An archive of Pet Columns from the University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine is available online at http://vetmed.illinois.edu/petcolumns/. Requests for reprints of this article may be directed to Chris Beuoy, beuoy@illinois.edu.

In springtime wild critters emerge from their winter hideaways and before you know it, baby animal season is here. When you go out to enjoy the warmer weather, you may hear the peeps of baby birds high up in the trees, or the little chirps of baby rabbits hiding in their nests of grass.

But, wait! You see no sign of the mother. You begin to worry about the helpless little ones. You sit on your porch, waiting for the mother to return. After several hours with no sign of the mother, you conclude that these animals must be orphaned. What can you do to save them?

According to Anne Rivas, a veterinary student and co-manager of the Wildlife Medical Clinic at the University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine, approximately half of the "orphaned" animals brought to the wildlife clinic are perfectly healthy. Some of these animals have been removed from their nest to avoid such dangers as the family pet or tree removal. But unfortunately, well-meaning people often "kidnap" baby animals that are being cared for by their parents.

Why don't you see the mother? It's because mothers in the wild instinctively try to protect their nests. That means not drawing attention to the area where the newborns lie. If the mother detects that her nest is being watched by a potential predator (even a human standing at a distance), she will stay away from the nest completely until the coast is clear. If you would like to ensure that the mother visits the nest to feed her babies, it is best to watch from afar (completely out of sight) for 4 to 6 hours. In fact, even without the prospect of danger, mother rabbits normally spend no more than 5 minutes at their nest per day.

If you find a baby animal out of its nest, however, this is a time when you can take action to help the newborn! What to do depends on the age of the animal.

Young birds with feathers are likely fledglings that may be ready to leave the nest even though they are not yet fully able to fly. If the bird is featherless, it needs to go back to its nest as soon as possible.

For baby mammals, age is more difficult to estimate and depends on the species. The most commonly found baby mammal is the wild rabbit. If the rabbit is about the size of a tennis ball, looks just like a miniature form of its adult counterpart, and is able to hop around, then it is old enough to survive on its own.

If the baby animal appears too young to survive on its own, it is very important to remember that any baby animal's best chance for survival is with its mother.

"Even in the best possible scenarios, humans will be nowhere near as proficient in care for these delicate little animals as their mothers will. Survival rates for animals raised in captivity can be significantly lower than those raised in a natural setting," Rivas says.

There is also a risk that the baby animal will "imprint" on humans, meaning that it will no longer have a fear of humans. In order for the animal to have a good chance of being successfully returned to the wild, it needs to maintain a healthy fear of humans to avoid harm to itself and to people. This is particularly true for raccoons, deer, and birds, who may pose a risk if they approach people once they are returned to the wild.

Contrary to popular belief, it is not true that the mother won't feed a baby that has been touched by human hands. If a baby animal has fallen or been removed from its nest, you can certainly pick up the baby and return it to its nest if possible. If you are unable to find the nest or the nest is no longer intact, you can place the baby in a shallow box with grass and place it near where the baby was found (in a tree for birds, on the ground for baby mammals). Then, out of sight, you can once again monitor the make-shift nest for the mother to return.

Unfortunately, you may also find a baby animal that is injured. According to Rivas, "If the animal appears to have broken a bone, is very cold, is bleeding, or has been attacked by a predator, the baby animal needs medical attention."

There are many wildlife rehabilitators throughout the country who know how to care for an injured baby animal and ready it for release back into the wild once it has healed. To find a wildlife rehabilitator, you can call your state wildlife agency, a local veterinarian, humane societies, Audubon societies, animal control officers, or the US Fish and Wildlife Service.

If you are unsure whether an animal is old enough to survive on its own or needs medical attention, then it is best to contact a wildlife rehabilitator before removing it from the area where you found it.

"Remember," Rivas stresses, "any baby animal's best chance for survival is with its mother in the wild." If you have any questions about orphaned animals, contact your local veterinarian or visit the website of the University of Illinois Wildlife Medical Clinic at vetmed.illinois.edu/wmc/.

An archive of Pet Columns from the University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine is available online at http://vetmed.illinois.edu/petcolumns/. Requests for reprints of this article may be directed to Chris Beuoy, beuoy@illinois.edu.

