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Released: 27-Jul-2016 10:05 AM EDT
Bizarre Bacteria Causing Major Cattle Disease Named by UC Davis Researchers
University of California, Davis

After more than 50 years of research, the tick-borne bacterium responsible for one of the most troubling and economically devastating cattle diseases in the Western United States has been named and genetically characterized by researchers at the University of California, Davis.

   
Released: 27-Jul-2016 8:05 AM EDT
UF/IFAS Researcher Wins Global Award for Space Life Sciences
University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences

Robert Ferl, who researches how plants can grow in space, won the award. Specifically, Ferl was cited for conducting cutting-edge space biology research and for mentoring others in spaceflight research, pushing the boundaries of where biology can travel.

Released: 25-Jul-2016 2:05 PM EDT
Happy Hormone’s Calcium Connection May Make Cows and Humans Healthier
University of Wisconsin–Madison

MADISON — Serotonin is best known for eliciting feelings of happiness in the human brain, but scientists at the University of Wisconsin–Madison have found the hormone plays a role in milk production in dairy cows — and may have health implications for breastfeeding women.

19-Jul-2016 9:40 AM EDT
Salad Days – Tomatoes That Last Longer and Still Taste Good
University of Nottingham

The precise mechanisms involved in tomato softening have remained a mystery until now. Research led by Graham Seymour, Professor of Plant Biotechnology in the School of Biosciences at The University of Nottingham, has identified a gene that encodes an enzyme which plays a crucial role in controlling softening of the tomato fruit.

Released: 25-Jul-2016 9:05 AM EDT
WSU Students Work to Save the Destruction of the Iconic Palm Tree
Wichita State University

When a monster beetle arrived in Hawaii and began chomping down palm trees, students with Wichita State University's Bug Lab took action.

   
Released: 25-Jul-2016 9:05 AM EDT
Meet the First Farmers
Harvard Medical School

Conducting the first large-scale, genome-wide analyses of ancient human remains from the Near East, an international team led by Harvard Medical School has illuminated the genetic identities and population dynamics of the world’s first farmers.

Released: 25-Jul-2016 8:05 AM EDT
UF/IFAS Research Could Lead to More and Healthier Sorghum
University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences

A UF/IFAS scientist has identified two areas of the sorghum genome that could boost the plant’s resistance to the anthracnose disease. Sorghum is a grain known to produce feed for livestock and biofuel.

21-Jul-2016 1:05 PM EDT
U.S. Land Capacity for Feeding People Could Expand with Dietary Changes
Tufts University

A new “food-print” model that measures the per-person land requirements of different diets suggests that, with dietary changes, the U.S. could feed significantly more people from existing agricultural land.

Released: 21-Jul-2016 9:05 AM EDT
New Method Could Quash Squash Pests
University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences

Florida grows more zucchini squash than anywhere else in America – to the tune of $70 million a year. To help improve production, University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences are developing a method to keep squash pests at bay.

Released: 21-Jul-2016 8:05 AM EDT
Can Palm Oil Be Sustainable?
International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA)

A new study shows to where and to what extent palm oil plantations could be expanded, while avoiding further deforestation in pristine and carbon-rich tropical forests.

Released: 20-Jul-2016 1:05 PM EDT
More for Less in Pastures
American Society of Agronomy (ASA), Crop Science Society of America (CSSA), Soil Science Society of America (SSSA)

Research comparing pastures with multiple types of plants to those with less variety shows surprising results in land productivity and soil health.

Released: 20-Jul-2016 12:05 PM EDT
After the Age of Dinosaurs Came the Age of Ant Farmers
Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute

A group of South American ants has farmed fungi since shortly after the dinosaurs died out, according to an international research team including Smithsonian scientists. The genes of the ant farmers and their fungal crops reveal a surprisingly ancient history of mutual adaptations. This evolutionary give-and-take has led to some species--the leafcutter ants--developing industrial-scale farming that surpasses human agriculture in its efficiency.

Released: 20-Jul-2016 10:05 AM EDT
Energy Department Grants $2.5M for Biorefinery Waste Use, Renewable Bioproduct Study
Texas A&M AgriLife

The US DOE grants $2.5 million to Texas A&M AgriLife Research to turn biorefinery waste into new products. "It's said anything but money can be made of lignin. Yet, that is the majority of what's left in the biorefinery plants," said Dr. Joshua Yuan, project leader. "Until we resolve this problem, biorefinery is not going to become economically viable."

Released: 20-Jul-2016 7:05 AM EDT
UF/IFAS-Developed Web Tool Saves Money for Strawberry Growers in Several States
University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences

The Strawberry Advisory System, which tells growers when to spray fungicide, has been shown to save Florida strawberry growers $1.7 million a year. It is now being used in several other states, including Maryland, Georgia, South Carolina and California.

