Milkweed, of All Things, May Become Cultivated Crop

October 6, 1999

Milkweed, a nasty perennial weed that grows wild along roadsides and in fields, could become a new cultivated crop. Industry has known the value of the milkweed fiber, but now is learning the value of its meal and oil.

USDA's Agricultural Research Service scientists have been conducting research on milkweed, and the fiber has become the mainstay of a small company, Natural Fibers Corp., Ogallala, NE, which began marketing milkweed floss as a filler for comforters in 1989.

The problem has been what to do with leftover seed meal. It contains compounds called cardenolides that produce heart palpitations in people and animals. So the meal cannot be used in animal feed. But ARS chemists at the National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research in Peoria, IL, have found that the seed meal kills nematodes and fall army worms. These pests destroy potatoes, tomatoes, soybeans, sorghum, peanuts, corn and alfalfa.

In field studies with Washington State University researchers in Prosser, WA, milkweed seed meal killed 97% of nematodes on potatoes. Incorporating the seed meal into the soil might be an alternative to methyl bromide, now severely restricted in the United States and other countries.