and ways to manipulate them#These insights may lead to new ways to control insects especially those that destroy crops or transfer diseases.
or marginal to corn and other row crops he said. Long and his colleagues calculated the total land area needed to produce enough Miscanthus to meet the U s. Renewable Fuel Standard mandate for cellulosic ethanol production by the year 2022.
But the increases were compared small to the effects of fertilizing crops such as Zea mays (corn) and probably not large enough to justify the added cost of fertilizer the team reported.
The spotted wing drosophila a native of Asia that was detected first in the United states in 2008 is wreaking economic havoc on crops such as blueberries cherries blackberries and raspberries.
and the developing larvae feed on the soft fruit crippling crop yields. The spotted wing drosophila is a vinegar fly about 1/16 to 1/8 inch long with red eyes pale brown thorax and a black-striped abdomen.
and the American Museum of Natural history as part of a $5. 8 million project on the biology and management of spotted wing drosophila funded by a U s. Department of agriculture Specialty Crops Research Initiative grant
#Protecting vital crops in Chinaevidence of disease in oilseed rape crops across China and how it may spread has been mapped by researchers led by the University of Hertfordshire--providing new strategic information on crop protection to the Chinese government.
Oilseed rape is prone to phoma stem canker also known as blackleg disease caused by two Leptosphaeria species. The more damaging pathogen Leptosphaeria maculans (L. maculans) has been spreading globally in oilseed rape crops over the last thirty years causing widespread losses
Phoma stem canker is responsible for losses worth more than £1200 million in oilseed rape crops across the world.
Given the fragile state of the world's economy and concern over food shortages we need to protect our arable crops from disease.
A widespread survey by Chinese collaborators of winter oilseed rape crops in central China and spring oilseed crops in north China found no evidence of L. maculans.
However the survey did confirm that the less damaging L. biglobosa is widespread across China
The researchers modelled the potential spread of the destructive L. maculans pathogen across the oilseed rape crops in China--with predicted rates of spread of up to seventy kilometers per year
Reducing the risk of phoma stem canker in oilseed rape crops in China is a priority for Chinese government and industry.
and potential spread of L. maculans on oilseed rape crops in China is published in Plant pathology.
or other crops to break the corn rootworm life cycle between growing seasons. -Occasionally rotate to a non-Bt corn hybrid
-Most importantly implement a long-term integrated approach to corn rootworm management based on scouting information and knowledge of corn rootworm densities that uses multiple tactics such as rotation with other crops
The study published in Environmental Research Letters tracked global harvest trends of 177 crops between 1961 and 2011.
Closing the gap would boost crop production on existing croplands without resorting to further clearing for agriculture
since only national data were available and only for 177 crops. To fully quantify the potential impact more local data would be needed
Depending on local environmental conditions agronomic practices and social contexts increasing cropland harvest frequency could present a short-term gain in crop production with long-term losses in agricultural yields and environmental conditions.
Only if increasing frequency of harvests can be done sustainably is this strategy a potential way to address some of the challenges of crop production
Introduction of second crops generally corn following the primary soybean crop has increased local incomes across economic sectors the report noted.
More than two thirds of the world's plants depend on this soil-dwelling symbiotic fungus to survive including critical agricultural crops such as wheat cassava and rice.
and conditions critical for a sustainable growth of bioenergy plants but also staple crops a prerequisite to help feeding the world said Martin. Story Source:
Our results showed that an offset bale unroller can make mulching of vegetable crops more efficient.
High tunnels can offer many benefits for delicate vegetable crops including protection from environmental stresses such as hail frost excessive rainfall and high wind.
and other crops that need cool temperatures for flower buds to break he said.#¢#¢Air quality is projected to decline
Oil palm has become an increasingly attractive crop for the production of biodiesel as it has a much higher yield than other crops requires barely any new technology to produce
#Defending food crops: Whitefly experimentation to prevent contamination of agricultureon November 8th Jove the Journal of Visualized Experiments will introduce a new technique to aid in the development of defenses against diseases threatening food crops worldwide.
The method published under the title Transmitting Plant viruses Using Whiteflies is applicable to such at-risk crops as tomatoes and common bean plants.
The whitefly method provides a means of interfering with the plant-contamination process as well as the cultivation of plants that are altogether resistant to infection.
and fiber crops. The technique includes reliably rearing whiteflies with a specific virus while omitting the possibility of cross-contamination to other viruses--an easily encountered problem because of the sheer number of whiteflies used in testing.
cover crops; nitrification inhibiters; water table management; tile bioreactors; constructed wetlands; buffer strips; and conversion of row crops to CRP or perennial crops.
David said that unfortunately few of these methods are used on tile-drained fields because they impose substantial costs
and/or risks on the producer without increasing crop production. For example end-of-pipe practices such as tile bioreactors or constructed wetlands have substantial construction costs require land to be taken out of production
#Floods didnt provide nitrogen fix for earliest crops in frigid northfloods didn't make floodplains fertile during the dawn of human agriculture in Earth's far north
what U s. farmers in the Midwest apply in industrial fertilizers to grain crops and as little as a sixth of
This system is characterized by high density of cropland high inputs of nitrogen fertilizers temperate climate high crop yields large capital investments in the agricultural sector low proportion of GDP originating from agriculture and good
Attracted by the richness of the dirt settlers began to plow up the prairie more than a century and a half ago replacing the native plants with corn wheat soybeans and other crops.
One concern with bioethanol is the perception it will compete with food crops for limited farmland.
Implications for soil fertility crop production and human health which was posted on October 10th by Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems.
In the U s. the growing use of genetically-modified herbicide-tolerant crops such as corn and soybeans has resulted in severe milkweed declines and thus loss of breeding habitat.
Insecticides for agricultural crops are regulated by the Environmental protection agency but runoff during rains can enter a lake pond
and grown in Germany as a sustainable raw material--even on land areas not previously suited for agricultural crops.
#Yields of new varieties of agricultural crops continue to increaseresearch into varieties of winter wheat spring barley potatoes grown for starch and sugar beet
Despite recent concerns that important crops in high-yielding regions have reached their production maximum the rise in yield potential of new cultivars does not yet level off.
whether plant breeders are still able to raise the yield of crops such as winter wheat and potatoes today.
thus benefitting crops and biodiversity on the islands. A recent survey by Mr Abhineshwar Prasad of The University of the South Pacific reported over 100 species of arthropods associated with road side patches of S. trilobata including Hymenoptera such as parasitoid wasps
There is growing concern regarding the global decline of honey bee populations and the implications of this demise for the pollination of crops.
and energy crops their production has led to an increase in the levels of nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus in our water sources.
Cover crops not only decrease the amount of nitrogen and phosphorus leaving the fields but they improve the soil in other ways.
Helmers admits the challenges are more complex than changing the inputs to our crops such as corn and soybean.
and how they increase their chances of discovering bountiful fruit crops. The scientists found that chimpanzees use long-term memory of the size
#Nitrogen fertilizer remains in soils, leaks towards groundwater for decadesnitrogen fertilizer applied to crops lingers in the soil
Thirty years after synthetic nitrogen (N) fertilizer had been applied to crops in 1982 about 15 per cent of the fertilizer N still remained in soil organic matter the scientists found.
The research team used a stable isotope of nitrogen N-15 as a tracer to track fertilizer nitrogen applied in 1982 to sugar beet and winter wheat crops on a pair of two-metre-square plots
although Corylus cornuta and Viburnum acerifolium showed the most promise as commercially viable nursery crops further propagation research could validate all four of the native species in the study as recommended crops for general wholesale
#Vetch cover crop, fertilizer practices recommended for organic zucchinicover crops may be in the hardest working plants in organic farming systems.
A variety of dependable cover crops are used to subdue weeds build productive soil control pests and diseases and enhance overall sustainability of organic systems.
In a new study the popular cover crop Vetch (Vicia sativa L.)was used in a 2-year field experiment.
To allow for timely crop rotation in organic farming the growing cycle of cover crops is terminated often before natural maturity using mechanical chopping
Innovative conservation tillage production systems using roller-crimper (RC) technology to end cover crops are gaining popularity.
or two passes of the RC to flatten the cover crops leaving a thick mulch layer into
Although the roller-crimper technology has been used widely for the termination of legume cover crops the technique has its limitations.
For example difficulties determining the most effective cover crop growth stage for crop termination can result in insufficient
or untimely amounts of nitrogen being delivered to the cropping system by legume cover crops ultimately affecting crop yield.
