Sept.- Oct 1996, Michigan State Univ. Biotech and Wild Tobacco Wild tobacco possesses a natural defense that tomatoes, cotton, and other crops might be able to use. With the right genes from Nicotiana gossei , crop plants might make the same chemicals this wild plant manufactures to kill silverleaf whiteflies and other leaf-feeding pests. N. gossei , an Australian cousin of commercial tobacco, turns out several of the chemicals, including sucrose esters. The ester have killed whiteflies, aphids, spider mites, pear psyllas, and tobacco hornworms in ARS lab and field tests.
Scientists now seek to identify and isolate the genes responsible.
Sonoco earlier produced a red plastic mulch based on an ARS formula. ARS scientists found out why red mulch stimulates plant growth more than black mulch. Light waves reflected by the red make the plant respond as if it's being crowded. It puts more energy into above-ground growth, including fruit. Under a cooperative research and development agreement, scientists are testing red plastic mulch on tomatoes, strawberries, peppers, and other crops in Colorado, Kentucky, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and South Carolina.