Abstract: A sectioning method is described for accurately and objectively classifying individual wheat kernels as hard or soft wheat. A kernel is cut to obtain a section having a thickness in the range of about 1.3 to 4.8 microns; if the section remains intact, the kernel is classified as hard, and if the section does not remain intact, the kernel is classified as soft. The method finds particular use for detection of lots of wheat where hard and soft varieties have been intermixed and for classifying breeding selections.

Abstract: Hybrid cell lines (hybridomas) which produce and secrete high affinity monoclonal antibodies specific for Bowman-Birk inhibitor (BBI) are described. High affinity antibodies to BBI are described that have one or more of the following additional characteristics: (1) they are specific to the active form of BBI, that is, they react and bind with undenatured BBI, but do not bind with BBI which has been denatured by heat or disulfide exchange; (2) they do not react and bind with KTI; (3) they distinguish classical BBI from other BBI's including lima bean protease inhibitor; and (4) they bind BBI-protease complex, e.g., BBI-chymotrypsin. Immunoassay methods using the monoclonal antibodies to analyze BBI specifically in plant, animal or human tissue or fluid or foodstuffs and techniques for immunoaffinity binding of BBI are described.

Abstract: A method for screening bacteria to select strains which inhibit the weed downy brome in small grain crops under field conditions and method for field application of the bacteria to inhibit downy brome in small grain crops in a commercial setting are described. Three Pseudomonas strains initially determined as non-fluorescent which passed the screen test are disclosed.

Abstract: A potent, stable virus composition useful for protecting agricultural commodities from insects and a simple, efficient, economical and labor-saving method to produce and formulate large quantities of the virus composition are described. The method is particularly useful to prepare nuclear polyhedrosis virus or granulosis virus compositions for control of postharvest pests such as the Indianmeal moth.

Abstract: A method for coating substrates, including high moisture substrates and substrates having high moisture at the surface, with emulsions or suspensions of a water-soluble protein material and hydrophobic material. By adjusting the pH of the protein material in the emulsion or suspension to its isoelectric point in situ, that is, when the emulsion or suspension is in contact with the substrate, the protective properties of the resulting film are improved. Substrates coated by the method showed greatly reduced moisture loss. The method provides a way to form stable films on substrates having moist surfaces. The method is particularly useful to protectively coat agricultural products, including edible high moisture products, which are subject to deterioration from moisture loss, respiration or oxidation.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for monitoring and controlling the papaya fruit fly are described. The novel system is a combination of the male papaya fruit fly sex pheromone, 2-methyl-6-vinyl-pyrazine, and a fruit mimic.

Abstract: The novel sesquiterpene epoxides trans-(Z)-1-methyl-4-(1,5-dimethyl-1,4-hexadienyl)-1,2-epoxycyclohexane and cis-(z)-1-methyl-4-(1,5-dimethyl-1,4-hexadienyl)-1,2-expoxycyclohexane have been isolated from N. viridula adult males, and have been successfully synthesized. The compounds are useful for the production of synthetic sex attractants for N. viridula and its parasitoids.

Abstract: A method is disclosed for producing 3-hydroxypropionaldehyde (3-HPA) from glycerol by culturing the bacterium Klebsiella pneumoniae having the identifying characteristics of NRRL B-4011, under aerobic conditions, in an aqueous nutrient medium containing glycerol and a compound that causes 3-HPA to be accumulated by blocking the conversion of 3-HPA to trimethylene glycol. This process is particularly useful for the production, from renewable resources, of acrylic acid, an industrially important plymerizable monomer used in the manufacture of synthetic polymers and plastics and which is presently derived from fossil fuel sources.

Abstract: Hybrid cell lines (hybridomas) which produce and secrete monoclonal antibodies with three distinct patterns of recognition are described. The first specificity pattern is defined by antibodies which (1) recognize Kunitz trypsin inhibitor (KTI), one of the principal protease inhibitors found in soybeans, but do not detect the Bowman-Birk inhibitors (BBI), the other major class of protease inhibitors in soybeans; (2) bind to native KTI isoforms a and b but do not react with KTI isoforms a and b which have been denatured by moist heat or alkaline treatment or which have been subjected to disulfide exchange; and (3) do not recognize native KTI isoform c.

