News tagged with crop plants

Deterring signals: Tobacco plants advertise their defensive readiness to attacking leafhoppers

Following herbivory, plants produce jasmonic acid, a hormone which activates several plant defense reactions. Scientists found that leafhoppers can evaluate whether tobacco plants are ready for defense when attacked. If jasmonate-signaling ...

Biology / Biotechnology

created May 23, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Blossom end rot plummets in transgenic tomato

The brown tissue that signals blossom end rot in tomatoes is a major problem for large producers and home gardeners, but a Purdue University researcher has unknowingly had the answer to significantly lowering ...

Biology / Biotechnology

created May 21, 2012 | popularity 4 / 5 (2) | comments 3

Supercharged safflower

This scientific achievement has produced safflower seed oil that contains more than 90 per cent of this valuable fatty acid, the highest level of purity of an individual fatty acid currently available in any ...

Biology / Biotechnology

created May 21, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

How plants chill out

Plants elongate their stems when grown at high temperature to facilitate the cooling of their leaves, according to new research from the University of Bristol published today in Current Biology. Understanding why plants alter ...

Biology / Biotechnology

created May 21, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

EU food agency rejects France ban on Monsanto GM maize

Europe's food safety agency EFSA on Monday rejected the grounds for a temporary French ban on a genetically modified strain of maize made by US company Monsanto.

Biology / Biotechnology

created May 21, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Common fungicide wreaks havoc on freshwater ecosystems

Chlorothalonil, one of the world's most common fungicides used pervasively on food crops and golf courses, was lethal to a wide variety of freshwater organisms in a new study, University of South Florida researchers said ...

Biology / Ecology

created May 16, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Genetic engineers create smarter toxins to help crops fight resistant pests

One of the most successful strategies in pest control is to endow crop plants with genes from the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis, or Bt for short, which code for proteins that kill pests attempting to eat ...

Biology / Biotechnology

created Oct 09, 2011 | popularity 4 / 5 (3) | comments 20 | with audio podcast

Increasing predator-friendly land can help farmers reduce costs

Having natural habitat in farming areas that supports ladybugs could help increase their abundance in crops where they control pests and help farmers reduce their costs, says a Michigan State University study.

Biology / Ecology

created May 11, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Potato genome sequenced

The Potato Genome Sequencing Consortium (PGSC), a team of scientists from institutions worldwide, including Virginia Tech, has published its findings in the Sunday July 10 online issue of the journal Nature.

Biology / Biotechnology

created Jul 10, 2011 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (2) | comments 3 | with audio podcast

Big pest, small genome: Blueprint of spider mite may yield better pesticides

(PhysOrg.com) -- An international research team decoded the genetic blueprint of the two-spotted spider mite, raising hope for new ways to attack the major pest, which resists pesticides and destroys crops ...

Biology / Biotechnology

created Nov 23, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Barley takes a leaf out of reindeer's book in the land of the midnight sun

Barley grown in Scandinavian countries is adapted in a similar way to reindeer to cope with the extremes of day length at high latitudes. Researchers have found a genetic mutation in some Scandinavian barley ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created May 11, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Honeybee deaths linked to seed insecticide exposure

Honeybee populations have been in serious decline for years, and Purdue University scientists may have identified one of the factors that cause bee deaths around agricultural fields.

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Jan 12, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (18) | comments 25 | with audio podcast

Climate-driven heat peaks may shrink wheat crops

More intense heat waves due to global warming could diminish wheat crop yields around the world through premature ageing, according to a study published Sunday in Nature Climate Change.

Space & Earth / Environment

created Jan 29, 2012 | popularity 3.9 / 5 (14) | comments 22

Breeder works to reduce aluminum toxicity in rice

(Phys.org) -- As rice farmers around the world begin to turn from wet paddies to dry fields in an attempt to conserve water and mitigate climate change, they are facing a new foe: aluminum.

Biology / Biotechnology

created May 08, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Manipulating genes with hidden TALENs

(PhysOrg.com) -- A better understanding of gene function in model plant and animal systems could be used to develop useful traits in livestock and crop plants, and might someday lead to developments in stem ...

Chemistry / Biochemistry

created Feb 13, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast