Without adequate funding, deadly wheat disease could threaten global food...
Disease-resistant wheat developed over the past half century helped ensure steady world food supplies, but a global team led by researchers from the University of Minnesota warns in a new paper that...
View ArticleRice blast research reveals details on how a fungus invades plants
Like a stealthy enemy, blast disease invades rice crops around the world, killing plants and cutting production of one of the most important global food sources. Now a study by an international team of...
View ArticleHow insects domesticate bacteria: Symbiotic microbes' origin discovered after...
Two years ago, a 71-year-old Indiana man impaled his hand on a branch after cutting down a dead crab apple tree, causing an infection that led University of Utah scientists to discover a new bacterium...
View ArticleMicrobial 'missing link' discovered after man impales hand on tree branch
(Phys.org)—It all started with a crab apple tree. Two years ago, a 71-year-old Indiana man impaled his hand on a branch after cutting down a dead tree. The wound caused an infection that led scientists...
View ArticleGeographic complexity explains patterns of spread of white-nose syndrome in...
(Phys.org)—The spread of white-nose syndrome, an emerging fungal disease in bats, may be determined by habitat and climate, scientists at the University of Georgia have found.
View ArticleGlobal research team decodes genome sequence of 90 chickpea lines
In a scientific breakthrough that promises improved grain yields and quality, greater drought tolerance and disease resistance, and enhanced genetic diversity, a global research team has completed...
View ArticleAn interactive atlas to preserve agricultural biodiversity
U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists and cooperators have developed an interactive atlas of wild plants in Guatemala that are closely related to crop plants. The atlas will make it easier...
View ArticleUS a surprisingly large reservoir of crop plant diversity
North America isn't known as a hotspot for crop plant diversity, yet a new inventory has uncovered nearly 4,600 wild relatives of crop plants in the United States, including close relatives of globally...
View ArticleScientist: Cassava disease spread at alarming rate (Update)
Scientists say a disease destroying entire crops of cassava has spread out of East Africa into the heart of the continent, is attacking plants as far south as Angola and now threatens to move west into...
View ArticleUN backs cassava as future global crop
Cassava has huge potential and could turn from "a poor people's food into a 21st century crop" if grown according to a new environmentally-friendly farming model, the UN food agency said on Tuesday.
View ArticleNo biomarkers identified to assess potential health effects of GMOs
Many people in Europe are critical of genetically modified (GM) food, due to safety concerns. A Eurobarometer survey, published in 2010, revealed that the European public tends to be worried on a...
View ArticleAncient crop could help safeguard world's wheat
(Phys.org) —Using a crop popular in the Bronze Age but almost unknown today, University of Sydney scientists have helped pave the way to creating wheat resistant to the fungal disease stem rust.
View ArticleMaize trade disruption could have global ramifications
Disruptions to U.S. exports of maize (corn) could pose food security risks for many U.S. trade partners due to the lack of trade among other producing and importing nations, says a Michigan State...
View ArticleSecrets of pineapple nutrition revealed
(Phys.org) —A researcher from The University of Queensland, has conducted the world's first pineapple microarray to gain a better understanding of tropical fruit development at the molecular level.
View ArticleProtecting the weedy and wild kin of globally important crops
Over the past few decades, crop breeders have increasingly relied on the wild and weedy relatives of domesticated crops as new sources of disease resistance, drought tolerance, and other traits. But...
View ArticleScientists uncover mechanism for natural plant immunity
Scientists in Norwich and China have, for the first time, uncovered exactly how an immune receptor mediating plants' natural immunity to bacteria works.
View ArticleDeveloping new methods to assess resistance to disease in young oilseed rape...
Being able to measure resistance to disease in young oilseed rape plants is vital in the battle to breed new disease resistant varieties of the crop, and is the focus of a study by a team of...
View ArticleWhy does Europe hate GM food and is it about to change its mind?
While the United States, Canada, Brazil, Argentina and China and many other countries have warmly embraced genetically modified crops, Europe remains the world's big holdout.
View ArticleSmall predator diversity is an important part of a healthy ecosystem
Biodiversity, including small predators such as dragonflies and other aquatic bugs that attack and consume parasites, may improve the health of amphibians, according to a team of researchers....
View ArticleScientists use wasps to protect local citrus crops from disease
They look like grains of black sand inside a prescription vial. But each speck is a wasp that is lethal to the offspring of the Asian citrus psyllid, an aphid-size bug that spreads the bacteria that...
View ArticleModel considers long-term benefits based on adaptive action
Helping farmers decide what crop to sow in a particular field has just become easier thanks to changes to an existing simulation model.
View ArticleSmartphones to battle crop disease
EPFL and Penn State University are releasing an unprecedented 50,000 open-access photos of plant diseases. The images will be used to build an app that will turn smartphones into plant doctors, helping...
View ArticleTransgenic sweet corn no more susceptible to Goss's wilt disease
Transgenic crops expressing resistance to the herbicide glyphosate (GR) have been commercialized and planted widely across the U.S. for two decades. The majority of transgenic corn (Bt) also has been...
View ArticleSome but not all plants can defend themselves against disease on saline soil
Some plants with resistance against a specific disease are also able to defend themselves effectively when they are stressed due to, for example, drought or saline soil. At the same time, the...
View ArticleScientists advance disease resistance in three of world's most important crops
Today's advanced online publication of the journal Nature Biotechnology carries three important papers on crop disease resistance. They report the isolation of novel disease resistance genes and the...
View ArticleUnderstanding the links between climate change and arable crop diseases using...
A recently published research paper co-authored by the University of Hertfordshire's Bruce Fitt, explores how modelling is being used to help guide planning of climate change adaption strategies to...
View ArticleVideo: Empowering Maine's mightiest pollinators
For the last 30 years, Drummond, professor of insect ecology at the University of Maine, has studied the biology, ecology, disease susceptibility and pesticide exposure of Maine's 275 native species of...
View ArticleOpen-source mungbean genetic information website enables better varieties
Scientists and mungbean growers around the world now have access to an open-source website containing the latest genetic information on the qualities of 560 accessions of mungbean.
View ArticlePortable DNA sequencers help African farmers fight crop disease
Scientists at The University of Western Australia are using new portable DNA sequencing technology for the first time in East Africa to help farmers fight the devastating impact of crop disease.
View ArticleNew mobile app diagnoses crop diseases in the field and alerts rural farmers
Researchers who developed a new mobile application that uses artificial intelligence to accurately diagnose crop diseases in the field have won a $100,000 award to help expand their project to help...
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