   
Released: 19-Jul-2016 8:05 AM EDT
UF/IFAS Scientist Digging Into Artichokes as Alternative Crop
University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences

Shinsuke Agehara, a UF/IFAS assistant professor of horticultural sciences, thinks he can overcome the chill requirements of growing artichokes. Based at the Gulf Coast Research and Education Center in Balm, Florida, Agehara recently received a nearly $90,000 federal grant to study how to establish an artichoke system for Florida growers.

Released: 18-Jul-2016 10:05 AM EDT
The Power of Scientific Meetings
American Society of Agronomy (ASA), Crop Science Society of America (CSSA), Soil Science Society of America (SSSA)

Researchers begin collaboration on research as a result of 2013 Fukushima symposium

Released: 12-Jul-2016 3:05 PM EDT
US Holds Potential to Produce Billion Tons of Biomass, Support Bioeconomy
Oak Ridge National Laboratory

The 2016 Billion-Ton Report, jointly released by the U.S. Department of Energy and Oak Ridge National Laboratory, concludes that the United States has the potential to sustainably produce at least 1 billion dry tons of nonfood biomass resources annually by 2040.

Released: 12-Jul-2016 1:05 PM EDT
Mantis Shrimp Roll Their Eyes to Improve Their Vision
University of Bristol

Imagine rolling your eyes to help you see more clearly. Although it wouldn't work for humans, new research published today in Nature Communications has shown mantis shrimp use eye rotations to enhance their polarization vision.

Released: 12-Jul-2016 11:05 AM EDT
Danforth Plant Science Center and Valent BioSciences Will Collaborate in Unique Root Science Initiative
Donald Danforth Plant Science Center

Master Agreement will focus on improving agriculture with non-destructive imaging technology for root growth dynamics.

Released: 12-Jul-2016 10:05 AM EDT
New Hybrid Sweetgum Trees Could Boost Paper, Bioenergy Production
University of Georgia

Researchers at UGA have crossed American sweetgums with their Chinese cousins, creating hybrid sweetgum trees that have a better growth rate and denser wood than natives, and can produce fiber year-round.

Released: 11-Jul-2016 12:05 PM EDT
Subtropical Cornwall Climate Could Mean Exotic New Crops
University of Exeter

The subtropical weather in Cornwall means new exotic crops such as quinoa and Japanese persimmon are now more likely to succeed, according to a new technique developed by University of Exeter experts to monitor the climate.

Released: 11-Jul-2016 8:05 AM EDT
Q-Biotype Whitefly Expands to 8 Florida Counties
University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences

Crops that could eventually be affected include tomatoes, squash, beans, watermelons and many other vegetables and ornamentals, said Lance Osborne, an entomology professor at UF/IFAS.

Released: 7-Jul-2016 4:05 PM EDT
Kansas State University Researchers Study Immigration From Central America to Rural Kansas
Kansas State University

Alisa Garni, associate professor of sociology at Kansas State University, and her student team are conducting long-term, in-depth ethnographic research on Central American immigrants in Kansas.

Released: 7-Jul-2016 1:05 PM EDT
Urgent Action Needed to Protect Dwindling Fish Populations in Eastern Pacific
PEW Charitable Trusts

Members of the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC) must do more to follow through on critical commitments to protect tuna and shark populations in the eastern Pacific Ocean. The IATTC, the world’s oldest regional fishery management organization (RFMO) for tuna, meets June 27 to July 1 in La Jolla, California.

Released: 7-Jul-2016 10:05 AM EDT
Loosen Up Cell Walls and Get the Sugars Out
Department of Energy, Office of Science

Plant cell walls resist deconstruction. Pretreatment can loosen the structural integrity of cell walls, reducing their recalcitrance. This study offers insights into how pretreatment induces such cell wall modifications in different types of biomass.

Released: 7-Jul-2016 9:55 AM EDT
Closing the Loop: Ionic Liquids From Biomass Waste Could Pretreat Plants Destined for Biofuels
Department of Energy, Office of Science

Ionic liquids (ILs) prepare plant matter to be broken into its component sugars, which can be used in creating biofuels. However, the availability and high cost of petroleum-derived ILs pose challenges. Synthesizing new ILs directly from biomass “wastes” could help.

Released: 7-Jul-2016 9:45 AM EDT
Elevated Carbon Dioxide Suppresses Dominant Plant Species in a Mixed-Grass Prairie
Department of Energy, Office of Science

Led by researchers from Wyoming, a team found that elevated carbon dioxide levels suppress the dominant plant species in a northern U.S. Great Plains mixed-grass prairie, creating a less diverse community.

Released: 7-Jul-2016 9:35 AM EDT
Characterization of Poplar Budbreak Gene Enhances Understanding of Spring Regrowth
Department of Energy, Office of Science

The gene identified and characterized in this study will enhance the understanding of how woody perennial plants begin their growth cycle, enabling development of new approaches to population management.

Released: 7-Jul-2016 9:25 AM EDT
New Methods for Investigating Wood Formation
Department of Energy, Office of Science

Poplar trees and other woody plants are desirable starting points for producing transportation fuels. The challenge is that the wood-forming materials resist chemical breakdown. Scientists developed two new methods to understand the recalcitrance of woody material.

