Latest News

• share
• favorite_border

The interaction between animals and humans secures the continuous demand for practicing veterinarians, and the fewer veterinarians we have, the larger potential for catastrophic disease. But, newly practicing veterinarians are facing financial struggles today, due to high student loan debt and low starting salaries. Additionally, experts say some rural areas are in need of veterinarians but do not have enough animals to financially support a full-veterinarian for that particular area.

• share
• favorite_border

A patent-pending technology at Kansas State University has built resistance to certain viruses in wheat plants. These viruses can be an economic drain to wheat farmers by costing them 5 to 10 percent or more in yield reductions per crop. Although the technology involves genetic engineering, which is not an option for wheat in today's market, the research has extended to building this resistance in non-genetically engineered wheat lines as well.

• share
• favorite_border

Knowing that their county had rank toward the bottom of healthy counties in Kansas, citizens got together to enhance access to more healthy foods, specifically produce. Now a rural grocer partners with a local farmers' market to provide more fresh produce to people and promises to buy leftover produce from market night to sell in his store.

• share
• favorite_border

Ticks can be a problem year-round, but they pose the most threat in warmer summer months. These disease carriers could be harmful to humans and pets alike. A veterinarian and renowned tick expert explains common myths about ticks and how people can protect themselves and their pets from the blood-sucking pests.

• share
• favorite_border

Researchers at Kansas State University in Olathe have found that four out of 10 bulk spices purchased in the Kansas City metro area contain contaminants that include heavy metals, mycotoxins and/or bacteria. Four bulk spices typically associated with salmonella contamination included black pepper, thyme, oregano and turmeric. Cooking bulk spices to at least 160 degrees can kill the bacteria; however, putting bulk spices on already prepared foods could contaminate the foods and lead to foodborne illness.

• share
• favorite_border

A research team at Kansas State University recently confirmed that insects, such as house flies and cockroaches, can carry antibiotic-resistant bacteria from places such as food animal farms and wastewater treatment facilities, and disseminate them to urban areas. The transmission could be a contributor to the increasing problem with human antibiotic resistance.

• share
• favorite_border

Warmer, spring weather has many of us getting out and becoming more active, and the brown recluse spider is no exception. Kansas State University scientists shared 10 facts about the somewhat small, shy spider.

• share
• favorite_border

The recent U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announcement, listing the lesser prairie chicken as a threatened species, brings to mind how agricultural producers, livestock ranchers and those with land enrolled in CRP could be affected.

• share
• favorite_border

Changing agricultural practices and ending food waste around the world are among recommendations made by scientists charged with looking at ways to mitigate global climate change. The scientists were authors who contributed to a report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

• share
• favorite_border

A recent nationwide online survey of U.S. consumers by Kansas State University found that freshness and safety were the most important values consumers placed on buying popular livestock products, including milk, ground beef, beef steak and chicken breast. Consumers felt environmental impact, animal welfare, origin and convenience were least important when making food purchasing decisions.

• share
• favorite_border

Sorry, boys. In the end, mothers favor daughters – at least when it comes to Holstein dairy cows and how much milk they produce for their offspring, according to a new study by Kansas State University and Harvard University researchers. The research may have implications for humans.

• share
• favorite_border

FDA-approved beta-agonists in cattle feed are widely used to help feedlot cattle efficiently produce more lean muscle, but one beta-agonist, Zilmax, was voluntarily suspended by its manufacturer due to animal welfare concerns. K-State researchers are looking into how heat stress and other environmental factors might play a role in this issue and affect cattle mobility and feed intake.

• share
• favorite_border

FDA-approved beta-agonists in cattle feed are widely used to help feedlot cattle efficiently produce more lean muscle, but one beta-agonist, Zilmax, was voluntarily suspended by its manufacturer due to animal welfare concerns. K-State researchers are looking into how heat stress and other environmental factors might play a role in this issue and affect cattle mobility and feed intake.

• share
• favorite_border

Kansas State University researchers are looking for new ways to fight malaria through mosquito control. In 2011, 1,925 malaria cases were reported in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). This number is the highest seen since 1971 and represents a 48 percent increase from 2008. The majority of malaria infections in the U.S. occur among people who have traveled to regions with malaria endemic.

• share
• favorite_border

Reading with your child is the key to building a child’s literacy skills. Emergent literacy begins at birth and continues through preschool and kindergarten. Learning is unbelievably powerful in early childhood development, according to Bradford Wiles, Kansas State University early childhood development assistant professor.

