he said.
The results could also have
implications for other crops,
such as spinach, corn, soy-
beans or cotton.
UF ornamental plant
breeder
Alfred
Huo’s
research involves using
“very powerful” RNA mol-
ecules that control fl owering
and development. That could
lead to identifying and apply-
ing trigger molecules, Brad-
ford said.
Idaho revises wolf seasons in line with new state law
By BRAD CARLSON
Capital Press
The Idaho Fish and
Game Commission June 17
amended wolf hunting and
trapping seasons to align with
a new a state law aimed at
reducing the population of the
predator.
But wildlife managers said
the action is not expected to
result in a substantial reduc-
tion in the number of wolves
anytime soon.
“It’s been widely but inac-
curately reported that the new
law will reduce Idaho’s wolf
population by 90%,” Fish and
Game Director Ed Schriever
said in a release. “However,
the commission’s action will
reduce wolf confl icts while
maintaining a viable wolf
population that is not subject
to relisting under the Endan-
gered Species Act.”
He said the commission’s
action provides a “meaning-
ful balance” that focuses on
providing hunters and trap-
pers with additional tools to
address confl icts between
wolves, livestock and other
big game. The action also
focuses the new management
tools that Senate Bill 1211
allows in the right places and
at the right times, he said.
The new law substantially
increases the allowed harvest
and methods of take, primar-
ily to reduce wolf-livestock
confl icts. It aims to bring the
statewide population closer
to 150, the 2002 federal base-
line for avoiding relisting gray
wolves under the Endangered
Species Act.
Fish and Game camera
counts in the summers of
2019 and 2020 pegged the
population just above 1,500
despite a total harvest of more
than 500 wolves both years.
Commissioner
Derick
Attebury of Idaho Falls told
Capital Press the action pro-
vides “additional tools and
opportunities to reduce the
existing wolf population,
which the commission sup-
ports. We hope our hunters
and trappers will utilize the
changes in harvesting addi-
tional wolves.”
“To this point, the tools
available to sportsmen, and
other control measures, have
not been adequate to con-
trol the population,” said Don
Ebert, a commission member
from the Clearwater region of
north-central Idaho. “I believe
that we’re not going to put the
wolf population in peril. We’ll
be lucky to be able to control
the population.”
“We’re still going to have
harvest reports” from hunters
and trappers, “so we will have
harvest data in real time,”
Fish and Game Public Infor-
mation Supervisor Roger
Phillips said.
A decade of hunting and
trapping in Idaho has resulted
in gradual increases in har-
vest but not a decrease in the
population, he said. With the
commission’s recent action,
“we expect to see an increase
in harvest, but not enough to
drop that population down to
levels where we’re concerned
about relisting.”
SB 1211 establishes a year-
round trapping season for
wolves on private property. It
allows unlimited purchase of
wolf tags. It also specifi es that
any method used for taking
wild canines, such as foxes
and coyotes, can be available
for taking wolves.
Idaho has 99 hunting
units. The commission voted
to establish wolf seasons
allowing expanded hunt-
ing methods from Nov. 15
to March 31 on public land
in 43 hunting units where elk
are below population objec-
tives or where there are his-
tories of chronic livestock
depredation.
Idaho Wheat/Facebook
Idaho Wheat Commission Executive Director Casey
Chumrau and University of Idaho Director of Tech-
nology Transfer Jeremy Tamsen sign a licensing
agreement for UI Cookie.
New Idaho wheat variety
UI Cookie royalty-free
By MATTHEW WEAVER
Capital Press
Wheat growers and
the University of Idaho
recently signed a licensing
agreement for a new spring
wheat variety.
The soft white spring
variety UI Cookie, from
breeder Jianli Chen, based
in Aberdeen, was 14 years
in the making.
Chen said she hopes to
reach 5% of spring wheat
production with the new
variety. It was released
to replace the variety UI
Stone.
UI Cookie has good
yield, improved stripe rust
resistance, Fusarium head
blight tolerance and thresh-
ing ability. It’s slated for
dryland production, pri-
marily in Southern Idaho.
The variety is public,
with no royalty.
The Idaho Wheat Com-
mission negotiated an
exclusive license with
the University of Idaho to
commercialize the variety.
The commission will man-
age the fi rst seed expansion
from foundation to regis-
tered seed through provi-
sions in a sublicense with
the seed producer.
The commission rec-
ognizes the importance
of royalties, which can be
used to fund the develop-
ment of future varieties,
executive director Casey
Chumrau told the Capital
Press.
UI Cookie was a good
agronomic and economic
opportunity to make a ges-
ture to farmers who are
investing in research and
breeding programs through
their checkoff dollars, she
said.
“We have heard frus-
trations in the past of pay-
ing on the front end and the
back end,” she said. “It’s
not going to work with
every variety, but in this
particular case no commer-
cial company was inter-
ested despite the excellent
end-use quality.”
Because of the “excel-
lent results,” the variety
has possibilities beyond
Southern Idaho, Chumrau
said.
“That is something
the market would have
to determine,” she said.
“We’re not going to go out
and advertise this variety
in Washington and Oregon,
but we would be happy to
see this variety take off .”
Chumrau said grower
response so far is excel-
lent, during a particularly
tough growing year due to
drought.
“They say UI Cookie
looks better than a lot of
things they have planted
next to it,” she said.
Chumrau expects UI
Cookie to be available on a
limited basis in 2022, and
more widely available in
2023, assuming seed deal-
ers continue to expand
production.
Meatpacking
strike averted at
Smithfi eld plant
By CAROL RYAN DUMAS
Capital Press
United Food and Com-
mercial Workers Local
304A, which represents
nearly 3,000 South Dakota
food workers, announced
on Friday a new agreement
with Smithfi eld for workers
at its Sioux Falls pork plant.
UFCW 304A and the
union’s members success-
fully secured pay increases
and expanded benefi ts for
workers at the plant. The
boost in pay represents a
strong investment in these
workers who are essential
to protecting the food sup-
ply chain in South Dakota
and across the coun-
try, UFCW said in a press
release.
“Today’s new contract
for Smithfi eld meatpack-
ing workers in Sioux Falls
provides the strong pay and
benefi ts that these brave
men and women have
earned on the frontlines of
this pandemic,” said B.J.
Motley, president of Local
304.
“In the past year, these
South Dakota essential
workers put their own health
at risk every day to keep
our food supply secure,” he
said.
“With this new contract,
meatpacking workers are
sending a powerful mes-
sage that it is time for every
company in the industry to
step up and recognize the
incredible sacrifi ces made
and danger faced by these
frontline workers who
helped millions of Ameri-
cans put food on the table
during this health crisis,”
he said.
The union workers voted
to reject Smithfi eld’s con-
tract on June 3 and voted to
strike on June 7.
YOUR PATHWAY TO OPTIMAL FARM PROFITABILITY
Contact your McGregor certified crop adviser.
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