and project crop yields and their impact on the land. SALUS was designed initially by Joe Ritchie MSU emeritus distinguished professor.
Maintaining crops would require a 5 to 25 percent increase in irrigation which would in turn require more extensive--and expensive--water catchment infrastructure.
On the Northern Plains of South dakota Nebraska and Kansas where the growth of corn for ethanol already depends heavily on irrigation the study found that crop yields would decline
The researchers suggested the growth of crops for ethanol was already questionable because of its impact on the environment.
Rising temperatures in the decades to come they wrote could lead to reductions in crop yields
in order to deter ovipositing insects from field crops and thereby reduce insect infestation. Mclennan/AO/JWK Story Source:
The researchers suggested widespread nutrient management strategies that link inorganic fertilizer use with the application of manure for crop production.
Led by Ione postdoctoral research scholar Kate A. Brauman the research team analyzed crop production water use
and crop water productivity by climatic zone for 16 staple food crops: wheat maize rice barley rye millet sorghum soybean sunflower potato cassava sugarcane sugar beet oil palm rapeseed (canola) and groundnut (peanut.
Together these crops constitute 56 percent of global crop production by tonnage 65 percent of crop water consumption and 68 percent of all cropland by area.
The study is the first of its kind to look at water productivity for this many crops at a global scale.
Since crop production consumes more freshwater than any other human activity on the planet the study has significant implications for addressing the twin challenges of water stress
For example if low crop water productivity in precipitation-limited regions were raised to the 20th percentile of water productivity specific to particular crops
Because the study is global in scope it is able to identify potential locations for interventions crops to pay attention to and opportunities for the biggest improvements in crop water management.
Cytokinins are used in agriculture for multiple purposes from crops to golf course greens. In their PNAS paper the researchers identify KMDS as a new regulator for cytokinin signaling.
Among crops meanwhile about 75 per cent of genetic diversity was lost in the last century as farmers worldwide switched to genetically uniform high-yielding varieties and abandoned multiple local varieties.
but only 30 crops account for 95%of human food energy the bulk of which (60%)comes down to rice wheat maize millet and sorghum.
The decline in the diversity of crops and animals is occurring in tandem with the need to sharply increase world food production
or to the quality of the pollination services they provide to wildflowers or agricultural crops.
of which are important agricultural crops. Tomatoes potatoes aubergines peppers and wolfberries are all representatives of the family present on many tables across the world.
of which are important agricultural crops. Tomatoes potatoes aubergines peppers and wolfberries are all representatives of the family present on many tables across the world.
Among oilseed crops sunflowers are one of the most important sources of edible vegetable oil for human consumption worldwide.
Sunflower and other oilseed crops are the source of the vast majority of vegetable oil used for cooking and food processing.
Also known as elephant grass miscanthus is one of a new generation of renewable energy crops that can be converted into renewable energy by being burned in biomass power stations.
Many agricultural crops benefit from genome duplications including banana papaya strawberry sugarcane watermelon and wheat said Robert Vanburen a graduate student in Ming's lab and collaborator on the study.
#Setting the standard for sustainable bioenergy cropsbioenergy crops such as Miscanthus and switchgrass appear to be promising resources for renewable energy
but these new crops did not come with a manual on how to measure details on their sustainability impacts.
and riverside habitat in the Salinas Valley between 2005 and 2009 finding 13.3 percent converted to bare ground crops or otherwise diminished.
Her experiments look for native grass mixtures that don't tend to invade the crops and are highly attractive to beneficial native insects including the natural enemies of agricultural pests.
He argues that we should not allow farmers spray a toxic soup of chemicals onto their crops.
Increasing food production on limited land resources will rely on innovative agronomic practices coupled to the genetic improvement of crops.
This recent development could be used to improve the salt tolerance of crops so they can be grown on previously productive farmland with soil that now lies fallow.
and Leon Kochian at Cornell University opens up the potential to grow crops on the 30 percent of Earth's acidic soils that are now unusable for agricultural production
By engineering crops to convert aluminum ions into a nontoxic form they said agricultural scientists can now turn these unusable
or low-yielding acidic soils into astonishingly productive farmland to grow crops for food and biofuels.
and zinc in food crops to improve their nutritive qualities. Over two billion people suffer from iron
The scientists also discovered transporters in plants and symbiotic soil fungi that allow crops to acquire phosphate--an element essential for plant growth
and poses the highest input cost for many crops the scientists write. Nevertheless only 20 to 30 of the phosphate and 30 to 50 percent of the nitrogen fertilizer applied are utilized by plants.
