News tagged with tomato plants

I, robot -- and gardener: MIT droids tend plants

(AP) -- These gardeners would have green thumbs - if they had thumbs.

Electronics / Robotics

created Apr 10, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (5) | comments 4

Robotic gardening: MIT course creates robot-tending tomatoes

(PhysOrg.com) -- In the middle of MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab (CSAIL) sits a platform of fake grass with tomato plants nestled in terra cotta pots, growing under the light of an ...

Electronics / Robotics

created Mar 10, 2009 | popularity 3.4 / 5 (7) | comments 3

Research finds molecular 'maturation clock' that modulates branching architecture in tomato plants

The secret to pushing tomato plants to produce more fruit might not lie in an extra dose of Miracle-Gro. Instead, new research from Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) suggests that an increase in fruit yield ...

Biology / Biotechnology

created Dec 26, 2011 | popularity 4 / 5 (2) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

Genetic key discovered to dramatically increase yields and improve taste of hybrid tomato plants

Spectacularly increased yields and improved taste have been achieved with hybrid tomato plants by researchers at the Robert H. Smith Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environment at the Hebrew University and ...

Biology / Biotechnology

created Apr 06, 2010 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (10) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

Single gene dramatically boosts yield, sweetness in tomato hybrids

Giving tomato breeders and ketchup fans something to cheer about, a Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) scientist and his colleagues at the Hebrew University in Israel have identified a gene that pushes hybrid ...

Biology / Biotechnology

created Mar 28, 2010 | popularity 3.9 / 5 (11) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Plant disease hits eastern US veggies early, hard

(AP) -- Tomato plants have been removed from stores in half a dozen states as a destructive and infectious plant disease makes its earliest and most widespread appearance ever in the eastern United States.

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Jul 03, 2009 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (7) | comments 2

New discoveries upend traditional thinking about how plants make certain compounds

Michigan State University plant scientists have identified two new genes and two new enzymes in tomato plants; those findings led them to discover that the plants were making monoterpenes, compounds that help give tomato ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created May 26, 2009 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (3) | 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

Compound from wild tomatoes is natural, effective herbicide

(Phys.org) -- A naturally occurring compound derived from wild tomato plants is also a fast-acting, nontoxic herbicide, according to researchers at North Carolina State University.

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Apr 25, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Devising a 'silver bullet' for measuring water use by plants

(Phys.org) -- Most gardeners can tell by rule of thumb how much water their tomatoes and carrots need, but taking an accurate reading of plants' actual water use is a very difficult problem.   Although ...

Space & Earth / Environment

created Apr 24, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Spider mite genome sequence establishes tools to tackle pest resistance

(PhysOrg.com) -- The tiny two-spotted spider mite, Tetranychus urticae (only 0.3 mm in size) is a destructive worldwide pest that attacks more than 150 diverse crop plants, including tomatoes, peppers, strawberries, flowers, ...

Biology / Biotechnology

created Mar 07, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Research examines virus infection's differing effects on plants, insects

(PhysOrg.com) -- Tomato spotted wilt virus can be deadly for many important plants, but have little effect on the plants' small insect hosts. Research by a Kansas State University plant pathologist and two students is examining ...

Biology / Biotechnology

created Jan 10, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Researchers learn how pathogen causes speck disease

(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers have discovered how the structure of a protein allows a certain bacteria to interfere with the tomato plant's immune system, causing bacterial speck disease.

Biology / Biotechnology

created Dec 15, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Tomato gene may fend banana against formidable fungus

(PhysOrg.com) -- Proteins from the fungus Cladosporium fulvum, which causes leaf blight in tomato plants, are very similar to the proteins of the fungus Mycosphaerella fijiensis, which causes the much-feared black Sigato ...

Biology / Biotechnology

created Apr 13, 2010 | popularity 3 / 5 (2) | comments 0

Study finds DNA barcoding requires caution without closer examination

The goal of DNA barcoding is to find a simple, cheap, and rapid DNA assay that can be converted to a readily accessible technical skill that bypasses the need to rely on highly trained taxonomic specialists for identifications ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Jun 25, 2009 | popularity 4 / 5 (1) | comments 0