so could be useful in managing invasive ant species predicting crop yields and understanding the ecology of tropical forests.
Redmond said such masting in the pinyon pine appears to occur every three to seven years resulting in massive bumper crops of cones covering the ground.
Fields were maintained with three different management practices (conventional integrated and compost) and two different crop rotations (continuous corn with no cover crops and corn-soybean-wheat with cover crops.
With these tests Culman and his coauthors hope to provide farmers with better tools to manage their fields and increase crop yields.
The Genus phytophthora contains many notorious pathogens of crops. Phytophthora pathogens cause worldwide losses of more than $6 billion each year on potato (Phytophthora infestans) and about $2 billion each year on soybean (Phytophthora sojae.
#Preserving biodiversity can be compatible with intensive agriculturepreserving genetically diverse local crops in areas where small-scale farms are rapidly modernizing is possible according to a Penn State geographer who is part of an international research project investigating the biodiversity
and other nontraditional crops has exploded over the past decade noted Karl Zimmerer professor and head of the Department of Geography and where small-scale farms are often female-run
Zimmerer and his colleagues surveyed land use among 174 smallholder households to assess production inputs and outputs of maize and peach crops.
A monoculture stand of trees or crops might appear stable and productive for example --but it's an ecosystem that is more vulnerable to collapse he said adding that this study helps explain why species diversity matters.
and non-resistant crops and applying five different amounts of nitrogen. The resistant corn had higher yields than the non-resistant crops (nearly 21 bushels per acre)
and more easily tolerated low nitrogen levels. More efficient use of nitrogen in the soil would be especially beneficial in areas where nitrogen is lost through heavy precipitation or erosion.
In addition to its utility in crop production Below is hopeful that Bt corn will open up new avenues of research as scientists begin to better understand root systems.
This is why it is very important to study the interactions of crops with nanoparticles as their possible translocation into the food chain starts here. says Jorge Gardea-Torresdey a Professor
Our results have shown also that Ceo2 nanoparticles can be taken up by food crops when present in the soil.
In particular it raises concern over the use of treated waste water to irrigate crops all over the world
USDA scientists sayfarmers can fine-tune their use of cover crops to help manage costs and maximize benefits in commercial organic production systems according to U s. Department of agriculture (USDA) scientists.
Production expenses for high-value organic crops like lettuce and broccoli can exceed $7000 per acre
The researcher selected three winter cover crops often grown in the Salinas Calif. area--rye mustard
--and planted each cover crop using either a typical seeding rate or a seeding rate that was three times higher.
Seeding rates can influence a cover crop's ability to smother weeds. During lettuce and broccoli production Brennan ensured all systems received the same fertilizer and irrigation inputs and pest management.
The harvest and sale of the crops which met all USDA organic standards were conducted by a commercial harvester.
Brennan's results indicated that all three cover crops yielded more dry matter than the two tons of crop residue per acre often recommended for maintaining soil organic matter.
The legume-rye and rye cover crops produced approximately 25 percent more dry matter biomass than the mustard crops.
But effectively suppressing weeds with the legume-rye crops required seeding at three times the typical rate
while rye and mustard crops appeared to suppress weeds adequately with typical seeding rates. The long-term study also provided Brennan with more data about year-to-year yield variations in the legume-rye mix including why legumes
So when a hot and dry autumn is expected producers might want to use a rye cover crop
and skip spending the money on a cover crop with legumes. Brennan who works at the ARS Crop Improvement and Protection Research Unit in Salinas has published some his findings in Agronomy Journal and Applied Soil Ecology.
Called corn by most people in North america modern variants of the Zea mays plant are among the indispensable food crops that feed billions of the planet's people.
As global population soars beyond 6 billion and heads for an estimated 8 to 9 billion by mid-century efforts to boost yields of essential food crops takes on ever greater potential significance.
In two different crops of maize variants that the Jackson team grew in two locations with weakened versions of FEA2 the average ear had 18 to 20 rows
or allele associated with higher kernel yield with the best maize lines used in today's food crops to ask
Endosperm--in the form of corn rice wheat and other crops--is critical to humans providing about 70 percent of calories we consume annually worldwide.