The biologists said crops could be made more efficient in using water through discoveries in plant transport proteins that regulate the stomatal pores in the epidermis of leaves where plants lose more than 90 percent of their water through transpiration.
Two other major goals in agriculture are increasing the carbohydrate content and pest-resistance of crops.
A recent discovery of protein transporters that move sugar throughout the plant has been used to develop rice plants that confer pest resistance to crops the biologists said providing a novel way to simplify the engineering of crops with high yields and pest resistance
including close relatives of globally important food crops such as sunflower bean sweet potato and strawberry. The findings which were published today (Apr 29) in the journal Crop science are good news for plant breeders who've relied increasingly in recent years on the wild kin of domesticated crops as new sources of disease resistance drought tolerance
and other traits. The not-so-good news is that many of these crop wild relatives are threatened currently by habitat loss pollution
(if any) how closely related they are to their respective crops and whether any of the genetic resources found in crop wild relatives are conserved already in gene banks.
U s. wild relatives of the world's most important food crops--including strawberry sunflower sweet potato bean stone fruits
But it also contains relatives of forage crops like alfalfa; fiber crops such as flax and cotton;
ornamental plants like roses and lilies; Echinacea St john's wort and other medicinal herbs; and what Khoury calls iconic U s. crops including sugar maple and wild rice.
The rich assortment of U s. crop wild relatives came as something of a surprise to him
For one although North america is itself not a major center of crop plant diversity it abuts one--Mesoamerica--where crops like corn bean squash
Many wild species in temperate parts of the United states also share close kinship with crops like hops
#Ecological knowledge offers perspectives for sustainable agriculturea smart combination of different crops such as beans and maize can significantly cut the use of crop protection agents
Integrating ecological knowledge from nature with knowledge of crops opens up the prospect of a sustainable strategy that will increase yield per hectare at reduced environmental costs.
Prof Anten sees great similarities between nature and a field full of crops. In both cases plants are surrounded by numerous organisms such as weeds pollinating insects fungi blights
He points to recent research data showing that mixed crops require 20-40%less land to obtain the same total yields as mono-crops.
Also striking is the fact that mixed cultures are on average 40%less affected by diseases on average than single crops.
'Mixed crops like these have a range of benefits. This makes it all the more surprising that so little research has been done into them'observes Professor Anten.'
and crop physiology has resulted in crops which deliver maximum yield in monocultures. But there has been virtually no equivalent research conducted in mixed crops.'
'In his inaugural address entitled'Crop ecosystems as diverse playing fields'Professor Niels Anten discusses the parallel development of two fields the ecology of natural systems such as forests and the ecology of agriculture.
and Weed Ecology he will be looking at the connections between these areas of study for the benefit of sustainable crops with high yields.
which pose an important threat to crop production. The use of herbicides is an important element of weed control
and phosphorus definitely improves crop yields but does it also improve the soil? The latest study to tackle this question has yielded mixed results.
The effects of nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizers on crop yields are researched well of course. Likewise reduced tillage cover crops intensified cropping systems
and other conservation practices are known to build the soil long-term. Blanco now wants to see the two come together.
#Europe needs genetically engineered crops, scientists saythe European union cannot meet its goals in agricultural policy without embracing genetically engineered crops (GMOS).
That's the conclusion of scientists who write in Trends in Plant science a Cell Press publication based on case studies showing that the EU is undermining its own competitiveness in the agricultural sector to its own detriment and that of its humanitarian activities in the developing world.
In reality there is a de facto moratorium in Europe on the cultivation of genetically engineered crops such as maize cotton
because EU policies actively discriminate against those wishing to cultivate genetically engineered crops yet exactly the same crops are approved for import Christou says.
We usually think of improving food crops solely in terms of traits such as the yield and quality of the food itself and apart from root crops such as potatoes and carrots these are easily visible aboveground traits.
