Washington  - President-elect Barack Obama on Wednesday named his cabinet picks for the agriculture and interior departments, who will lead an effort over the coming years to use domestic resources to wean the US off its dependence on foreign oil.

Racing to complete his cabinet before the end of December, Obama tapped Colorado Senator Ken Salazar to head the Department of the Interior, while former Iowa governor Tom Vilsack will lead the Department of Agriculture.

Obama, who will take office in January in the middle of two wars and an economy in recession, has been coordinating closely with the outgoing Bush administration and moved faster than any modern-day president in picking his cabinet and top White House advisors.

On Thursday, Obama was set to name Republican congressman Ray LaHood as transportation secretary, US media reported, filling a key post with the US car industry near collapse and the threat of global warming sparking a push for more fuel-efficient vehicles.

LaHood would be the second Republican working under Obama, whose promise of a bipartisan governing style was one of the key pillars of his successful run for the White House.

Much of Obama's foreign and economic policy team is already in place. Only two cabinet posts are still open: US trade representative and labour secretary.

Agriculture has taken on a new role as a renewable energy provider in the past few years as countries have been looking to bio-fuels as a crucial alternative to dwindling fossil fuels.

Vilsack, who made an abbreviated run for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination, has been a strong supporter of ethanol-based petrol made from maize and produced in much of the Midwest. His home state of Iowa is the country's largest producer of the fuel.

Ethanol is central to US plans to become more energy independent but has drawn criticism from other parts of the world for driving up the price of maize, a key food staple.

"The solution to our energy crisis will be found not in oil fields abroad but in our farm fields here at home," Obama said at a Chicago press conference announcing his latest appointments.

Obama has linked renewable energy to the country's recovery from a year-long economic recession and has said 5 million "green jobs" can be created by boosting investment in the sector.

Salazar will become the second Hispanic official in Obama's cabinet, after New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson was named commerce secretary. Salazar is a former head of Colorado's natural resources department.

The Interior Department watches over federally-owned land and monitors the use of natural resources, but has a more limited role than in most countries. The department does not manage law enforcement.

Obama has vowed a new focus on energy and climate issues in his administration and unveiled the rest of his environmental team earlier on Monday to wide acclaim by the environmental community.

Steven Chu, a Nobel-prize winning physicist and expert on alternative energy, will lead the Department of Energy. Carol Browner, the country's environmental chief under former president Bill Clinton, will head a new White House office coordinating energy and climate policy. (dpa)