There might be lessons in here for the future viability of our C4-grain crops says Feakins.
and biological control of plagues as their larvae feed on other insects that are damaging to crops
which four biomass feedstocks representing the general classes of plants well-suited to serving as fuel crops were mixed
if farmers can synchronize the growth of crops with periods of time when drought is less likely to occur.
Researchers from Oklahoma State university are working to create a reliable#oecalendar#of seasonal drought patterns that could help farmers optimize crop production by avoiding days prone to drought.
#Regardless of the method used Ochsner and his team hope that their research will help farmers better plan the cultivation of their crops
##Zoomable map of poplar proteins offers new view of bioenergy cropresearchers seeking to improve production of ethanol from woody crops have a new resource in the form of an extensive molecular map
The research milestone was the result of years of genome analysis by the International Chickpea Genome Sequencing Consortium (ICGSC) led by the International Crops Research Institute for the Semiarid Tropics (ICRISAT) headquartered in Hyderabad Andhra
along with other CGIAR Consortium members and program as well as national partners genome sequencing will play a crucial role in speeding up the development of improved varieties for smallholder farmer crops such as chickpea.
According to Professor Jun Wang Director of BGI The collaboration between BGI and ICRISAT has yielded significant achievements in orphan crops research like the pigeonpea genome before and now the chickpea genome.
I believe that our partnership will revolutionize research on orphan crops which are key staple crops in many low-income countries
and are extremely important to smallholder farmers worldwide. The chickpea genome sequencing project was undertaken by the ICGSC led by ICRISAT the University of California-Davis (USA) and BGI-Shenzhen (China) with key involvement of national partners in India USA Canada Spain
Key to efficient crops, could lead to staple crops with much higher yieldswith projections of 9. 5 billion people by 2050 humankind faces the challenge of feeding modern diets
Cornell researchers have taken a leap toward meeting those needs by discovering a gene that could lead to new varieties of staple crops with 50 percent higher yields.
so we can engineer it into C3 crops said Thomas Slewinski lead author of a paper that appeared online in November in the journal Plant and Cell Physiology.
The study published in the current issue of The Plant Cell is a boon for understanding the stress response and for developing salt-resistant crops.
The United nations estimates that salinity affects crops on about 200 million acres (80 million hectares) of arable land
And as sea levels rise with climate change understanding how plants particularly crops react to salt might allow us to develop plant varieties that can grow in the saltier soils that will likely occur in coastal zones.
The researchers say that in the future all willow crops could be bred for this genetic trait making them a more productive and greener energy source.
Coupled with work at Rothamsted Research where the National Willow Collection is held the new results will help scientists to grow biofuel crops in climatically challenging conditions where the options for growing food crops are limited
whose chemical contents were the precursors to Aspirin willows are seen now as important crops for energy and the environment.
Willow requires less than a tenth of the fertiliser used for most cereal crops and its shoots re-grow quickly after they are harvested.
In agriculture longer growing seasons and rising carbon dioxide levels are likely to increase the yields of some Midwest crops over the next few decades according to the report though those gains will be increasingly offset by the more frequent occurrence of heat waves droughts and floods.
which makes more sense growing fuel crops to supply alternative-fuel vehicles with ethanol and other biofuels or using photovoltaics (PV) to directly power battery electric vehicles (BEV)?
b) converting energy crops into electricity for BEVS rather than producing ethanol; and C) using PVS to convert sunlight directly into electricity for BEVS.
The work may also help predict effects on important agricultural crops which depend on flowering to produce fruit.
#Marginal lands are prime fuel source for alternative energymarginal lands-those unsuited for food crops--can serve as prime real estate for meeting the nation's alternative energy production goals.
We estimate that using marginal lands for growing cellulosic biomass crops could provide up to 215 gallons of ethanol per acre with substantial greenhouse gas mitigation.
and greenhouse gas impacts of different crops including corn poplar alfalfa and old field vegetation.
and BGI has completed the first genome sequence of the diamondback moth (DBM) the most destructive pest of brassica crops.
The diamondback moth (Plutella xylostella) preferentially feeds on economically important food crops such as rapeseed cauliflower and cabbage.