Abstract: Novel sex attractant compositions for the adult male pink bollworm or pinkspotted bollworm containing an unnatural ratio of Z,Z- and Z,E-isomers of 7,11-hexadecadien-1-ol acetate and use thereof are described. In the method of the invention, the novel unnatural attractant compositions are applied to fields treated with the Z,Z- or Z,E-isomer of 7,11-hexadecadien-1-ol acetate. This causes the preference of the males to be shifted away from the ratio of the isomers in the pheromone emitted by the female of the species and to the unnatural attractant compositions.

Abstract: High yields of glycolic and oxalic acids, as well as good yields of lactic, formic, and acetic acids are produced from polysaccharide-containing materials by reacting the materials in a concentrated alkaline solution at elevated temperatures.

Abstract: Certain cyclohexyl and cyclohexenyl aliphatic alcohols and ketones are potent attractants for Dacus latifrons, the Malaysian fruit fly. By attracting adult males to field traps, the compounds provide a means for detecting, monitoring, and controlling this agricultural pest.

Abstract: Hybrid cell lines which secret monoclonal antibody which is group-specific to bluetongue virus (BTV) antigen and which does not react to antigenically related epizootic hemorrhagic disease virus antigen are disclosed. The antibodies identify BTV in infected cell cultures with immunofluorescence and provide a means for ready diagnosis of BTV in animals.

Abstract: A pheromonal compound produced by the banded cucumber beetle has been identified as 6,12-dimethylpentadecan-2-one. Both the synthetically prepared racemic compound and the purified natural pheromone elicited responses by banded cucumber males in field tests. By attracting adult beetles to field traps, this compound is a useful tool for the monitoring and controlling of this major agricultural pest.

Abstract: Immobilized enzyme-polysaccharide graft copolymer products are prepared by hydrolyzing a polysaccharide graft copolymer and then contacting the hydrolyzed copolymer with an enzyme to immobilize the enzyme on the copolymer. The copolymer-enzyme products retain large quantities of active enzyme, and activity of the enzyme is retained over long periods of use. In the case of glucoamylase immobilized in accordance with the method of the invention, improved yield of glucose from starch is obtained.

Abstract: A strain of yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae has been developed which, when grown under defined culture conditions, will produce protein indistinguishable from wheat gluten protein. This new yeast strain was developed by introducing a specially constructed autonomously replicating extrachromosomal genetic element, gluten plasmid pAY31, into the parent yeast strain. This plasmid is a circular DNA molecule, constructed by enzymic fusion of the following elements: (1) the E.

Abstract: A method of increasing plant biomass, individual plant constituents, and in most cases, increasing rate of plant growth, by the application of certain substituted phenoxytrialkylamines, substituted phenylthiotrialkyamines or dialkylmorpholium halides to plants at very early stages of development and in very low amounts.

Abstract: An apparatus and method are described which allow for placement of fertilizer at an optimum separation distance below seed at the time of seeding with a minimum of soil disturbance so that the creation of high ridges adjacent to the seed row is avoided. The apparatus includes a narrow first furrow opener for opening a narrow furrow for fertilizer; a wider second furrow opener attached to the first furrow opener for opening a seed furrow above the first furrow simultaneously in time and at a slightly differential position; a feed tube attached to the trailing edge of the first furrow opener for feeding fertilizer into the fertilizer furrow as it is opened, and a seed deflector for deflecting seeds rearward so that they do not fall into the seed furrow before the fertilizer furrow is filled with soil. The device can be used with existing implement shanks such as a grain drill opener shank.

Abstract: A method for obtaining a purified fraction from a mixture using a magnetic fluid wherein the mixture is contacted with the magnetic fluid to preferentially sorb the fluid onto selected components so they become magnetized and the magnetic components in the so-contacted mixture are separated from the nonmagnetic components by passing the mixture through a magnetic field. The method finds particular use for obtaining a purified sample of crop seed from a mixture of crop seed and soil of the same size and texture and for separating nut shells from nutmeats.

Abstract: Fruit and vegetable commodities subject to infestation by quarantine pests are disinfested so as to meet quarantine restrictions without adversely affecting the quality of the commodity. The method involves heating the commodity in hot air having a relative humidity of 30-80% until the temperature of the commodity exceeds the thermal death point temperature of the target pest but is not so high as to adversely affect commodity quality. The temperature is held at this temperature until the pest is killed. The method is effective against all life stages of quarantine pests and is suitable for large-scale commercial disinfestation of commodities for movement throught marketing channels, for example, for disinfestation of papayas of tephritid fruit flies such as the Mediterranean fruit fly, the melon fly, and the oriental fruit fly.