Big grant for more research on bioherbicide for cheatgrass in rangeland

Farm and Ranch April 20, 2009 Scientists and land managers in Washington and Oregon have received a five-year, $500,000 grant from The Nature Conservancy to field test a bacteria that may give land managers a new tool to suppress cheatgrass and restore degraded rangeland. Cheatgrass is an invasive annual weed that infests an estimated 50 million acres of rangeland in West and in the summer provides a continuous layer of fuel for wildfires. Ann Kennedy, USDA-Agricultural Research Service Soil Scientist and adjunct professor at Washington State University, discovered the bacteria, Pseudomonas fluorescens strain D7, that selectively inhibits cheatgrass. Kennedy says researchers know the biocontrol agent works in Washington. Kennedy: "We really don't have any idea of how well this bioherbicide will work in other areas of the western United States and so that is the reason for this work and this funding and we are pretty excited about it all." And if the five-year study shows positive results; Kennedy: "Right now we have Northwest Ag Products in Pasco, Washington has been working on marketing and scaling up the production of these type of bacteria for the control of cheatgrass. So, yes if we can get this to work on a large scale in rangeland then we can go scale up and get it out for the public." Partnering with The Nature Conservancy on the project are researcher Tami Stubbs of WSU and Tony Svejcar USDA-ARS rangeland scientist in Burns, Oregon. I'm Bob Hoff and that's the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report on the Northwest Ag Information Network.