Supplementing crop fertility with off-farm organic compliant inputs to reduce nitrogen deficiencies can help to ensure acceptable crop yields.
The vetch cover crop increased marketable zucchini yield in the first year by 46.6%compared with the fallow treatment indicating that this fertility-building crop could reduce off-farm nitrogen (N) fertilizer input for subsequent crops.
Montemurro also noted that the findings indicated that both cover crop and application of organic fertilizers and amendments in zucchini organic farming are constrained by environmental conditions
and stability in systems using different cover crop termination strategies especially in Mediterranean growing areas. Story Source:
#New research informs California strawberry production practicesin the coastal valleys of central California where more than 80%of the United states'strawberry crops are grown there is developing concern about the impact of these vast production systems
But as crop yields have increased water quality has diminished; water quality monitoring in these coastal valleys has shown that groundwater often exceeds Federal drinking water standards.
He explained that in California's central coastal region most strawberry fields are planted after vegetable crops.
In 2009 cucumber became the seventh plant to have published its genome sequence following the well-studied model plant Arabidopsis thaliana the poplar tree grapevine papaya and the crops rice and sorghum.
To understand the population bottlenecks during domestication researchers made a comparison analysis between vegetable and grain food crops.
The comparison result indicated that the three vegetable crops (cucumber watermelon and tomato) probably underwent narrower bottleneck events during domestication than the grain food crops (rice maize and soybean).
In addition they also identified 112 putative domestication sweeps in the cucumber genome. These findings provide additional impetus for the use of wild germplasm in future vegetable breeding.
It is also a good example for studies on vegetable or other economic crops. Large scale sequencing approach
and genome wide analysis can be applied on different economic crops for better understanding their evolutionary process
which right now is one of the highest oil-yielding crops used for food and biodiesel production said Xu.
or feed crops said Xu. And there are challenges in finding ways to extract oil from leaves
Xu is now collaborating with Brookhaven biochemist John Shanklin to explore the potential effect of overexpressing these key genes on oil production in dedicated biomass crops such as sugarcane.
Together these individual evolutionary advances make up a'recipe'that could be used to improve key agricultural crops that only use the less efficient form.
The study's authors say this knowledge could be used to breed super-crops such as faster growing drought-resistant rice.
Encouragingly for the efforts to design super-efficient crops we found that several different pathways lead to the more efficient photosynthesis--so there are plenty of different recipes biologists could follow to develop to achieve this.
This is not only an interesting mathematical result it should help biological scientists to develop crops with significantly improved yields to feed the world.
#Barley crops affected by disease found on common wild grassa major fungal pathogen which affects barley crops is also present on a common wild grass according to a new study by leading agricultural researchers including the University
This disease affects the leaves ears and stems of the barley--decreasing grain quality and reducing crop yields by up to forty per cent.
Crops that appear to be clear of disease can suddenly develop leaf blotch symptoms unexpectedly.
and wild plants species. But the increasing demand for agricultural land to provide enough crops to feed
And if this pathogen species can be spread from wild grasses onto barley crops and back again further investigation is needed to identify how widespread this species is and also the role that wild grasses play as sources of disease for other crops such as wheat.
The paper Evolutionary Relationships Between Rhynchosporium lolii sp. nov. and Other Rhynchosporium Species on Grasses is published in PLOS ON.
On-the-spot soil testing could have major impact in improving crop yields due to poor soils. The kit contains battery-operated instruments and safe materials for agricultural extension agents to handle in the field.
The ultimate goal is to significantly increase crop production and food security in Africa. Gatere will present Field Kit Soil Tests to Assess Acidity N P S and K Fertility in Kenyan Soils on Monday Nov 4 2013 at 2: 45 PM.
and aldrin (its parent compound) to their crops every year--much of it in the Midwest.
While growers can use the sensors to monitor water in soils for their crops civil engineers can embed these chips in concrete to determine optimal moisture levels as the concrete cures.
%We believe that these genetically modified plants she explained could be a good alternative to food crops for producing biofuels
Once the regulating function of Trx f in starch synthesis had been proven the researcher focussed on its possible application in energy crops used to produce bioethanol:
The estimated calculations of the starch production of these enhanced varieties would be the equivalent to those of crops like barley
#Precision agriculture for small scale farming systemsraj Khosla Phd and other agronomists have demonstrated internationally that working closely with farmers can improve crop yields.