Rotating bean and corn crops to take advantage of the nitrogen beans deposit in the soil has long been a global farming tradition.
and crops to determine what the soil needs to improve crop growth in terms of crop nutrients lime and irrigation for example.
#For development in Brazil, two crops are better than oneit's not just about agriculture. Growing two crops a year in the same field improves schools helps advance public sanitation raises median income
and creates jobs. New research finds that double cropping--planting two crops in a field in the same year--is associated with positive signs of economic development for rural Brazilians.
The research focused the state of Mato grosso the epicenter of an agricultural revolution that has made Brazil one of the world's top producers of soybeans corn cotton and other staple crops.
That Brazil has become an agricultural powerhouse over the last decade or so is clear.
and harvesting crops can destroy nests and crush chicks as the birds often nest in agricultural fields.
Crop yields nearly doubled said Peter Ward Dooley's doctoral adviser a UW professor of biology and of Earth and space sciences and an authority On earth's mass extinctions.
and the general public are comfortable with the level of testing to make sure there are no unforeseen consequences of treating food crops with hydrogen sulfide.
Potential food source derived from non-food plantsa team of Virginia Tech researchers has succeeded in transforming cellulose into starch a process that has the potential to provide a previously untapped nutrient source from plants not traditionally though of as food crops.
This new development opens the door to the potential that food could be created from any plant reducing the need for crops to be grown on valuable land that requires fertilizers pesticides and large amounts of water.
#Invasive kudzu bugs may pose greater threat than previously thoughtthe invasive kudzu bug has the potential to be a major agricultural pest causing significant damage to economically important soybean crops.
Generation B kudzu bugs can feed on soybean crops during both their immature and adult life stages causing significant crop damage.
It also means that both annual generations of kudzu bugs could attack soybean crops in areas where the bug is established already
They also examined how watering crops at night (to minimize evaporation) and using technologies such as drip irrigation could reduce agricultural water demand.
In Morocco government subsidies for efficient drip irrigation technologies are used also as a lever to encourage farmers to grow value-added crops that make better use of scarce water.
Genetically modifying crops so that they produce some of their own fertilizer could also help with the problem.
milligrams per liter most crops can tolerate. Dissolved salt levels in the groundwater of the three southernmost farm oases are now so high they endanger the long-term sustainability of date palm farming there.
The practice of importing freshwater to irrigate crops is widespread throughout much of the world's arid regions Vengosh noted.
Synthesized from the sugars in the cellulosic biomass of grasses other non-food crops and agricultural waste advanced biofuels represent a sustainable nonpolluting source of transportation fuel that would also generate domestic jobs and revenue.
which is harmful to some crops and yellow light which the plants cannot utilize to any great extent.
The demand for sustainable energy may divert more cropland to production of crops for biofuel production.
They also transmit such diseases as the tomato spotted wilt virus causing millions of dollars in damage to U s. agricultural crops each year.
Not only would it be a boon to the U s agricultural economy it could also have significant impact in the developing world where tomatoes are one of the most popular vegetable cash crops especially for small subsistence farmers.
and to do so they would have needed to develop sustainable agricultural methods that complemented their maize crops.
while at VIMS and is now at the University of California Davis. Think of how vital honeybees are for pollinating tree crops or
#Multi-toxin biotech crops not silver bullets, scientists warnthe popular new strategy of planting genetically engineered crops that make two
Compared with typical insecticide sprays the Bt toxins produced by genetically engineered crops are much safer for people
Although Bt crops have helped to reduce insecticide sprays boost crop yields and increase farmer profits their benefits will be short-lived
Bt crops were grown first widely in 1996 and several pests have already become resistant to plants that produce a single Bt toxin.
To thwart further evolution of pest resistance to Bt crops farmers have shifted recently to the pyramid strategy:
and make the crops more durable. One critical assumption of the pyramid strategy is that the crops provide redundant killing Carriã re explained.
Redundant killing can be achieved by plants producing two toxins that act in different ways to kill the same pest he said so
His home institution the Center for Agricultural Research for Development or CIRAD is interested keenly in factors that could affect pest resistance to Bt crops in Africa.
According to Tabashnik overly optimistic assumptions have led the EPA to greatly reduce requirements for planting refuges to slow evolution of pest resistance to two-toxin Bt crops.
