Research Roundup: September 13, 2016

UF researchers discover way to study low-dose chemicals in water

By Cecilia Lemus, Contributing Writer

UF researchers have found a new way to analyze low doses of pharmaceuticals and personal care products in bodies of water.

Over the past two years, researchers in the Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences tested levels of light intensity affecting different types of pharmaceutical pollutants in a freshwater environment created in their lab, said Rafael Muñoz-Carpena, a professor in UF’s Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, who led the study, published Sept. 7. Antibiotics, caffeine, nicotine and ibuprofen were among the 16 pharmaceuticals tested.

The study can help researchers understand how chemicals affect aquatic life, he said.

“Things that stress the organisms are present always, such as light and temperature,” he said. “So we used light as one of those environmental stressors.”

Past studies have tested the chemicals in high doses but have disregarded the impact of low concentrations, Muñoz-Carpena said. With this study, researchers will be able to better understand how combinations of chemicals, even at low doses, affect the environment.

---

UF researchers win award for hops study, expand program

By Romy Ellenbogen, Contributing Writer

A team of UF researchers has garnered attention from horticulturists, craft brewers and beer enthusiasts alike for their research on hops.

Brian Pearson, a UF assistant professor of environmental horticulture, has spent the past year studying how hops, a plant sensitive to varying amounts of daylight exposure, grows in Florida. The plant has grown here since 2012.

His research on alternative crop systems, including the hops study, won third place at the Early Career Awards from the American Society of Horticultural Sciences.

Pearson and his fellow researchers received a grant in the Spring, which allowed them to expand from a study of 60 hops plants to nearly 500 plants.

The project’s goal is to discover which strains of hops will thrive in Florida’s climate, since most hops grow further north. The researchers will also look at unique qualities of the local hops, Pearson said. Some of the strains have shown high essential oils, indicating a different flavor profile found only in locally-grown crops. The flavor aspect has caught the attention of home brewers, like Pearson himself.

“We’ve got an amazing — almost overwhelming — amount of people that have been following this, and it’s been a really fun, exciting program,” Pearson said.

---

Type of sweet potato found as an alternative source for fuel

By Jimena Tavel, Contributing Writer

Two UF researchers have discovered a certain type of sweet potato that can serve as an alternative source for fuel and animal food.

Ann Wilkie, a professor in the Soil and Water Sciences Department at the UF Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, and her post-doctoral researcher, Wendy Mussoline, conducted the two-yearlong study and found that different parts of a sweet potato can be used for biofuel or food.

CX-1 is an industrial sweet potato variety. The CX-1 sweet potato vines, or above-the-ground part of the sweet potato, can be used as a source for fuel ethanol. The vegetable’s levels of starch, higher than the regular sweet potatoes that people eat, allows it to be used for bioethanol. The roots can also be used to feed animals.

“I’m thinking of it in terms of efficient agriculture — feed and fuel from one crop,” Wilkie said.

The dual-purpose use of the CX-1 sweet potato makes it a more sustainable and land-use efficient crop, she said.

“I think it could help in many fronts,” Wilkie said. “The most important thing to think about is fossil fuels will be depleted at one point in the future. They will all run out and the time to develop alternatives is now.”