While it’s an important part of our diets, new research shows that rice plants can be used in a different way, too: to clean runoff from farms before it gets into rivers, lakes, and streams.
A new approach co-developed at The Ohio State University uses data analytics and machine learning to predict the conservation status of more than 150,000 plants worldwide. Results suggest that more than 15,000 species likely qualify as near-threatened, vulnerable, endangered or critically endangered.
A plant relies on cellular machinery to recycle materials during times of stress, but that same machinery has a remarkable influence on the plant's metabolism even under healthy growing conditions.
Did you know soils could be “boutique?” The Soil Science Society of America (SSSA) Dec. 1 Soils Matter blog explains how this group of soils can challenge your assumptions.
Not only can growers learn the newest information, they’ll find out about approaches to commercializing new citrus varieties.
New research shows wild bees are essential for larger and better blueberry yields – with plumper, faster-ripening berries. The study is the first to show that wild bees improve not only blueberry quantity, but also quality. It finds they produce greater berry size (12%), quantity (12%), size consistency (11%), and earlier harvests – by two and a half days.
In the Loess Plateau region of northwestern China, potato is the main food crop. However, the area has a dry climate with uneven precipitation. Researchers are finding the best combination of tillage and mulching practices to increase yield.
The solution to a 75-year-old materials mystery might one day allow farmers in developing nations to produce their own fertilizer on demand, using sunlight and nitrogen from the air.
When he was planting rice in valley swamps in Sierra Leone many years ago, Robert Gilbert never imagined he’d be a dean at the University of Florida. But now, here he is: dean of research at the UF Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences and director of the Florida Agricultural Experiment Station.
Researchers with NASA, the University of Chicago and the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research found that by adding data on when each specific region plants and harvests its crops, they could double the accuracy of crop prediction. This could improve the information available for policymakers and markets to brace for the impacts of crop loss.
The National Science Foundation has awarded a five-year, $500,000 grant to a multi-institution research network team to advance understanding of global eco-evolutionary dynamics.
Truffles are thought of as dining delicacies but they play an important role in soil ecosystem services as the fruiting bodies of the ectomycorrhizal (ECM) fungal symbionts residing on host plant roots. An international team sought insights into the ECM lifestyle of truffle-forming species through a comparative analysis of eight fungal genomes.
For seven years, the Healthy Gulf, Healthy Communities project helped Florida and Alabama residents recover from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and provided research opportunities for faculty members with the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences and collaborating institutions. Now, Healthy Gulf, Healthy Communities has been honored with a prestigious W.K. Kellogg Foundation Community Engagement Scholarship Award, which recognizes collaborative efforts between university personnel and members of individual communities.
New research suggests that, over time, less phosphorus fertilizer may be necessary on agricultural fields.
Behold the common house plant, the front-yard shrub, the rhododendron around back that’s seen better days since the next-door neighbors put their home on the market.They brighten our lawns, increase our property values, even boost our mental and physical health by reducing carbon dioxide levels.For Dr. Joel Burken at Missouri University of Science and Technology, such plants are far more valuable than as mere window dressing.
A critical concern for commercial farmers is to have good and synchronized tree growth. The problem in mild winter climates is that plants do not receive enough chilling, and growth resumption becomes spread out with some buds even failing to grow. Now scientists from Jazan University have discovered an effective new way to control the dormancy of grapes and other fruiting plants, by using high-tech plasmas to wake them from their winter's slumber. They will present the work next week at the APS 71st Annual Gaseous Electronics Conference and 60th Annual meeting of the APS Division of Plasma Physics, Nov. 5-9.
New research from the University of Vermont provides insight to help predict which plants are likely to become invasive in a particular community. The results showed that non-native plants are more likely to become invasive when they possess biological traits that are different from the native community and that plant height can be a competitive advantage.
Researchers with the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory have discovered that communities of microbes living near tree roots are ten times more diverse than the human microbiome and produce a cornucopia of novel molecules that could be useful as antibiotics and anti-cancer drugs.
Faculty members from New York Institute of Technology are poised to leverage technology to transform agriculture by developing an in-ground, real-time soil nutrient sensing system, with support from the U.S. National Science Foundation.
A new University of Florida-developed forecasting system could help citrus growers control postbloom fruit drop this winter, despite the predicted El Niño weather pattern that’s expected to bring more rain and moderate temperatures.
Thanksgiving wouldn’t be the same without cranberries. But how much do you know about these tart berries? The Nov. 7 Sustainable, Secure Food blog has loads of cranberry facts, ripe for your feasting table!
An eco-friendly technology for greener cosmetics and cleaner engine lubricants, made from approximately 50 percent biomass (grasses, corn husks, wood chips, etc.) and 50 percent common cooking oil.
Experimental warming treatments show how peatland forests may respond to future environmental change.
Digital innovations in agriculture, including robots, drones and artificial intelligence (AI), are part of a new arsenal of tools plant breeders are using to feed the world’s population. The Cornell Initiative for Digital Agriculture (CIDA) leverages digital innovations in agriculture to improve the sustainability, profitability, resiliency and efficiency of the world’s food systems.