Veterinary Extension/Office of Public Engagement
University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine
217/333-2907

For Maria Villamil, being the tenth of 11 children born to a middle-class Latino family in southern Argentina carried certain expectations. Like her sisters and friends, she was expected to get married and have children. But she believed she could accomplish other dreams, too. Unfortunately, going after her dreams meant leaving family and friends behind.

"For many Latinos like myself, family needs come before individual aspirations," said Villamil, an assistant professor in the University of Illinois Department of Crop Sciences. "It's tradition that you take care of family first. Children are encouraged to go out and earn money to help support the family — education (especially for women) is often not encouraged because of more pressing concerns."

Family attachment can become a barrier for students pursuing an advanced education unless the family is involved and supportive of the decision, Villamil said. Combine this with challenges common to students in the fields of math, science and technology, and the result is a shortage of Latino students in these growing fields.

In the U of I College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences (ACES), nearly 6 percent of undergraduate students are Latino. Meanwhile, the state population is 15 percent Latino and increasing. In the 18 to 24 age group, the Latino population is 19 percent.

This disproportionate Latino population spurred a group of faculty members in ACES to take action. Two years ago, Elvira de Mejia, professor in the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, sat down with a group of her peers and discussed a set of USDA calls addressing Latinos. This meeting resulted in the creation of the Illinois Advocates for Latino Advancement in Science (I-ALAS) to help meet the needs of Latino students in Illinois.

"We simply want our population of students in ACES to reflect the state's Latino population," Villamil said. "We decided if we were serious about this, we needed to do something."

De Mejia said their goal was to identify grants for Illinois Latino students, develop a model for increasing the Latino student population in ACES over the next five years, and find innovative ways to address this need.

"We had strong support from Dean Hauser, the associate and assistant deans, and the department heads," de Mejia said. "We were even offered matching funds from some departments to help us reach our goals."

Sandra Rodriguez-Zas, professor in the Department of Animal Sciences, said she believes their approach to start this plan of action at the faculty level has helped them achieve success.

"We feel a calling to help," Rodriguez-Zas said. "I think the faculty are the best people to start this project. You can wish and wish, but if faculty aren't committed, these programs won't happen. As Latino faculty, we understand better than anyone the challenges these students face."

I-ALAS is reaching out to Hispanic-serving institutions (HSIs) and community colleges to connect students to the U of I. They will promote science, technology, engineering and math career opportunities while training students to be successful in the workforce.

"We are unique in the College of ACES to have this group," said Gustavo Caetano-Anolles, a professor in the Department of Crop Sciences. "We meet regularly, think actively and are determined to make this happen." The group has already obtained funding for two grants through NSF and USDA and created a key partnership with Northeastern Illinois University (NEIU) who also received two USDA awards with shared goals.

"Ultimately, this will be a discovery process," Caetano-Anolles said. "We will provide research experiences to bring many areas of science, bioinformatics and agriculture together so students can be in a better position to find a job someday. Our goal is to help them learn 'science' — not pigeon-hole them into one area or another."

Margarita Teran-Garcia, a professor in the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, said she is excited to help connect students to mentors who can help give them an edge in their field of study.

"I-ALAS and our faculty collaborators across ACES and Northeastern Illinois University will mentor these students during this educational process," she said. "We want to show students that they can make it — that there is a place for them in these areas of study."

Villamil said she appreciates the value of mentors in her life.

"Most of us in I-ALAS realize that at some point, it's random chance that we have gotten to where we are today," Villamil said. "So why not take the random chance out of the equation? We know that Latino students have different realities in their families. We want to step up and show them the vast opportunities available to them so their lives don't have to be dictated as much by random chance."

Villamil said Argentina has a free university system; survival is the key. She credits her success to her ability to persevere despite the "kicking around" and low self-esteem she experienced during her college years. In a similar pattern, Illinois Latinos also have to balance their responsibilities to the family with their dream to become educated. The frustration many experience to find this balance often causes them to abandon their schooling, she said.

"We all know perseverance is the secret," said Ricardo Diaz, program coordinator in the U of I Graduate College. "It's how we all made it here today — will and perseverance. Since then, we've developed concrete steps that students can take to achieve various career paths."

I-ALAS is continuing to expand and is not limited to the College of ACES or Latino faculty.