In the longer term the knowledge gained in pearl millet will help to develop semi-dwarf lines with high agronomic performance in other cereal crops she said.
and more thoroughly described plant genome is a common method to help identify the functions of specific genes especially in crops for which little genetic resources are available.
And because this mechanism that inhibits hot-weather germination in lettuce seeds appears to be quite common in many plant species we suspect that other crops also could be modified to improve their germination he said.
pesticides used on crops called neonicotinoid pesticides and another type of pesticide coumaphos that is used in honeybee hives to kill the Varroa mite a parasitic mite that attacks the honey bee.
and those lists are biased often toward species that affect agricultural crops. Conversely invasive plant council lists include species that affect natural landscapes
Quinn's job at the University of Illinois's Energy Biosciences Institute has been to investigate the potential for invasiveness in new nonnative crops that are being developed for biofuels.
Will the team's recommendations threaten the development of new biofuels crops? Endres said no that the recommendations offer protection for the industry rather than punishment.
Quinn said that biofuels crops such as Miscanthus would be subject to the list. The current cultivars that are being sold for production are sterile
Shancen Zhao Project Manager of BGI said Genetic improvement of crops is the key output of breeding research.
& Food security demonstrates that as their crops on higher ground fail due to unreliable rainfall people in countries like Uganda are increasingly relocating to wetland areas.
In 2009 it was estimated that about a third of Uganda's wetlands had been lost to growing crops and grazing.
Over half admitted to growing crops in the nutrient rich soil wetlands with its ready water supply.
#Peach genome offers insights into breeding strategies for biofuels cropsrapidly growing trees like poplars and willows are candidate biofuel crops from
Domesticating these as crops requires a deep understanding of the physiology and genetics of trees and scientists are turning to long-domesticated fruit trees for hints.
which includes not only fruit crops like apples strawberries cherries and almonds but many other plants as well including rose that gives the superfamily its name.
The crops cover large areas of land and need huge amounts of fresh water and their use implies diverting food products to the energy market.
while taking up only between 4 and 7 per cent of the area occupied by crops on land thanks to their high concentration of energy per cell.
and Cornell researchers are learning to grow stress-tolerant crops on formerly non-farmable land.
Agroforestry addresses this need through the intentional management of shade trees alongside agricultural crops. Despite the technical differences both systems provide an intermediary between unlogged forest
However the eggs are encased in cysts that can resist fumigation according to Navarre who works at the ARS Vegetable and Forage Crops Research Laboratory in Prosser Wash.
and threatens to cause hundreds of millions of dollars in damage to U s. fruit crops.
and help identify new crops that might be at risk says Dr. Hannah Burrack an assistant professor of entomology at NC State
For example researchers estimate that D. suzukii has the potential to destroy 40 percent of blackberry and raspberry crops in the eastern U s
and raspberry crops in North carolina and also encompassed laboratory experiments to help researchers determine which characteristics made fruits more likely to be infested.
The research could greatly affect Kansas and other agricultural states that produce crops such as wheat and corn.
After harvesting these crops the leftover wheat straw and corn stover can be used for making cellulosic ethanol.
#Fertilizers could help tackle nutritional deficiency in African countryenriching crops by adding a naturally-occurring soil mineral to fertilisers could potentially help to reduce disease
and so selenium is transferred not into crops in sufficient amounts for optimal human health. We urgently need to assess strategies to address this problem in Malawi
The North american monsoon delivers as much as 70 percent of the region's annual rainfall watering crops and rangelands for an estimated 20 million people.
A delayed monsoon could potentially lower crop yields as rains come later in the growing season when the days are getting shorter.
Though total monsoon rainfall is projected to stay the same warmer summer temperatures under climate change will cause more evaporation leaving less water for crops reservoirs and ecosystems.
and although they are largely being decimated by ivory poachers there's little support for elephant conservation in rural villages because of the enormous damage they cause to crops.
and agriculture since bees are essential pollinators for many crops and wild flowering species. If declines are allowed to continue there is a risk to our natural biodiversity and on some crop production.
Professor Stevenson said Understanding how bees choose to forage and return to some flowers over others will help inform how landscapes could be managed better.