With the updated technology, a laser shoots infra-red energy pulses at citrus tree leaves. That energy cracks the cuticles on the leaves and increases the penetration of agrochemicals – including bactericides -- into the leaves by more than 4,000 percent.
Signaling mechanism details discovered, potentially leading to strategies to engineer plants that make more bio-oil.
Moss evolved after algae but before vascular land plants, such as ferns and trees, making them an interesting target for scientists studying photosynthesis, the process by which plants convert sunlight to fuel. Now researchers at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have made a discovery that could shed light on how plants evolved to move from the ocean to land.
Rose geranium oil may help to ease the symptoms of nasal vestibulitis, a common and painful nasal condition linked to cancer drug treatment, according to the results of a small observational study, published online in the journal BMJ Supportive & Palliative Care.
Researchers have found a natural way to help plants retain water, using a strain of beneficial bacteria living right in the soil around the plant roots. The goal is to use this microbe on a larger scale to combat droughts and increase crop yields.
Climate scientists have not been properly accounting for what plants do at night, and that, it turns out, is a mistake. A new study from the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) has found that plant nutrient uptake in the absence of photosynthesis affects greenhouse gas emissions to the atmosphere.
When bacterial pathogens invade a plant, a game of chess plays inside the cells of the plant as the pathogen tries to hijack the genetic pathways that govern the plant’s disease response. In a newly published study, researchers at Iowa State University describe the tactics the pathogens and the plants use in this high-stakes standoff.
A small beetle can cause big losses to bean crops. But a new study has narrowed down the genetic locations of several weevil resistance genes in the common bean.
Electrical engineer Koichi Takaki has used nanosecond-long pulses of high-voltage electricity and discharge plasma -- like that found in lightning -- to promote the growth of fruits, vegetables and edible fungi and to preserve the freshness of a variety perishable foods. Takaki will describe his findings at the AVS 65th International Symposium and Exhibition, Oct. 21-26.
The presence of an invasive species in an ecosystem makes native organisms more susceptible to pollutants and may encourage the spread of additional invasive species, according to new research from Binghamton University.
Preliminary research results suggest that young, HLB-affected trees benefit most from a “full ration” of water, a finding that surprised researchers.
Scientists studying a valuable, but vulnerable, species of poplar have identified the genetic mechanism responsible for the species’ inability to resist a pervasive and deadly disease. Their finding could lead to more successful hybrid poplar varieties for increased biofuels and forestry production and protect native trees against infection.
Ground penetrating radar measures the amount of moisture in soil quickly and easily. Researchers' calculations from the data informs agricultural water use and climate models.
Rice, the most widely consumed food crop in the world, takes a beating in hot weather. To combat the high temperatures, a global group of scientists, led by a University of Florida researcher, has found the genetic basis to breed a more heat-tolerant rice cultivar.
Lauren Diepenbrock works as the lead citrus extension entomologist focused on integrated pest management (IPM) programs at the Citrus Research and Education Center.
For the first time, a Cornell study of strawberry crops on New York farms tested this theory and found that wildflower strips on farms added pollinators when the farm lay within a “Goldilocks zone,” where 25 to 55 percent of the surrounding area contained natural lands. Outside this zone, flower plantings also drew more strawberry pests, while having no effect on wasps that kill those pests.
On top of rising sea levels, stronger hurricanes and worsening wildfires, scientists project that human-caused climate change will result in one of the most dire consequences imaginable: a disruption in the global beer supply.
Adopting benchmarks similar to the fuel-efficiency standards used by the auto industry in the production of fertilizer could yield $5-8 billion in economic benefits for the U.S. corn sector alone, researchers have concluded in a new analysis.
Have you noticed wavy bands of soil along roads or paths? The Soil Science Society of America (SSSA) Oct. 15 Soils Matter blog explains these horizontal soil waves and the unusual way they form.
A computational model that can track how genes are expressed in each cell type within tissue may help scientists unravel how diseases, such as cancer, progress and how they evade treatment.
Factors like how seeds are spaced when planting or soil moisture can affect the yield and nutritional value of crops. Scientists at the American Society of Agronomy and Crop Science Society annual meeting will discuss these factors and more.
Sustainable intensification is an approach that aims to increase crop yields on existing agricultural land while minimizing the negative environmental pressures and impacts of agricultural systems. Scientists at the American Society of Agronomy and Crop Science Society annual meeting will present a special symposium, “Sustainable Intensification for Improved Food Production and Environmental Quality.”
A team of West Virginia University researchers are investigating the impact of the Clean Air Act on soil and tree growth in the eastern U.S.
When is an autumn hay ride not a hay ride? The October 7th Sustainable, Secure Food blog explains the difference between hay and straw--and what you're really sitting on during those farm adventures.
Reported October 8, 2018, in Nature Microbiology, a team led by U.S. Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute researchers developed a pipeline to generate genomes from single cells of uncultivated fungi. The approach was tested on several uncultivated species representing early diverging fungi.
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