"It'd be great if similar groups happened in other colleges on campus," Caetano-Anolles said. "Every college has different realities that respective groups can address. We envision other professors adopting similar models in their colleges and unifying our group at the university levels so our capabilities can become greater."

Caetano-Anolles said their group has more depth because it's multidisciplinary. Group members represent engineering, crops and soils, animal sciences, food and human nutrition, Extension, and water quality.

"Of course, we all get excited about our own area of science," Teran-Garcia said. "But, ultimately we are all passionate about meeting societal needs through science. We want to transmit our enjoyment and the possibilities of science to students."

For more information about I-ALAS, go to www.ialas.org or e-mail info@ialas.org.

Digital photo available for three months at http://www.aces.uiuc.edu/news/News_Photos/IALAS

URBANA — The University of Illinois's 50-year agricultural communications program is stronger than ever as a result of its joint affiliation with the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences (ACES) and the College of Media, approved recently at the colleges' request by the Illinois Board of Higher Education.

"This interdisciplinary effort is innovative and progressive. We are aware of no joint programs in this academic field or others that are so closely aligned," said Jim Evans, U of I professor emeritus of agricultural communications and nationally recognized leader in the field.

The decision to make agricultural communications a dual college program has been about three years in the making with efforts from the faculty, alumni, students and deans of the two colleges.

Jan Slater, interim dean of the College of Media, said the University of Illinois has served as a model for many agricultural communications programs in the past.

"Through the dual college program, we are setting a higher standard for the educational component and, we believe, setting the bar for the needs of the industries we serve," Slater said. "The College of Media is excited about what the future holds for this program."

"With strengths in journalism, mass communications, and public relations, our ag communications program embraces not only traditional farm media outlets but also dynamic new media that are redefining the way people access information," said Bob Siebrecht, the program's interim director.

Opportunities for agriculture to meet global challenges and potentials are driving current efforts, and effective communication is key, he added.

The agricultural communications major, established in 1961, has become a flagship program of its kind. "Graduates are doing important work in the increasingly complex fields of food, feed, fiber, renewable energy, natural resource management, rural development, among others, both locally and globally," said Laurie Kramer, associate dean of academic programs for the College of ACES.

The program will be considered its own major and program and will be led jointly by the deans of the two colleges. Although it is administratively based within the College of Media, the program has not moved from one college to the other, Siebrecht said.

The joint affiliation is good for both students and faculty, he noted.

"Our students will receive a bachelor of science degree in agricultural communications that includes a solid grounding in ACES subject matter combined with a choice of professional study in advertising, broadcasting or news-editorial sequences through Media," he said.

Students' education in agriculture will come from coursework in a minor in food and environmental systems from ACES that offers a flexible core of classes while allowing them to focus on a specific area of agriculture, he said.

Students will have full access to student organizations, scholarships, internships, courses, advising, study-abroad programs, placement services, and other help from both colleges. Upon graduation, they will become alumni of both colleges. And students throughout ACES will have access to an expanding selection of agricultural communications courses, so that non-majors also will become better communicators, he said.

"Faculty members benefit from holding appointments in the College of Media because they are able to work more closely with others in their communication fields. This connection helps them serve students better, strengthens their scholarly research and creative endeavors, and advances their professional growth," Siebrecht said.

Their joint appointments in the College of ACES also enables agricultural communications faculty to work closely with activities and personnel in ACES to the advantage of all, he said.

Two additional faculty members will enhance the agricultural communications program through this initiative, he noted.

"Dr. Katie Abrams recently joined the faculty as a visiting assistant professor in agricultural communications with an appointment in the Department of Advertising. She has professional experience in newspaper reporting, magazine editing and design, and Web development and management, and was on the team that helped re-brand and market Florida Cooperative Extension. She's an excellent teacher and has earned national honors for her research," he said.

A senior faculty member will soon be hired to hold an endowed chair in agricultural communications, believed to be the first of its kind.

According to Siebrecht, the program is strongly supported by students, alumni and friends. A $2 million endowment campaign is currently under way. Firms and organizations that have a stake in effective communications related to agriculture are also providing important financial support.

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URBANA - The USDA's March 1 Grain Stocks report revealed a surprisingly small inventory of corn, said a University of Illinois Extension agricultural economist.

"The smaller-than-expected inventory implies that consumption during the second quarter of the 2010-11 marketing year was larger than expected. It appears that consumption is progressing at a rate that cannot be sustained by available supplies," said Darrel Good.

