Smyrna times., 1956-03-15

New Laboratory VIII Speed Use
OF Radioactive Tracer Material
For Farm Research at
University
If you run across a man with
a Geiger counter in remote Del
aware marsh this summer, he
probably won't be hunting for ur-
anium.
It's more likely he'll be one OF
the research men in a new mos
quito control research project for
the University of Delaware agri-
cultural experiment station. Hell
be listening for the clicking on
the Geiger counter which will
mean he's found a mosquito tag
ged with a radioactive isotope
from the University of Delaware's
newly-equipped laboratory for use
of radioactive tracer materials.
Work on the new laboratory has
just begun, reports DR.. G. Fred
Somers, associate dean of the
School of Agriculture at the Uni
versity. The new equipment for
storing and handling the radio
active materials is being placed
in laboratory in the greenhouses
behind Agricultural Hall at New
ark. He expects work on the lab
to be completed by June and says
it will bring a powerful new re-
search tool to bear on solving
many agricultural problems.
One of the first projects will be
on mosquito control, Somers re-
ports. Mosquito larvae will be
tagged with radioactive isotopes
and released in remote marshes.
Then, men with Geiger counters
will check the marshes every few
days to see how far they migrate.
From this knowledge it is expect
ed to develop better mosquito con-
troll programs. The experiments
will be conducted in cooperation
with fish and game organizations.
At present the University is
making limited use of radioactive
isotopes in a farm research pro-
ject designed to find out how
much of a chemical called maleic
hydrazide farmers can use on
their strawberry paintings. This
chemical, when used at the right
time and in the right amounts,
will slow the growth of the plant
until it is ready to fruit. In this
way, less runners and foliage are
put out, but more fruit. In tests
at the University last year, straw
berry yields reached the astonish-
ing yield of 6400 quarts to the
acre when maleic hydrazide was
used-double what the plants pro-
duced when it was not used.
Value of the radioactive tracer
elements in this strawberry pro-
ject is that they enable the scient-
lists to take an x-ray type of pic
ture of the plant every few days
following use of the hydrazide in
order to find out where it has
moved in the plants circulatory
system. The tracer also tells them
when it disappears from the plant
entirely. This enables them to
know how much of the chemical
to apply and when to apply it.
According to Somers the new
laboratory also will be used for
speeding up research results in
such fields as fertilizer applica-
ton, growth and development of
plants, feeding and disease studies
in animals, proper spraying and
dusting methods to control plant
disease and insect damage, and
others. This summer, a member
of the School of Agriculture staff
will be sent to the government
atomic laboratories at Oak Ridge,
Tennessee, to get special training
in use and handling of radioactive
isotopes in agricultural research.
Somers also adds a word of re-
assurance on the mosquito pro-
ject. mo need to worry about
being bitten by a radioactive mos
quito, he says. They don't travel
far from the isolated marshes
where they will be released. And,
even if they do bite someone, it
will have no more effect than the
bite of an ordinary mosquito"
m xU--zrN