• share
• favorite_border

Wheat producers know that growing a healthy, high-yielding wheat crop takes skill and hard work. Quality drought-tolerant varieties that are resistant to pests and disease are important. And cooperation from Mother Nature in terms of temperature and precipitation doesn’t hurt, either. To quantify the impact of genetic improvement in wheat, disease and climate change over a 26-year period, a team of researchers at Kansas State University examined wheat variety yield data from Kansas performance tests, along with location-specific weather and disease data.

• share
• favorite_border

Thirty inmates at the Hutchinson Correctional Facility in Kansas have created the Garden for Good, a project that in 2012 allowed them to donate more than 6,700 pounds of produce and $2,500 to needy groups in their community. Prison officials say that the inmates receive training to become Extension Master Gardeners and earn credit toward good behavior, while the inmates say the project is helping them better themselves and make good with their community. The project is supported by Kansas State University and several local volunteers.

• share
• favorite_border

The word "inflammation" typically has a negative connotation. Arthritis ... infection ... numerous maladies come to mind. But a Kansas State University researcher found that inflammation that occurs naturally in dairy cows the first few days after giving birth may play a surprisingly beneficial role in the complex process of going from late pregnancy to lactation.

• share
• favorite_border

An increase in antibiotic resistant bacteria that cause pneumonia in cattle prompted scientists at the Kansas State University Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory to survey records of pneumonia (also called bovine respiratory disease or BRD) cases over a three-year period. They discovered that drug resistance in one of the primary pathogens that cause BRD, Mannheimia haemolytica, increased over the three-year period 2009 to 2011.

• share
• favorite_border

Like a stealthy enemy, blast disease invades rice crops around the world, killing plants and cutting production of one of the most important global food sources. Now, a study by an international team of researchers sheds light on how the rice blast fungus, Magnaporthe oryzae, invades plant tissue. The finding is a step toward learning how to control the disease, which by some estimates destroys enough rice to feed 60 million people annually.

• share
• favorite_border

Kansas State University researcher Bikram Gill is part of an international team of researchers that developed a physical map of wheat’s wild ancestor, Aegilops tauschii, commonly called goatgrass. It's the first huge step toward sequencing the wheat genome – a complete look at wheat’s genetic matter. The work, which has been published in the April 22 edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), showed among other things, that most resistance genes seem to lie at the ends of chromosomes and can be easily accessed. The findings can lead to breeding of more productive and sustainable wheat varieties.

• share
• favorite_border

Kansas State University agronomy researcher Mary Beth Kirkham found that elevated levels of carbon dioxide in the earth's atmosphere have an upside -- a reduced need for moisture in some important crops.

• share
• favorite_border

Thanks to wheat breeding programs like the one at Kansas State University, producers have ever-improving options of wheat varieties to plant. Whether it’s improved resistance or increased yields, wheat breeders are creating varieties that meet producers’ changing needs. Wheat breeding is partially responsible for yields more than doubling since the first Kansas wheat crop was planted in Johnson County in 1839. Kansas State University has released 42 wheat varieties, each a step forward in some capacity over previous varieties. The newest variety, ‘1863’ honors the founding of the university.

• share
• favorite_border

Learn how Kansas State University researchers are using spectral analysis to increase the efficiency of the soybean breeding line selection process. Spectral analysis, a method of analyzing the electromagnetic radiation coming from plants and other objects, is being used in the K-State Agronomy Department to determine the level of photosynthetic activity of vegetation in many different situations.

• share
• favorite_border

A specialist on aging and adult development shares observations about how Chinese families care for -- and interact with -- older adults.

• share
• favorite_border

Kansas State University researchers have developed a promising way to control Striga, a parasitic weed that robs yields in grain sorghum (milo) fields. Grain sorghum is a major source of food in African and other countries and a major source of livestock feed globally.

• share
• favorite_border

This news short offers tips for using garden and seed catalogs to spark children's interest in gardening, food, nutrition, health and the environment.

• share
• favorite_border

Kansas State University scientists have found that interfering with the salivary function of insects, in this case pea aphids, results in a shortened life span of the insect. The findings could lead to an understanding of how to breed pest resistance into important food crops.

• share
• favorite_border

Comprehensive feature story with tips for preparing a traditional Thanksgiving meal.