At 6.523 billion bushels, the estimate of March 1 inventories was 1.171 billion bushels smaller than stocks of a year earlier and 165 to 170 million bushels smaller than the average trade guess, he said.

The ease of originating grain from producers at generally normal basis levels had led some to believe that March 1 stocks would be much larger. The report revealed that on-farm stocks were 1.164 billion bushels smaller than those of a year earlier. Off-farm stocks were only 7 million bushels smaller, he said.

"Producers have moved larger quantities of corn to market than they did last year in response to higher prices, not a stronger basis. It should be pointed out that the estimate of off-farm stocks is based on a near census of commercial facilities while the on-farm stocks estimate reflects a sample of producers and is therefore subject to sampling error," he said.

Where did the corn go? Total consumption of corn during the second quarter of the year totaled 3.538 billion bushels, 328 million more than was consumed a year ago. The USDA has not yet released estimates of use by category during the second quarter of the year, Good said.

Based on our preliminary calculations, exports during the quarter were 18 million bushels less than during the second quarter last year. Processing uses were up 167 million bushels, and by calculation, feed and residual use was up 179 million bushels, he said.

"It appears that feed and residual use of corn during the first half of the marketing year totaled 3.606 billion bushels, nearly 7 percent more than during the first half of the previous year. For the year, the USDA has projected a year-over-year increase of only 1.2 percent," he said.

The amount of corn available for consumption during the last half of the year depends on the magnitude of the minimum level of year-ending stocks. The USDA currently forecasts those stocks at 675 million bushels, or 5 percent of expected consumption, he said.

"Historically, stocks have not been lower than 5 percent of use. If stocks can be reduced to 4.5 percent of use, then the minimum carryover level is 610 million. A 4 percent stocks-to-use ratio would allow year-ending stocks to be reduced to 550 million bushels," Good said.

"It appears that use during the last half of the year will be limited to about 5.95 billion bushels. That is, following an 8 percent year-over-year increase in the first half of the year, use during the last half of the year needs to be about 1 percent less than use of a year earlier," he added.

During March, the first month of the last half of the marketing year, ethanol production was 6 percent larger than in March 2010. Current ethanol blending margins and ethanol production margins point to a continued high rate of ethanol production, he noted.

Corn exports during March were about 10 million bushels less than exports a year earlier, but new export sales during March were 70 million bushels larger than in March 2010, he said.

"The number of cattle in feed lots on March 1 was 5 percent larger than inventories of a year ago. The number of milk cows on farms in February was 1 percent larger than a year earlier, and the March 1 inventory of market hogs was 1 percent larger than the inventory of a year earlier. A slowdown in feed use does not appear imminent," he said.

Although the rate of corn use does not appear to be slowing, a slowdown is required. The upcoming wheat harvest may provide an opportunity for livestock producers to substitute more wheat for corn in the livestock ration. The degree of substitution will depend on the size and quality of the 2011 wheat harvest and the resulting relative prices of corn and wheat, he said.

"Currently, corn and wheat prices in southern Illinois are about equal, but new-crop wheat prices are about 15 cents higher. Importers may also look to the newly harvested South American corn crop for a larger share of imports over the next five months," he said.

According to Good, corn prices have increased about 90 cents per bushel since the release of the March 1 corn stocks estimate. Prices are at the highest level of the year, and spot cash prices have exceeded the previous high reached in June 2008. Further price increases may be forthcoming unless there is some evidence that the rate of consumption has slowed, he said.

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The College of Engineering and the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, announced the Investiture of Professor Yuanhui Zhang as the Innoventor Professor in Engineering. The ceremony was held at 4:00 p.m. on Friday, March 4, 2011 at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications.

Dr. Zhang is a professor and Associate Department Head in the Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering at the U of I. He is also an affiliate professor in the Departments of Mechanical Science and Engineering, Bioengineering, and Civil and Environmental Engineering.

Dr. Zhang is internationally known for his innovative research in biomass conversion to energy. Zhang was the first researcher to develop a hydrothermal liquefaction (or HTL) reactor and process that converts 70 percent of swine manure into a crude oil. His work has been widely published in numerous prestigious scientific publications and featured in newspapers (the New York Times and the Chicago Tribune) and on television (Fox News, CNN, NBC, MSN and the BBC).

Dr. Zhang has also made major contributions to indoor air quality research. His team has developed and continued research on aerodynamic filter-less air cleaning; and three-dimensional, near-real-time volumetric particle tracking velocimetry (VPTV) for room air flow measurement and modeling.

Dr. Zhang is an active and highly motivated teacher. Fifteen Ph.D. students and 14 master's students have completed their degrees under his supervision, and he has written a 638-page textbook entitled Indoor Air Quality Engineering that is widely used in this area of engineering.

Dr Zhang has received numerous awards, including Fellow of American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air-conditioning Engineers; Henry Giese Structure and Environment Award from the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers; Bliss Faculty Scholar; and Everitt Teaching Excellence Award from the College of Engineering at the University of Illinois.

Although the apple genome has already been sequenced, it can still take years for an apple breeder to see the first actual piece of fruit on a tree. That's why University of Illinois plant molecular geneticist Schuyler Korban jumped at the chance to help sequence the genome of the woodland strawberry — a close relative of the apple that blooms in a mere 15 weeks, making his work much more efficient.

"The woodland strawberry is a good surrogate system for genetic studies of other fruits in the same Rosaceae family," said Korban. "With the complete genome sequence of the woodland strawberry in hand, we can use the strategy of comparative genomics to investigate similarities and/or differences between strawberry and apple or strawberry and peach, among others, to learn more about genes involved in various traits, such as fruiting and fruit quality. We can also use the strawberry to do functional genomic studies. It also provides us with a larger tool box to do more targeted breeding.

"The woodland strawberry genome can be compared side-by-side with the already sequenced genome of the apple to identify genes that control certain traits such as flavor, nutritional composition, and flowering time," Korban said.

The woodland strawberry, Fragaria vesca, or F. vesca, becomes the second smallest plant genome to be sequenced. The smallest plant genome sequenced is that of Arabidopsis.

"Arabidopsis is used a lot as a model plant species for pursuing genetic and physiological studies because you can get results very quickly, but it produces pods, called siliques, rather than fruit," Korban said. "I wanted a fruit model system so that I can evaluate the function of apple genes that control various fruit traits such as those for flavor, texture, aroma, and other characteristics in a short period of time, and strawberry is a great model to pursue such studies."

The cultivated variety of the strawberry has not been sequenced yet. And although it may seem like an obvious choice, Korban explained the difficulties. "The reason we chose the woodland strawberry is because it is a diploid, that is, it has two sets of chromosomes, whereas the garden or cultivated strawberry is an octoploid with eight sets of chromosomes so it's much more difficult to sequence."

"The genome of woodland strawberry (Fragaria vesca)" was published in the February 2011 issue of Nature Genetics.

"This was a large project," Korban said. "And one thing that made it unique is that we did not have a large grant from any one funding source. It started out with Vladimir Shulaev, who at the time was at Virginia Tech, asking me and other fellow scientists if they were interested in participating and contributing to this project. Shulaev and Kevin Folta, of the University of Florida, rallied the community. We wound up with 75 investigators at 38 institutions, each contributing different skills and expertise, and some providing small amounts of funds to the project."

Another aspect that made this project interesting, according to Korban, is that the sequencing was done using what is called "short-reads" or short fragments of the strawberry genome.

"We actually used three different technologies that all produced short-reads of the sequence," Korban said. "Previous genomes were sequenced using a combination of long-reads and short-reads." The short-reads are difficult to assemble—like stitching together a series of photos to create one panoramic view.

"After the fragments are strung together, you anchor them against the chromosomes—the genetic map of the strawberry—to make sure that that they are in the correct order." Korban said that this "short-read" approach was used to save money, but, also it was a way to create partnerships with sequencing companies that expressed an interest in the project and wanted to provide in-kind support."

Korban said that by knowing genes, their structure and function, researchers can control and/or regulate how these genes are expressed in a plant.

"If one fruit has a higher sugar-acid ratio, for example, we can focus on the gene(s) that produce this variation." He said that this information will help the strawberry industry develop a better strawberry that can ultimately be delivered to the consumer. Also, this will help in improving the apple as well, as we will acquire valuable information on how apple genes function and then use this information to develop apples having a variety of desirable characteristics.

