Research Nebraska focuses on results and outcomes of University of Nebraska Agricultural Research Division research. We're adding "In the Works" to give readers a glimpse at Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources projects in their early stages. These projects are being launched with an eye to the future and to provide new knowledge, discoveries or technologies for Nebraska's people, communities, businesses and natural resources.

• Americans are big on lower-fat foods. Animal Scientist Jess Miner is studying hormones that influence fat production in cattle and swine. He's focusing on acylation stimulating protein (ASP) and developing tests to determine if it is present in cattle and pigs. Understanding ASP's role in fat synthesis could lead to techniques that control fat production by manipulating this hormone. In cattle, for example, scientists might be able to devise methods for promoting marbling while reducing total carcass fat. This research also could improve understanding of human obesity.
  
  
• Everyone from cattle producers and processors to consumers is eager to reduce the threat of potentially deadly E. coli 0157:H7 contamination in beef. One promising treatment involves sending electrical current through an electrolyte solution on beef carcasses or pieces. Several engineering hurdles must be cleared before this treatment's efficacy can be properly evaluated. Biological Systems Engineer Mike Kocher, working with several other IANR faculty, recently launched a project to tackle those challenges. He's working on ways to measure and control the flow of electrical current in electrolyte solutions. Among other things, he'll identify the electrical properties of various electrolyte solutions, test different treatments and determine which best reduce E. coli. If electrical treatment proves effective, it should be much more affordable for smaller processors than current steam pasteurization or radiation methods.
  
  
• NU Panhandle Research and Extension Center scientists always have an eye out for potential crop alternatives for the region. They're especially interested in spring crops that could be harvested with time to spare before September's wheat planting. As part of this effort, Agronomists David Baltensperger at Scottsbluff and Lenis Nelson in Lincoln are cooperating in regional research exploring canola's potential for the Great Plains. Canola, also called edible rapeseed, is an oil crop with great consumer demand. The multi-state team is releasing a winter canola variety hardy enough for more southern states. That's the first step toward developing Nebraska-adapted varieties, but Baltensperger cautions it will take several years to learn if canola can be bred to perform in western Nebraska.
  
  
• Environmental Health Engineer Rhonda Brand seeks ways to reduce the human health risks of pesticides. She's studying risks associated with exposure to pesticide combinations commonly used in Nebraska. Most studies of pesticide absorption and its influence on human health focus on exposure to a single compound. In the real world, however, pesticides are rarely applied alone. Brand is examining how different pesticide combinations interact to influence penetration through the skin and their resulting impact on the human body. She hopes to identify pesticide combinations that are the least harmful to humans, but are still effective for agricultural use. This work should help more accurately predict risks associated with exposure to different pesticides and help better evaluate the safety of improved pesticide application techniques.
  
  
• Food processing industry growth is drawing immigrants to the Midwest and creating rapid changes for some rural communities. Family Scientist Rochelle Dalla wants to assess the social and economic impacts of migration on three rural Nebraska meat packing communities. The influx of new residents affects families and communities, yet planning models and policies to help communities experiencing rapid change are either unavailable or ineffective, the College of Human Resources and Family Sciences researcher said. Dalla hopes to develop information and recommendations for other communities facing similar changes.

  - Vicki Miller

New squash released

Gardeners will want to watch for Butter Bowl, a new NU-developed squash that should be available next year.

Horticulturist Dermot Coyne developed Butter Bowl, a small, flavorful, nearly round winter squash variety. This novel butternut-type squash features improved flesh flavor and texture. It's about the size and shape of an acorn squash but tastier. Butter Bowl's more uniform flesh thickness cooks well in microwave ovens.

The new squash can be grown in small gardens because the plant is much more compact than traditional, often sprawling, butternuts. It resists bacterial spot, black fruit rot and vine borers.

Hollar Seed Co. of Rocky Ford, Colo., is producing Butter Bowl seed under a university licensing agreement. Seed should be available from Burpee Seed Co. by spring 2000.

Biotech, sustainability confab set for June

Biotechnology, sustainability and industrial consolidation will share the spotlight when the University of Nebraska hosts the National Agricultural Biotechnology Council's annual meeting in June.

"World Food Security and Sustainability: The Impacts of Biotechnology and Industrial Consolidation" is the title for the meeting June 6-8 in Lincoln. The conference is open to anyone who registers and will feature workshops and nationally known speakers.

Sessions will examine new developments in agricultural biotechnology, trends toward industrial consolidation and vertical coordination, and what these events mean for world food security and sustainability. Participants will develop consensus statements related to biotechnology, sustainability and industrial consolidation.

NABC conferences provide a forum where people of diverse backgrounds and viewpoints can exchange ideas.

The conference is sponsored by NABC, composed of members from 26 major universities, including NU, and nonprofit agricultural biotechnology research institutions in North and Central America. The Henry A. Wallace Institute for Alternative Agriculture is co-sponsoring this year's conference.

For more information, write NABC, 419 Boyce Thompson Institute, Tower Road, Ithaca, NY 14853 or e-mail NABC@cornell.edu.

Butter Bowl

Two honored for research excellence

A biological systems engineer and a nutrition scientist are the latest recipients of the NU Agricultural Research Division's Junior Faculty Excellence in Research Awards.

Biological Systems Engineer Thomas Franti and Nutrition Scientist Timothy Carr received the 1998 awards recognizing research excellence by junior IANR faculty.

Carr joined NU's College of Human Resources and Family Sciences in 1996. He uses animal models to study dietary fats' role in heart disease and liver function. His research eventually could help explain how heart disease progresses in humans.

Franti, a surface water management engineer who came to NU six years ago, studies soil erosion and best management practices to reduce pesticide runoff and protect water quality. His research was instrumental in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's decision to modify atrazine and cyanazine label requirements in areas where the chemical shouldn't be used. This decision saves farmers time and money and protects surface water.

Timothy Carr

Thomas Franti

New penstemon 'palette' will grace the prairie

Prairie plant enthusiasts will want to look for the newest NU flower release.

Dale Lindgren, horticulturist at NU's West Central Research and Extension Center at North Platte, added color to his spectrum of earlier penstemon releases in 1998 with Prairie Palette, a selection of Penstemon grandiflorus, the native shell-leaf penstemon. Prairie Palette blooms from May into June, with flower colors ranging from white, pink and lavender to deep purple.

The 2- to 4-foot-tall plants have attractive gray green, shell-shaped leaves. Prairie Palette was selected for its low incidence of leaf spot disease, a common problem in penstemon.

"We developed Prairie Palette mainly to add a splash of color to large plantings along roadsides and in meadows and prairie restorations," Lindgren said. Plants live for three to four years but readily re-seed themselves. This native penstemon also can add color to the home landscape if gardeners aren't particular about what flower color turns up.

"Prairie Palette is a mix of seeds selected specifically for a wide range of colors, so single specimens will vary," said the IANR researcher.

Release of Prairie Palette was timed to help celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Nebraska Statewide Arboretum, an organization instrumental in promoting plant diversity in Nebraska.

Prairie Palette seed is available from Stock Seed Farms in Murdock.

- Monica Manton Norby

Praire Palette penstemon