North Carolina A&T State University

School of Agriculture and

Environmental Sciences

Newsletter

August 2003 • Vol. III, No.3Preparing. Finding. Implementing solutions.

onthemovePlant Biotechnology Hits the High Road

onthemove

• Extension specialists bring

home accolades from Atlanta

• Small Farm Field Day

draws crowd to A&T farm

inside

Dr. Guochen Yang explains his use of the in vitro plant culture process to Extension

agents Jeff Vance and Stanley Holloway of the Mitchell and Yancey County Extension Centers.

Extension agents and othershoping to build a horticultureindustry around the nativeplants of western NorthCarolina are turning to plantbiotechnology researchers at SAES for advice and inspiration.

Yancey County Agricul-tural Technician Claude Deytonand other movers and shakers in the effort recently toured Dr. Guochen Yang’s laboratoryto observe in vitro plant culture.Among them were administra-tors of the nonprofit organiza-tion, Energy Xchange, also of Yancey County, and repre-sentatives from the MountainHorticulture Crops andResearch Station in Fletcher.

Energy Xchange is explor-ing the feasibility of building asmall-scale tissue culture lab for production of wild azaleas.Deyton and farmers, meanwhile,are interested in the economic

potential of galax, a green perennial popular with floristsas a filler. High demand fromthe export floral industry hasprompted a keen interest indomesticating the plant, whichcan sell for as much as $110 fora box of 5,000 leaves. But theslow-growing plant is fussyabout where it takes root, andover harvesting has put a strainon the resource. That’s wherelaboratory research comes in.Yang’s goal is to develop proto-cols for propagating galax tomake for a more reliable crop,though he cautions that hisresearch on the plant is still“very preliminary.” He and Dr. Carl Niedziedla last yearbegan collaborating withDeyton, who has been workingseveral years on the effort, andnow has 16 field studies underway to experiment with differ-ent soil amendments, organicmatter and shade cloth.

“What we’re looking for isto see if we can, through a com-bination of tissue culture or fieldstudies, develop the large-leafgalax, and put it into a domesticsituation to supplement or evenbe the primary source of incomefor the limited resource farmersin our region,” Deyton said. “If it weren’t for all these peopleworking together, we would nothave gotten this far.”

Plant biotechnology — a science that Yang jokinglyrefers to as “plant parenthood”— is giving farmers and thefood industry methods for rapidly propagating plants,improving disease resistance incrops, or extracting health-pro-moting compounds. In additionto his work with galax, Yang is developing other technology,including protocols for produc-ing disease-resistant chestnuts,rapid-growing pearlbush plants,and phytochemicals from guava.

Dr. T’s Moment

Farmers know that without proper cultivation there is no harvest. If youdon’t plant the seed properly, makesure to add fertilizer and keep theweeds back, your crop will be subpar if it grows at all.

It’s the same with education. A&T is in the business of preparingcollege students. But we’d be remiss if we didn’t do our part to make surethose students are ready for college.

This summer, SAES has had several opportunities to help our secondary education colleagues.

First, 19 high school studentsspent four weeks in our annualResearch Apprenticeship Program(RAP). Each student was paired with a researcher to get a feel for whatresearch is like. The students completed a research project and presented their findings.

Sponsored by the North CarolinaFarm Bureau, SAES hosted theInstitute of Future AgriculturalLeaders for 26 high school juniorsand seniors. In this one-week residential program, emphasis was placed on career opportunitiesin the food, agricultural and environmental sciences, emergingtechnologies, citizenship and leadership development.

SAES also hosted a daylong session for about 60 of the state’s vocational education teachers. Briggs and Stratton provided training on small-engine repair and gave each teacher a smallengine.

Our faculty was also involved in a science teacher’s workshop held at Hairston Middle School in Greensboro and some of ourbiotechnology faculty worked with a biotechnology 4-H camp.

As a land-grant university, wehave a mission to extend learningbeyond the campus. In SAES wetake this mission seriously.

— Dr. Alton Thompson, Dean

For most high school students,summer means time to kick back and relax, but for those who participated in the 23rdannual Research ApprenticeshipProgram (RAP), it meant time to gear up and get down to business.

Participants spent fourweeks probing DNA, practicingplant biotechnology, studyingonline shopping behavior, or surveying consumer attitudesabout GMO foods. Others

helped in developing nutri-ceuticals, studying omega-3 fatcontent in eggs, evaluating weaning fences, improving the quality of cheddar cheese, or comparing tillage methodsagainst crop yields.

In her opening remarks on June 18, Associate Dean for Research Dr. Carolyn Turner predicted, “You will notbe the same person four weeksfrom now that you are today.”So, by the time they wrapped

up business on July 23, was her hypothesis proven correct? Most definitely, said participants.

“This program has reallyhelped me better myself, not only educationally but socially,”said Marcus Bass of Clinton,whose RAP experience involvedevaluating multimedia technolo-gy used in agricultural instruc-tion. “It also helped me appreci-ate the diversity of agriculture,”he added.

“Yes, I feel like I havechanged,” said Kendra Lash of Walnut Cove, “Plus, I’venever gotten to work in sciencebefore, so I had fun doing it.”Lash researched packaging systems for extending the shelf life of foods, including shiitake mushrooms, a popularalternative crop for downsizedtobacco farmers in NorthCarolina.

But RAP was not just allwork and no play. Activities and

on the move

Research apprentice Torrie Cropps

of Greensboro takes a look at the

work of another RAP participant,

Bryce Carter of Elizabethtown.

Research Apprentice Program produces scientists, scholars and summer fun

Dr. Jianmei Yu and research

apprentice Keyonica Lassiter

of Scotland Neck take a

scientific look at peanuts.

Preparing. Finding. Implementing solutions.

