Today's top agribusiness headlines .
Researchers have two new viruses in their sights.
Vann Cleveland R esearchers are taking a close look at two previously unknown viruses that infect corn plants. The work is being done in a program run jointly by USDA and Ohio State University. The task is to track worldwide the emergence of new plant diseases and to alert breeders to them early on. If breeders know a new virus has been found and how to identify it, they can look more quickly for germ plasm resistant to it. It appears to infect the roots of the plant and causes severe dwarfing, says Peg Redinbaugh, a plant molecular biologist with the research program.