To understand how lateral root initiation is controlled in different groups of plants including crops under different environmental conditions we need a simple and reliable method for analysis and comparison.
#Salt-tolerant bacteria improve crop yieldsuzbek microbiologist Dilfuza Egamberdieva hopes to apply her new agricultural technique soon in Uzbekistan to boost the yield of economically important crops such as wheat cotton tomato and cucumber.
Crops treated with the bacterial fertilizers give yields 12-15%higher than normal when bacteria are administered to tomatoes and cucumber.
--and maintaining crop yields. Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by Universitaet TÃ bingen.
Crops aren't creating the only demands; agriculture will face competition for water from cities industries and recreation.
The use of green water by crops must be optimized to better utilize this often overlooked resource.
Our findings could lead to a new generation of cheap affordable repellents that could protect humans animals and in the future our crops as well.
and where it is safe to plant crops and ornamentals. Degree days are a measure of how many degrees above
#Protecting the weedy and wild kin of globally important cropsover the past few decades crop breeders have relied increasingly on the wild and weedy relatives of domesticated crops as new sources of disease resistance drought
and analyze data on the distributions of the wild relatives of 80 important food crops worldwide.
Although North america isn't known as a hotspot for crop plant diversity the inventory uncovered nearly 4600 CWR in the United states including close relatives of globally important food crops such as sunflower bean sweet potato and strawberry.
Increasing the organic matter in soils is key to growing crops for numerous reasons including increased water-holding capacity and improved tilth.
or native pulse crops so when fertilizer was developed it revolutionized farming. He cites three common ways for producers to introduce nitrogen into soil:
and through cultivation of nitrogen fixing pulse crops. For all these methods the nitrogen comes in different forms.
whereas manure and pulse crops need to be broken down by microbial decomposition before nitrogen becomes available.
Manure and pulse crops also add more organic matter to the soil a benefit not realized using synthetic fertilizers.
Now a discovery by a team of University of Missouri researchers could be the first step toward helping crops use less nitrogen benefiting both farmers'bottom lines and the environment.
Gary Stacey an investigator in the MU Bond Life sciences Center and professor of plant sciences in the College of Agriculture Food and Natural resources found that crops such as corn are confused
In his study Stacey found that many other crops recognize the bacteria but do not attempt to interact closely with them.
and other crops have a different response and don't support an intimate interaction with the rhizobia
since 1888 but it only exists in legume crops like soybeans and alfalfa. We're working to transfer this trait to other plants like corn wheat or rice
Meanwhile corn tomatoes and other crops are still trying to defend themselves against this bacteria.
Indeed perhaps somewhat alarmingly the amount of iron that was produced reached levels that are toxic to many crops
and their microbiomes might turn out to be useful for enhancing crop yields. The root microbiome is as important to plant health
only if harvesting the source crops causes a greater net removal of carbon dioxide from the air than would otherwise have occurred Decicco said.
#Pesticide regulation in California is flawedapproximately 30 million pounds of fumigant pesticides are used each year on soil that yields valuable California crops--strawberries tomatoes peppers and the like--in an attempt to control pests.
#Modifying rice crops to resist herbicide prompts weedy neighbors growth spurtrice containing an overactive gene that makes it resistant to a common herbicide can pass that genetic trait to weedy rice prompting powerful growth even
This new study is a surprising example of gene flow from crops to weeds that makes weeds more vigorous even without an environmental trigger researchers say.
This modification method enhances a plant s own growth control mechanism essentially making it grow faster#an attractive trait in crops
Because companies that genetically modify commercial crops don t fully disclose their methods Snow and her colleagues aren t sure how prevalent this method might be now or in the future.#
#African caterpillars resistant to GM maizelike many other transgenic crops Bt maize synthesises its own pesticide:
and the reapplication of sprays to the crops said Grant. Without adequate enforcement of regulations dangerous practices such as aerial spraying close to streams
What they found could provide a blueprint for a material used for artificial ligaments a chemical-free way to protect crops from insects and a new insight on how human muscles function.