#Lower nitrogen losses with perennial biofuel cropsperennial biofuel crops such as miscanthus whose high yields have led them to be considered an eventual alternative to corn in producing ethanol are shown now to have another beneficial characteristic--the ability
and mixed prairie species to typical corn-corn-soybean rotations each of the perennial crops were highly efficient at reducing nitrogen losses with miscanthus having the greatest yield.
Our results clearly demonstrate that environmental nitrogen fluxes from row-crop agriculture can be reduced greatly after the establishment of perennial biofuel crops said U of I postdoctoral research associate Candice Smith.
Because of the establishment variability we were able to compare annual row crops with perennial crops.
The researchers found that the perennial crops quickly reduced nitrate leaching in the mid-soil profile as well as from tile lines.
By year four each of the perennial crops had small losses Smith said. Nitrous oxide emissions also were much smaller in the perennial crops--including switchgrass
which was fertilized with nitrogen while prairie and miscanthus were not. Overall nitrogen levels were higher for the corn
although more research is needed to fully understand the nitrogen cycle in these new and exciting biofuel crops such as miscanthus results from this study clearly show these crops have the potential to quickly
Reduced Nitrogen Losses after Conversion of Row Crop Agriculture to Perennial Biofuel Crops was published in an issue of the Journal of Environmental Quality.
They use their knowledge to get crops to yield a far greater amount of biomass.
which are crucial to crop production. Understanding how petals produce iridescence to attract pollinators is a major goal in plant biology.
An estimated 35 per cent of global crop production depends on petal-mediated animal pollination but a decrease in pollinator numbers across the world has started to limit the odds of pollination
and reduce crop production rates. Flowers and the animals that pollinate plants interact at the petal surface.
Learning more about how iridescence is produced is important for pollination of crops and also for other types of patterning in biology.
C4 crops including maize sorghum switchgrass and sugarcane are able to withstand drought heat nitrogen
and carbon dioxide limitations better than C3 crops such as rice wheat barley and oats due to their ability to efficiently make use of carbon dioxide
which can be translated into crops that impact the supply of food and fuel said Brutnell.
The technologies that our team developed to identify regulatory genes that enhance photosynthesis in C4 crops can be extended to identify control points for other processes including nitrogen and phosphate efficiency as well as a plant's response to environmental stresses like heat
and biomass of emerging bioenergy feedstocks such as miscanthus and switchgrass and that can be applied to improve food security and major cereal crops.
and genomes for a variety of significant crops using model plants. The regulatory genes that impact photosynthesis are critically important for enhancing growth
and yield and improving carbon capture in both food and bioenergy crops said Mockler. Story Source:
so that the crops can thus assimilate them; what is more they produce hormones that stimulate plant growth
and right now they are running tests on lettuce crops (chosen for their rapid growth) in growth chambers under controlled conditions.
#Clove oil tested for weed control in organic Vidalia sweet onionweed control is one of the most challenging aspects of organic crop production.
Most growers of certified organic crops rely heavily on proven cultural and mechanical weed control methods while limiting the use of approved herbicides.
A new study of herbicides derived from clove oil tested the natural products'effectiveness in controlling weeds in Vidaliaâ sweet onion crops.
although these types of herbicide have been studied previously the majority of the studies were performed on warm-season crops and weeds.
and suggests another disadvantage to using clove oil for weed control in certified organic crop production Johnson noted.
#Automated imaging system looks underground to help improve cropsplant scientists are working to improve important food crops such as rice maize
Beyond improving food crops the technique could also help improve plants grown for energy production materials and other purposes.
Pathogenic fungi are a major threat to our food security--they can devastate crops and cost billions of pounds worth of damage.
In order to efficiently protect crops we must better understand molecular mechanisms like these that occur in the very earliest stages of infection.
This method can help increase crop yields its application is similar to use a fertilizer but having better results
They found higher average annual temperatures correlated with higher soil carbon sequestration specifically in crops mesic upland forest pineland
Areas with higher average annual precipitation showed less sequestration in agricultural crops and pine forests.
If this can be done with legumes such as soybeans perhaps this trait can be transferred to other crops that don't fix nitrogen he added.
