More than 600 million people could be fed each year by halting the spread of fungal diseases in the world's five most important crops, according to research published today in the journal Nature.

Biology - Ecology

Apr 11, 2012 5 / 5 (2) 2 |

Sorghum, or durra, is an important forage crop in many countries, for example the USA, Africa, China and Australia.

Biology - Biotechnology

Apr 04, 2012 not rated yet 0

(AP) -- A common class of pesticide is causing problems for honeybees and bumblebees, important species already in trouble, two studies suggest.

Biology - Ecology

Mar 29, 2012 5 / 5 (6) 1

(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers at Montana State University have developed a protein that can be expressed in oilseed crops to increase the oil yield by as much as 40 percent, a development that could have an impact on the biodiesel ...

Biology - Biotechnology

Mar 26, 2012 4 / 5 (1) 0

As acreage of row crops managed with conservation tillage increases, more growers are encountering slugs, elevating their importance as crop pests. Slugs can eat virtually all crops, and they are challenging ...

Biology - Ecology

Mar 14, 2012 not rated yet 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- Despite calls for finding alternatives to using corn to make biofuel, the United States currently has no such commercial biomass-to-sugar processing plants able to do so. That may soon change ...

Technology - Energy & Green Tech

Mar 09, 2012 3 / 5 (2) 8 |

Overuse of the herbicide glyphosate (Roundup) has caused US crops to become infested with glyphosate-resistant weeds - and a world-leading researcher at The University of Western Australia is fighting to prevent ...

Biology - Ecology

Mar 02, 2012 5 / 5 (1) 0

Almost 80 percent of current farmland in the U.S. would have to be devoted to raising corn for ethanol production in order to meet current biofuel production targets with existing technology, a new study has found. An alternative, ...

Space & Earth - Environment

Feb 29, 2012 4.3 / 5 (6) 1

High corn prices are leading many growers to plant corn every year and to overuse pesticides and other bug-killing technology to maximize yields, researchers report. In many instances, pesticides are applied ...

Biology - Ecology

Feb 29, 2012 5 / 5 (2) 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- Mention biofuels and most people think of corn ethanol. Some may think of advanced biofuels from switchgrass or miscanthus. But tobacco? Not likely.

Biology - Biotechnology

Feb 24, 2012 5 / 5 (3) 1

At first, the back room of plant physiologist Edgar Spalding's lab at the University of Wisconsin-Madison might be mistaken for an alien space ship set straight out of a Hollywood movie. It's a room bathed in low-red light ...

Biology - Biotechnology

Feb 14, 2012 not rated yet 0

The most recent annual results from a four-year Iowa State University study on using cover crops between rows of corn reveals that higher yields – by as much as 10 percent – are possible using the ...

Biology - Other

Feb 09, 2012 5 / 5 (1) 2

(PhysOrg.com) -- A specific gene in corn seems to confer resistance to three important leaf diseases, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists and their university colleagues.

Biology - Biotechnology

Feb 02, 2012 not rated yet 0

If a tree falls in the forest and there are no enzymes to digest it, does it break down?

Biology - Biotechnology

Feb 01, 2012 not rated yet 0 |

A team of researchers from Arizona State University, Stanford University and Carnegie Institution for Science has found that converting large swaths of land to bioenergy crops could have a wide range of effects ...

Space & Earth - Environment

Feb 01, 2012 not rated yet 0