Fruit News

This disease can spread in rain and by the wind as well as by animals, including humans, and farm equipment. Officials also reported that for the very first time the disease was also discovered north of Orlando in the town of Orange Park. In that location, it was found on a single grapefruit tree on a homeowner's yard.

Other News

The Agricultural Research Service scientists came up with an innovative way to preserve fresh, sliced fruits. They have patented this system called NatureSeal. This is used by restaurants, fast food outlets, cafeterias, and supermarkets, but is also available for use in the home. This system is an invisible, vitamin and mineral-based compound. It can keep fruit fresh for almost a month without affecting the color or flavor.

Invasive species, beware. Indiana officials at the Falls of the Ohio State Park came up with an innovative way to attract and trap an invasive species of lizard called the wall lizard. For bait, they used strawberry jam. There were concerns that this exotic species could take over the habitats of the native fence lizards and the skinks. One of the most exciting bits of news seems unbelievable. According to the reports, Israeli scientists succeeded in getting 2000-year-old date palm seeds to germinate. This work took place at the Louis Borick Natural Medicine Center in Jerusalem. The group is pursuing research on things used as medicines by the ancients. The seeds were sown in January. The announcement of their germination was made in early September, 2005 by BBC. Assuming the tree is a female, which researchers can't be sure of at this point, it could begin yielding fruits when it is about 30 years of age.

Regarding date palms, there is one other note of interest. Researchers at the University of Florida report that the Senegal date palm apparently can hybridize freely with other kinds of date palms.

Now there's a reason to eat more citrus. Researchers at the Agricultural Research Service found that citrus oils contain compounds called flavonoids that can reduce cholesterol. They hope that this will lead to innovative uses for citrus waste that result from citrus processing. This substance can be recovered from some 700,000 tons of orange peels that are left over annually from squeezing the fruits for juice.

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