Putting grasshoppers on a diet Grasshoppers eat up crops but farmers may soon have a chemical-free way to protect their plants from these voracious pests by turning their natural growth cycle against them.
Storing grains or crops at low oxygen levels would limit the oxygen the insects get
The resulting stunted growth cycle would create petite pests with petite appetites leaving more crops to make their way to supermarket shelves.
and eat soil soil adheres to crops after they're harvested or soil particles blow in the air.
They are finding that crop yields are highly variable at the different sites with some crops growing better closer to the city center
The effects of atmospheric conditions on crops appear to be important. Wortman and his colleagues have a twofold goal for the project.
First they want to identify crops that grow well in any given urban environment. It may then be possible to develop new crops that are adapted to urban gardens
and customized for the area. Also urban conditions with higher temperatures ozone and carbon dioxide are similar to the changes expected elsewhere with climate change.
Urban gardens then provide a natural laboratory for studying how these climatic and atmospheric changes will affect plants and crop yields in the future.
but it also has an angle of how these different crops respond to altered environments says Wortman.
which crops and soils are managed in urban areas. Finding more efficient ways to produce food in cities will help control costs.
University of Massachusetts scientists Katherine Ghantous Hilary Sandler Wesley Autio and Peter Jeranyama designed a study using flame cultivation techniques for weed control in cranberry crops.
especially hot daysbecause Wisconsin and Ontario are similar in terms of agricultural practices types of vegetable crops produced climate
To study the effects of weather we examined yield data of the major vegetable crops by county and county weather data for a 55-year period from Wisconsin explained the study's lead author Michael Tesfaendrias.
and yield of 11 horticultural crops and one field crop in Wisconsin and to determine
if the relationships between weather and yields identified in Ontario were similar for vegetable crops in Wisconsin.
Yields of most of the crops evaluated were affected by the number of hot days in June July and August.
With the exception of beets the yield of crops in the study was unaffected by the total number of days with rain during the growing season.
The number of days with hot temperatures especially during July and August emerged as the most important environmental factor that should be measured to estimate yields of vegetable crops the researchers said.
This study emphasizes the importance of breeding vegetable crops for heat tolerance they said. Story Source:
and co-author of the analysis. Climate predictions for Kenya's most important crop for example tell us where maize farmers may need to shift to other crops where they might need to introduce drought-resistant varieties
which examines country-by-country how future growing conditions as well as shifting demographics could affect crop production
Crop models reveal opportunities for Kenyan agriculturepredictions produced in the analysis of how climate change will affect farming in Kenya employed data from four different climate models to assess the impact on crop yields at over 6000 locations.
Another option might be to help farmers find better crops to grow in their current locations.
Waithaka said that overall it is important to help farmers improve their practices diversify their crops
and chickens along with improved cassava varieties that resist a deadly virus. They also are growing high-value crops like tomatoes onions and watermelons.
The Climate Smart Villages initiative is testing a range of crops technologies and farming methods that are suited best for a particular community.
The calculations in the Aalto University thesis in systems and operations research show that the ecological footprint of the Finnish economy mainly comes from the primary production of wood energy crops
while also raising crop yields through more efficient use of nitrogen fertilizer said G. V. Subbarao a senior scientist at JIRCAS.
and soybean production and another 35-40 million could be shifted to crop production in the near future.
and privatize the crops the scientists wrote. Click here for more information. Amoebas carrying seed corna lot of work has been done on this organism said Debra Brock a research scientist in the Queller/Strassmann lab
Supernatants (washings) from bacterial cultures had similar effects suggesting that the bacteria were secreting biomolecules that poisoned nonfarmers preventing them from eating the farmers'crops.
much as human farmers all over the world have done by privatizing their crops. Without the benefit of human institutions that guarantee property rights or a just division of goods they enforce their rights through chemical warfare.
These and other insect pests reduce global crop yields by 10-14%annually and damage 9-20%of stored food crops
and several species are resistant to available insecticides. Isolated peptides from the venom of spiders or other venomous insectivorous animals such as centipedes and scorpions may have the potential to serve as bioinsecticides.
The work published Sept. 11 in the journal Biology Letters could help Indian farmers protect their crops from marauding elephants and save the lives of both people and animals.
and electrified fences to try to keep them out of their crops. About 400 people a year are killed during these encounters
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