Crops that produce more nitrogen will require less fertilizer thus lowering production costs and reducing the potential for runoff that can impact the environment according to Subramanian.
Genetically engineered crops were introduced first in 1996. Today 19 genetically engineered plant species are approved for use in the United states including the major crops used extensively in animal feed:
alfalfa canola corn cotton soybean and sugar beet. Food-producing animals such as cows pigs goats chickens
and other poultry species now consume 70 to 90 percent of all genetically engineered crops according to the new UC Davis review.
Now that a second generation of genetically engineered crops that have been optimized for livestock feed is on the horizon there is a pressing need to internationally harmonize the regulatory framework for these products she said.
Grasses and crops such as maize attach sugars to chemical defenses called benzoxazinoids to protect themselves from being poisoned by their own protective agents.
or detoxification of toxic substances Not only have contributed such adaptations to the vast diversification of insects in the course of evolution they also support the success of agricultural pests specialized on certain crop plants that jeopardize crop yields every year.
or biochar to soil to both boost crop yields and counter global climate change a new study by researchers at Rice university
volatiles in other grassy crops such as sorghum. â#oethis is just a tip of the iceberg.
Longer or shorter growing seasons influence the type of crops that are planted the pests that are present
and energy crops worldwide including staples such as maize rice soybeans and wheat. They simulated the impact of climate change on agricultural production over the course of the 21st century
however at best only moderately suited to agricultural use so the proportion of highly fertile land used for crop production will decrease says Zabel.
In addition one must consider the prospect of increased pressure on land resources for the cultivation of forage crops
And their studies suggest that these methods could be as efficient in protecting crops as using chemical based pesticides.
and it now seems they even have an impact on the yield of the cultivated crops.
or plant growing regulators to protect their crops against pests and diseases. But used in a wrong way pesticides can pose a risk to humans and the surrounding environment.
and offers hope for the production of grain crops able to thrive during unpredictable weather and climate change.
The Biodiversity and Systematics Network is currently studying the major pest problems for the bean (Vicia faba) one of the crops used for rotation in the highlands of the state using the same bionematicide and some other biocontrol agents.
farmlands with multiple crops and small patches of forest; and intensive farmlands consisting of single crops such as sugar cane or pineapple with no adjoining forest areas.
They then analyzed the species spread across those types of places and calculated phylogenetic diversity in each.
Many evolutionary solutions are already at handwhereas we might have to wait for new solutions from human gene therapy genetic engineering of crops
and luckily for rice crops the problematic arrowheads present the best choice for G. permixtana.'
Thanks to two heavily government-subsidized crops--corn and soybeans--the average U s. diet is heavy in the bad omega-6 fatty acids
In most cases the companies that illegally razed forests to grow these crops had some form of government permit in hand.
Gaining better yields in one area lessens the need to clear other areas for crops sidestepping a land conversion process that can significantly raise the amount of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere.
if the same amount of crops can be produced using less land. We set out to determine who was said right Hertel.
In an African green revolution the relatively lower yields of African croplands would require more area to be converted to agriculture to make up for the displaced crop production in the rest of the world.
and have a low emissions efficiency--that is crop yields would be low relative to the carbon emissions released by converting the land to crops.
Since forests are far greater contributors of BVOC emissions than crops and grasslands this shift in land use has removed about 30 percent of Earth's BVOC sources Unger said.
and maintain 28 globally important crops including rice wheat soybean sorghum banana apple citrus fruits grape stone fruits
CWR are wild plant species closely related to crops which grow under a broad range of environmental conditions in their natural habitats
Their adaptive traits can be transferred to crops to improve tolerance to extreme environmental conditions and exposure to different pests and diseases
and marketing qualities of crops. Examples of China's CWR successfully used to improve crops include:
Oryza rufipogon a wild relative of rice utilised to confer tolerance to drought and aluminium toxicity;
This includes wild relatives of 16 crops that are threatened globally because they do not occur anywhere else in the world.
With more plant species than Europe and CWR of globally important food crops its position as a provider of plant genetic resources for crop improvement is crucial to us all globally.
#Future of our crops is at risk in conflict zones, say scientistswild species related to our crops which are crucial as potential future food resources have been identified by University of Birmingham scientists
however a significant proportion are found in conflict zones in the middle East where their conservation is comprised increasingly.