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When soybean rust first appeared in the United States in late 2004, many producers feared devastating yield losses similar to losses experienced in other parts of the world. In response to this threat, researchers have been evaluating USDA soybean germplasm accessions for resistance to this fungus, and a recent report in Crop Science identifies some of these resistant sources.

"Our goal was to determine which of the soybean germplasm accessions were resistant in the United States and whether they were resistant throughout the southern United States," explained David Walker, USDA-ARS scientist and assistant professor in the U of I Department of Crop Sciences. "Early on, we didn't know anything about the uniformity of the fungus populations in the mid-southern and southeastern states. It's tricky because the threat of this fungus is very dependent on weather conditions."

For example, Walker said this fungus reproduces more rapidly when temperatures are moderate and where there's abundant rainfall and heavy dew, causing spores to germinate and infect plants. The spores can move by wind and travel hundreds of miles to start a new infection, making it hard to contain.

This concern prompted field evaluations of 576 accessions from the USDA Soybean Germplasm Collection for resistance to soybean rust at seven locations in the southern United States between 2006 and 2010. Accessions were rated for disease severity in all year-location environments, and for disease incidence, fungal sporulation, lesion type, and/or uredinia density in certain environments. The Crop Science article reports the results of the 2006-2008 tests.

"While none of the accessions were immune in all environments, 64 were resistant in two or more locations each year that they were tested," Walker said. "In addition, some appeared to be more resistant in certain environments than in others."

Walker's team also included Randy Nelson and Glen Hartman of the USDA-ARS and the U of I Department of Crop Sciences, as well as collaborators from universities in Louisiana, Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina. The researchers discovered that only a subset of the soybean germplasm accessions that were resistant in South America or Africa (where soybean rust has the potential to cause up to 80 percent yield loss in some years) were resistant in the southern United States.

"The Rpp1 and Rpp3 resistance genes were found to be more effective in the United States, whereas the Rpp2 and Rpp4 genes were found to be more effective in South America," Walker said. "Nearly all of the soybean accessions that were found to be resistant to soybean rust in the United States were originally collected from southern Japan, northern Vietnam, or the island of Java (Indonesia)."

This suggests that the Brazil populations of soybean rust aren't the ancestors of the rust brought into the United States, he said. Many believed an October 2004 hurricane brought the spores from Central America or northern South America across the Gulf into the southern United States.

"It's possible it happened that way, but it seems less likely now," Walker said. "It's still a mystery how these spores got into the United States. Regardless, the soybean germplasm accessions that are resistant in South America are not necessarily resistant in the United States."

These discoveries have allowed soybean breeders to develop improved breeding lines that combine the resistance of Asian germplasm accessions with the higher yields and important agronomic traits of North American cultivars, Walker said. These lines are now being tested in the United States but are not in the public sector yet.

"It's difficult to transfer useful genes from Asian soybean types because the useful genes are often genetically linked to genes that cause problems with yield such as shattering, lodging and other undesirable traits," he said. "It takes time to transfer a piece of DNA that has a useful gene into a breeding line or cultivar adapted to the United States, then breed long enough to get rid of the undesirable genes that are linked to the useful one. We are trying to isolate the resistance genes without the undesirable genes from the same chromosome."

Currently, two cultivars are being grown in Brazil that have rust resistance, he said. Several more are under development.

"If soybean rust becomes more of a problem in the United States, we have a head start on it," Walker said. "We already have resistance in improved genetic backgrounds, so it can now be transferred more quickly into the top cultivars at any particular time."

In addition to developing rust-resistant breeding lines that are agronomically competitive, and would therefore be useful to both public- and private-sector breeders, Walker said they are interested in mapping rust resistance genes and other useful genes that are segregated in the same populations.

"Evaluation of USDA Soybean Germplasm Accessions for Resistance to Soybean Rust in the Southern United States" appeared in the March-April issue of the journal Crop Science. This research was supported by the USDA-ARS and the United Soybean Board. Researchers include D.R. Walker, H.R. Boerma, D.V. Phillips, R.W. Schneider, J.B. Buckley, E.R. Shipe, J.D. Mueller, D.B. Weaver, E.J. Sikora, S.H. Moore, G.L. Hartman, M.R. Miles, D.K. Harris, D.L. Wright, J.J. Marois, and R.L. Nelson.