Members of the Cooperative Extension

Program at N.C. A&T State University

were honored for developing programs

that make communities safer and more

productive, during a national conference

in Atlanta June 22-26.

Five of 18 Innovative Program

Awards presented during the Association

of Extension Administrators’ National

Conference went to A&T specialists and

program assistants. The A&T winners are:

Dr. Claudette L. Smith (two awards),

for developing Share Yourself, a program

that recruits and trains community

volunteers to mentor job-seeking

welfare recipients. Smith also won for

N.C. Saves, developed to help people

adopt financially-sound household

management practices.

Dr. Shirley McNeill, for using the

nationally-developed Mini-Society

program to teach youth in public-housing

communities about government, law,

ethics, economics and entrepreneurship.

Dr. Robert D. Williamson and

Dr. Ellen P. Smoak for developing a

tool kit to better educate adults with

low-literacy skills about water quality.

The program is called Water: Assessing

The Everyday Risks — Just Use Good

Sense, or WATER JUGS.

Dr. Daniel D. Lyons, Dr. Francis Walson

and Ms. Marcie Joyner for a program

that bridges the digital divide for farm

families, through Farmers Adopting

Computer Training (FACT).

The Association of 1890 Extension

Administrators comprises 18 land-grant

universities in 17 states, spreading from

Oklahoma and Texas in the Southwest,

down through the Deep South, and up

the Eastern Seaboard through Delaware.

Dr. Ray McKinnie, associate dean and

administrator of the Cooperative

Extension Program at A&T, was one of

three chairmen for the AEA conference.

This year’s gathering — attended by a

record-setting 420 participants —

marked the first time since 1998 that

1890 Extension staffs had assembled

en masse.

faculty & staff notes

FIELD OF DREAMS (far left) Dr. Keith Baldwin, who coordinated

the second annual Small Farm Field Day, strides through a field of

rudbeckia and snap dragons. It was actually Baldwin’s demonstration

on no-till vegetable production — which increases the organic matter

in soil — that was a focus of Small Farm Field Day, but the flowers

that were part of Baldwin’s spring demonstration still got their

share of attention.

NOTHING FISHY ABOUT THE BENEFITS OF TILAPIA (middle)

Cooperative Extension Program specialist Dr. Jimo Ibrahim used

Small Farm Field Day to demonstrate that the African-indigenous

tilapia are easily adapted to indoor-tank systems in North Carolina.

Tilapia breed easily in captivity, make them an ideal choice for cash-

ing in on the $1 billion aquaculture industry in the United States.

IF YOU CAN’T STAND THE HEAT, GROW CROPS IN THE KITCHEN

(left) Marsha McGraw and Dr. Marihelen Glass (in hat) tell listeners

at the Small Farm Field Day how to grow “kitchen crops” using ordi-

nary household tools and garden equipment for micropropagation.

field trips provided partici-pants time to socialize andget acquainted with theAggie lifestyle.

In addition to gettingstudents interested in sci-ence careers, the programalso serves to encourage top-notch students to apply at A&T. The enrollment rate of RAPstudents is approximately83 percent — a testimonyto the quality of the Aggie

experience, says AzellReeves, coordinator of the program. Competitionis keen for RAP slots. More than 200 appliedfrom across the country,and just 19 were selected.

RAP has been boosting the confidence and shaping the future for participants since itbegan in 1980.

Dr. Daryl Ragland, a veterinarian and swine

researcher at PurdueUniversity, credits the program with launchinghim on his career in animalscience.

“I had no animal background, and in fact I even had an animal phobia to overcome. After having gone throughthe program, I got my confidence up, and went on to major in lab animalsciences at A&T,” he said.

Kevin Jenkins of Dudley

High in Greensboro

discusses his research

project with Dr. Marcus

Comer at the 2003 RAP

poster presentation.

One of this past summer’s

research apprentices,

Virginia Blue of Dunn,

examines a blood sample

as part of a project with

Dr. Milli Worku.

________________ PRSRT STD________________

US Postage PAID________________ PERMIT NO. G-268 ________________

Greensboro, NC________________

on the moveNorth Carolina A&T State University School ofAgriculture and Environmental Sciences NewsletterProduced by the Agricultural Communications Unit

Dr. James C. Renick, ChancellorDr. Alton Thompson, Dean, School of

Agriculture and Enivronmental SciencesDr. M. Ray McKinnie, Associate Dean,

Administrator Cooperative Extension ProgramDr. Carolyn Turner, Associate Dean,

Agricultural Research StationDr. Donald McDowell, Associate Dean,

Academic Programs

North Carolina A&T State University is committed toequality of educational opportunity and does not dis-criminate against applicants, students, or employeesbased on race, color, national origin, religion, gender,age, or disability. Moreover, North Carolina A&T StateUniversity is open to all people of all races and activelyseeks to promote racial integration by recruiting andenrolling a large number of white students. Send change of address and correspondence to:

on the move Newsletter EditorAgricultural Research Program CH Moore Agricultural Research StationGreensboro, NC 27411

7,000 copies of this public document were printed on recycled paper at a cost of $1,059.00 or $0.15 per copy.

Distributed in futherance of the acts of Congress ofMay 8 and June 30, 1914. Employment and programopportunities are open to all people regardless of race, color, national origin, sex, age or disability. North Carolina A&T State University, North CarolinaUniversity, US Department of Agriculture and localgovernments cooperating.

Dean Forbes, an undergraduate assistant in the Department of

Natural Resources and Environmental Design, performs maintenance

on one of the constructed wetlands at the university farm. In an effort

to find alternatives to animal waste lagoons, SAES natural resources

scientists are researching the effectiveness of constructed wetlands

in removing nitrogen and phosphorus pollutants from hog waste.

flip sideflip side www.ag.ncat.eduwww.ag.ncat.edu