They have been collected occasionally in agroecosystems specifically from the canopies of orchard crops in South africa (avocadoes macadamias and pistachios)
and if numbers are managed not properly they can cause damage to crops as well as road traffic accidents.
The lucrative crops grow with a minimal amount of work and can be harvested using existing equipment.
but not limited to bioenergy crops. These policies they note should restrict known invaders while allowing flexibility to investigate
When it comes to making fuels out of trees crops grasses or algae it's all about the cell walls of the plants.
Eighty-seven percent of the world's flowering plants including most of the leading global food crops are pollinated by animals.
#Loss of wild insects hurts crops around the worldresearchers studying data from 600 fields in 20 countries have found that managed honey bees are not as successful at pollinating crops as wild insects primarily wild bees suggesting the continuing
and seed crops that make diets interesting such as tomatoes coffee and watermelon is limited because their flowers are pollinated not adequately says Harder.
Flowers of most crops need to receive pollen before making seeds and fruits a process that is enhanced by insects that visit flowers.
and diversity of pollinators decline and crops receive fewer visits from wild insects. The study found that the proportion of flowers producing fruits was considerably lower in sites with fewer wild insects visiting crop flowers.
and variety of wild insects that could increase production of these crops says Harder. Our study highlights the benefits of considering this paradox in designing
and wild insects will enhance global yields of animal-pollinated crops and promote long-term agricultural production.
if crops are unable to utilize all of the nitrogen fertilizer that was spread. The production of nitrogen fertilizer is also energy intensive
crops by almost 80 percent. Their report appears in the ACS journal Environmental science & Technology.
This has led to a realization that increased production of biofuels must take place on so-called marginal land acreage not suitable for growing food crops but capable of growing switch grass Indian beech trees and Barbados nut trees.
In the EU plant-made pharmaceuticals have to be authorised in the same way as GM agricultural crops.
In theory agricultural crops can be grown by any farmer in the EU once approved. But for crops producing pharmaceuticals this would never actually happen.
Drug companies would likely license farmers to grow these crops under controlled defined and confined conditions.
We need tight regulations enforced by continuous oversight to encourage investment while maintaining trust said Dr Penny Sparrow from the John Innes Centre.
This will be of high importance especially in Europe where the issues surrounding the cultivation of GM agricultural crops remains a contentious concern.
But potential cost savings are eliminated under current regulations set up for GM agricultural crops not pharmaceuticals.
and fungi potential threats to their crops these microbes can help wild plants adapt to extreme conditions according to a Penn State virologist.
and several different plants including crops such as rice tomato squash and beets and showed that the viruses increased the plants'ability to tolerate drought.
This may lead to more natural methods of creating crops that are more heat drought and stress tolerant.
while most of our agriculture crops are said annuals Malmstrom. Sometimes when you mix the properties of the two unexpected things can happen.
and the study of viral interactions between wild-growing plants and agricultural crops is an expanding field.
Most of what is known about plant viruses comes from studies of crops. To understand the complete ecology of viruses researchers are now studying these tiny organisms in nature too.
although they are related to viruses that have been examined in crops. According to the researcher about half of the viruses that infect wild plants tend to be continually present in the plant--persistent.
viruses fungi and bacteria whereas in crops farmers try to eliminate the microbes. Perhaps there is a connection.
Indeed one plant virus that was found frequently in the forest was also found in nearby melon crops.
Analyzing the viruses suggested that they were moving from the crops into the wild plants
or crops grown on abandoned land that has reverted not to forest. On the other hand biochar production that relies on forest ecosystems may result in a net increase in greenhouse gas emissions they cautioned.
#Masked mold toxins in food should be included in safety regulationsgovernment limits on mold toxins present naturally in grain crops should be expanded to include so-called masked mycotoxins that change from harmless to potentially harmful forms in the body a new
The new study focused on two of the most widespread mycotoxin contaminants of grain crops--deoxynivalenol (DON) and zearalenone (ZEN.
and vegetable crops like broccoli Brussels sprouts and cabbage. Farmers usually battle these pests with traditional insects with little use of SIT despite its many advantages.
They developed the lethal genetic sexing system in two pests the pink bollworm which damages cotton crops and the diamondback moth
which attacks broccoli cabbage and other cruciferous vegetable crops. The approach could be used on other pests as well they state.
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