Digital photos available for three months at http://www.aces.uiuc.edu/news/News_Photos/SoybeanRust

The Department of Crop Sciences in the University of Illinois College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences (ACES) is part of a multidisciplinary team representing 18 institutions that has been awarded a $9.28 million grant from the USDA's National Institute of Food and Agriculture.

This team, led by scientists at the Virginia Bioinformatics Institute and Virginia Tech's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, is focused on developing new disease management technologies to improve the sustainability of soybean production.

Extension specialists, economists and biologists will work together to establish relationships with soybean farmers and crop production and research consultants to ensure the technologies are meeting their needs and to measure potential economic value. The research activities will focus specifically on oomycete pathogens of soybean, including Phytophthora sojae and Pythium species. These pathogens, which often cause seedling blights and root rot, result in an estimated $300 million in annual yield loss for U.S. farmers.

Carl Bradley, U of I professor of plant pathology and Extension plant pathologist in the Department of Crop Sciences, said, "Our role at the U of I is to get a better grasp on which Pythium species are affecting soybean plants in Illinois. We know that Pythium species cause seedling blight and root rot of soybean in the state, but we have limited knowledge on which species, in particular, are the main culprits. We are also interested in learning more about the diversity and prevalence of Phytophthora and Pythium pathogens affecting Illinois soybean crops."

Bradley said this research will benefit Illinois soybean producers and help develop better management practices from a greater understanding of these pathogens.

"The main goal of this project is to improve the sustainability of crop production by mitigating several major diseases," said Virginia Bioinformatics Institute Professor Brett Tyler, who serves as the project's principal investigator. "This will benefit small farmers as well as larger commercial producers, and will strengthen our nation's food security system by keeping food prices down."

Despite the tragedy in Japan, Illinois 4-H will continue the long-standing tradition of providing homestay opportunities for Japanese youth and their adult chaperones this summer through the 4-H Japanese Exchange.

This year, the 4-H-Japanese Summer Exchange will provide a language immersion experience for 57 Japanese youth ages 12 to 15 to experience an English-speaking culture on a daily basis. These youth are members of Labo and LEX language acquisition programs in Japan where English is studied and practiced.

Illinois 4-H is looking for families with children between the ages of 11 and 16 to host a Japanese child for four weeks this summer. Interested families do not have to be involved in 4-H to host, but should be willing to open their homes to a visiting child.

The program is open to families who have a child close in age to the Japanese youth. One Japanese visitor will be matched to a family based on the host sibling's gender, age and interests.

There are also opportunities to host adult chaperones for 2 to 4 weeks. Families who host chaperones are not required to have children in the home.

Japanese families involved in the language programs recognize the value such programs offer their children. Like American families, Japanese families see our world becoming more global and look for ways to expose their children to different cultures.

The 4-H Japanese exchange is scheduled for July 21 to August 19. Illinois 4-H hopes to have all participants placed by April 15.

Families interested in hosting can contact Miriam Rosenbohm at rosenbohm07@comcast.net, Sue Herren at sherren@peaknet.net or their local University of Illinois Extension office. Host family application materials are available at http://web.extension.illinois.edu/state4h/members/international.cfm.

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Illinois grape growers are invited to Lazy L Grape Ranch near Mechanicsburg on May 14 at 10 a.m. for a workshop on early season canopy management and vineyard nutrition.

Brad Taylor of Southern Illinois University and Elizabeth Wahle of U of I Extension will discuss major practices, including shoot thinning and positioning and cluster thinning and leaf removal, vineyard floor management, and petiole sampling.

Registration fees will be taken at the door beginning at 9:30 a.m. The cost is $20 for individual IGGVA members or $30 per vineyard or non-IGGVA member. Lunch is included.

The vineyard, owned by Brad Lindquist, is located east of Springfield, just south of Mechanicsburg. From I-72, take the Mechanicsburg Exit (#114) into Mechanicsburg. As you come into town, turn left (east) onto West Main Street, then right onto South Church Street, which turns into Roby Road. Continue south past Darnell Road and turn left (east) onto Moomey Road. The vineyard will be on the right (south) and visible from the road.

For more details or if disability accommodations are required, contact Elizabeth Wahle at 618-692-9434 x-21 or email at wahle@illinois.edu.

The next grape grower workshop will take place on July 30 at the Willow Ridge Vineyards and Winery near Shelbyville.