The scientists have identified'hotspots'around the globe where crop wild relatives (CWR)--species closely related to our crops
Climate change along with a steady rise in the human population is forecast to have a detrimental impact on crops that are grown for food.
The wild relatives of crops however contain many useful traits such as drought tolerance yield improvement and resilience to pests and diseases.
The inventory lists 173 crops and their 1667 priority wild relatives along with their particular traits.
which is pest of cereal crops; Saccharum arundinaceum is a relative of sugar cane and can survive very low temperatures
#Speckled beetle key to saving crops in Ethiopia, researchers sayan invasive weed poses a serious and frightening threat to farming families in Ethiopia
which already is changing land-use patterns in that country--meat production requires significantly more land area then crops.
The food security for rapidly growing populations in the world increasingly is dependent on Trade in the future that trade may not always be reliable due to uncertainties in crop yields
when they start producing really good crops. I'm looking forward to that. Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by Texas A&m Agrilife.
Crops such as domesticated peaches indicate that early people weren't passive in dealing with the environment.
#Ozone pollution in India kills enough crops to feed 94 million in povertyin one year India's ozone pollution damaged millions of tons of the country's major
crops causing losses of more than a billion dollars and destroying enough food to feed tens of millions of people living below the poverty line.
Able to acquire accurate crop production data for 2005 the study's authors chose it as a year representative of the effects of ozone damage over the first decade of the 21st century.
U s. tons) of India's wheat rice soybean and cotton crops in 2005. India could feed 94 million people with the lost wheat
and rice crops about a third of the country's poor according to Sachin Ghude an atmospheric scientist at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM) in Pune India and lead author of the new study.
Wheat--one of the country's major food sources--saw the largest loss by weight of the four crops studied in the new paper with ozone pollution damaging 3. 5 million metric tons (3
Policy implicationsghude said the new paper which is the first to quantify how much damage India's ozone pollution has caused the country's major crops on a national level could help policymakers craft new ozone pollution standards.
Calculating ozone damagethe researchers calculated the amount of total crop damage from ozone pollution by comparing emissions estimates from 2005 with data about how much ozone each of the four crops could withstand.
India's economic loss from ozone's harm to crops amounted to $1. 29 billion in in 2005 the study found.
Declines in rice and wheat crops made up the majority of the loss accounting for a combined $1. 16 billion in losses according to the new research.
Ramanathan said that unlike most studies which look at the effect emissions will have on agriculture decades in the future the new study examined how ozone emissions are already affecting crops in India.
Nearly two dozen color photographs of the BMSB and the damage it does to crops are included in the article
To return to an integrated approach to managing all pests in the crops affected by H. halys growers require a more sustainable strategy for chemical control that combines efficient use of insecticides with a better understanding of its biology and behavior according to the authors.
However the mushrooms could be used as food supplement for cattle the gel can be used to increase moisture retention in some crops
and no signs of harmful genetic bottlenecks in whiteflies from greenhouses where new crops are planted every year
but it may also specialize in feeding on greenhouse crops. Tomato and cucumber are the most common crops in the Finnish greenhouse cluster
and initial signs of evolution of specialized races for these host plants were found in the study.
Despite initial signs of host race formation whiteflies prefer natural species to cultivated crops as host plants which could facilitate pest dispersal into natural vegetation in spring.
therefore return from these wild plants to newly planted greenhouse crops in August and September Ovcarenko says.
Results indicated that it pays off to maintain chemical free greenhouse crop production. If biological pest control was used whitefly populations were more susceptible to insecticides
'Gaps between crop yields achieved in'best practice'farming and the actual average yields exist all over the world
and get their crops to markets with far less cost and waste. The good news is that there are still expanses of the world where agriculture can be improved greatly without large environmental costs said Dr Nathan Mueller of Harvard university USA.
More than one-in-ten pest types can already be found in around half the countries that grow their host crops.
Fungi lead the worldwide invasion of crops and are the most widely dispersed group despite having the narrowest range of hosts.
-and-mouse as crops are introduced to pest free regions and briefly thrive before their pursuers catch up with them.
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