Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 21, 1980)
SIX-The Hpppner Gaiette-Times. Hrppner, Oregon, Thursday. August 21. 1980 Will smut destroy China connection? Will a disease called TCK smut destroy Pacific Nortl. I west wheat growers' multimillion-dollar China connect ion? Yu Shan-Qian (pronounced "ooh san chien") did not offer many clues during a recent interview conducted through an interpreter at Oregon State University. Just the same, the soft-spo ken, friendly Yu, a planl pathologist from Fudan Uni versity in Shanghai, may dc the first to know. He is the first representat ive of mainland China's scien tific community to come to the Northwest for an extended study of TCK smut, a fungus disease that historically has caused trade problems with China and this winter sparked a renewed Chinese ban on importing wheat from the Northwest. The 44-year -old scientist was invited by U.S. Wheat Associates, a marketing or ganization whose Asian office is in Portland, to conduct two y ears of cooperative research all expenses paid-in the OSU laboratory of Edward Trione, a U.S. Department of Agricul ture botanist who is a TCK smut expert. The hope of U.S. wheat, and Northwest growers, is that such joint research will help the Chinese adopt the view that TCK smut, which cuts wheat yields by turning the grain to a worthless black powder, is severely limited by terrain and weather condit ions and poses no threat to China, said Trione after Yu's June arrival in Corvallis. From his country's point of view, Yu later explained in the interview, China's scientists "have no way to judge" the danger of the disease, which, is in virtually all wheat shipped from the Northwest in the form of microscopic spores. Yu is the vanguard of an effort to educate Chinese scientists. "We are starting our own research program at Fudan to study the possibility of TCK problems starting in parts of our country similar to here," he said. "We need this research background to know if what we are told is true or ""t." Another incentive for study ing TCK smut, said Yu, is that China is beginning to detect the disease in the millions of tons of wheat imported from areas other than the Pacific Northwest. Specifically, Yu's reason for coming to Oregon is to learn how TCK smut developes-to verify under what conditions it germinates, he said. After he completes an intensive, seven-days-a-week language course intended to overcome the communicat ion? barrier, and takes an intrHuctory tour of the Northwest, Yu looks forward to setting aside the inevitable inquiries about his govern ment's position on wheat imports and moving into the laboratory. "I am a scientist," he said, admitting through a polite grin his discomfort with such inquiries. "I cannot say what my government will or will not do." He explained that his visit to OSU was coordinated by the chairman of his university department, who headed a Chinese delegation that visit- ' Northwest wheat growers and scientists last year, and not the Chinese government.:- Still, he added, the head of the Chinese Ministry of Agr culture's plant quarantine bureau met with him and his department chairman befon he left home and spok encouragingly of his research His very presence in th Northwest may be cause for optimism among wheat grow ers, he pointed out. "I believe such cooperative research with Dr. Trione will not only enhance science but further the agriculture trade between our two countries," he said. Trione agrees. The USDA botanist said "the science is on our side" in the debate over TCK smut. Us holiovac fho Hnv ami it spores enter China regularly from several sources-including contaminated cargo ships from Japan-without causing problems. "The best way to counter their fear, though" he said, "is to keep talking to them and encourage coiiaoorauve re search. "It is not my intention to try and convince Mr. Yu Shan Qian of anything. I want to give him the opportunity to learn for himself about the disease-in the laboratory and in the field. In Oregon the disease is limited to a relatively small area in the northeastern part of the state, said Trione. Mixing of wheat for export at Columbia River ports contaminates grain from the Willamette Valley and else where. After Yu completes his language course in mid-Aug-gust, Trione said he will encourage him to spend a month or so touring western states including Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana and Utah and talking with scientists, growers ami others In the wheat industry to' broaden his knowledge of TCK smut. The USDA researcher, whose own research Includes trying to improve methods of detecting the disease and trying to find a way to control It, said It appears a second Chinese scientist, a specialist from the country ' plant quarantine bureau, will travel to OSU this fall to do TCK smut research under the sponsorship of U.S. Wheat Associates. OUJMTV IRtOHD jOBD - 4, . A 1- V 7J I 1 il wM l m a wswsw r M A ff rvl I If J 7 tods ipCtoTOi LN f oneless Beef Sirloin Tip Steaks USDA Choice Uuarter rounder a m f. iw i umey, low rax. nign rn Beef Patties Baron's, 3 lb. Bag ..... H-.yy Ground Turkey. Old Fashioned H.C. Franks a ma Serve with Onions Hills Jumbo Franks m l .oiJ Sliced Beef Liver. 1.49 LZ7 ib. At Boneless Bee Round Steaks USDA Choice Full Cut () lb 'oneless Pork Butt Roast n Armour Veri-best 100 Turkey. 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