Released: 7-Jul-2016 8:05 AM EDT
How Tree Tobacco Overcomes the Extreme Bitterness of Its Nectar
University of Haifa

The nectar of tree tobacco (Nicotiana glauca) is composed of a particularly bitter combination of nicotine and anabasine – and yet sunbirds never stop visiting the plant. A new study conducted at the University of Haifa – Oranim Campus points to the reason why: the mixture of chemicals in the nectar affects the sunbird’s memory

Released: 6-Jul-2016 2:05 PM EDT
New Book Focuses on Importance of Indian Forests for Wildlife
Wildlife Conservation Society

India’s protected areas are at a crossroads, and a new book by top Indian scientists provides a roadmap on the way forward.

Released: 6-Jul-2016 12:05 PM EDT
Agroforestry Helps Farmers Branch Out
American Society of Agronomy (ASA), Crop Science Society of America (CSSA), Soil Science Society of America (SSSA)

Researchers look into the practice of alley cropping, planting long-term tree crops alongside short-term cash crops, for sustainability.

Released: 5-Jul-2016 8:05 AM EDT
Fruit Fly Outbreak Cost Growers $4.1 Million; Could Have Been Much Worse
University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences

UF/IFAS faculty credit quick, decisive actions by FDACS, UF/IFAS and the U.S. Department of Agriculture for limiting the reach of the fruit fly. Among other things, the UF/IFAS Tropical Research and Education Center provided logistics, acting as the hub for the entire operation, said Edward "Gilly" Evans, professor of food and resource economics at the Tropical REC.

27-Jun-2016 2:00 PM EDT
Microbes, Nitrogen and Plant Responses to Rising Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide
Northern Arizona University

Plants can grow faster as atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations increase, but only if they have enough nitrogen or partner with fungi that help them get it, according to new research published this week in Science.

Released: 30-Jun-2016 8:05 AM EDT
New Method Tells Growers More About Citrus Decay
University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences

With citrus growers trying to save their groves in the wake of the deadly greening disease, a UF/IFAS researcher has found a new technique that could help growers answer a vexing question – why so much fruit is dropping to the ground prematurely.

Released: 29-Jun-2016 2:05 PM EDT
As Sea Level Rises, Hudson River Wetlands May Expand
Cornell University

In the face of climate change impact and inevitable sea level rise, Cornell and Scenic Hudson scientists studying New York’s Hudson River estuary have forecast new intertidal wetlands, comprising perhaps 33 percent more wetland area by the year 2100.

Released: 29-Jun-2016 12:05 PM EDT
Protein in, Ammonia Out
American Society of Agronomy (ASA), Crop Science Society of America (CSSA), Soil Science Society of America (SSSA)

A recent study has compiled and analyzed data from 25 previous studies. Researchers honed in on factors that influence how much ammonia dairy barns emit.

Released: 28-Jun-2016 3:05 PM EDT
NIBIB-Funded Approach Could Advance Drug Development, Agriculture
National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering

In 2011, researchers developed a technique, called phage-assisted continuous evolution (or PACE), that rapidly generates proteins with new, sought-after properties and therapeutic potential. Originally conceived as a tool for pharmaceutical development, the researchers now have shown its potential in protecting crops from insects.

Released: 28-Jun-2016 1:05 PM EDT
Researcher Finds 'Ghost Workers' Common in Migrant Farm Work
University of Colorado Denver

New research by Sarah Horton, an anthropologist at the University of Colorado Denver, reveals that employers in agricultural industries often take advantage of migrants' inability to work legally by making their employment contingent upon working under the false or borrowed identity documents provided by employers.

   
Released: 28-Jun-2016 8:05 AM EDT
UF/IFAS Researchers Try to Cut Costs to Control Aquatic Invasive Plants in Florida
University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences

From 2008 to 2015, state and federal water resource managers spent about $125 million to control invasive aquatic plants in Florida, according to an April Extension document co-written by Lyn Gettys, a UF/IFAS assistant professor of agronomy and aquatic weed specialist. Of all the invasive plants in Florida’s waterways, hydrilla costs the most to contain -- $66 million over a seven-year period.

Released: 27-Jun-2016 2:05 PM EDT
Breathing New Life Into Public Schoolyards Benefits Entire Communities
Iowa State University

An Iowa State University landscape architecture studio is part of a collaboration that's breathing new life into more than 300 neglected schoolyards in Philadelphia. They represent a burgeoning national movement to green schoolyards.

24-Jun-2016 5:00 PM EDT
From Fire Break to Fire Hazard
McMaster University

The peat bogs of the world, once waterlogged repositories of dead moss, are being converted into fuel-packed fire hazards that can burn for months and generate deadly smoke, warns a McMaster researcher who documents the threat – and a possible solution ¬– in a paper published today in the journal Nature Scientific reports.

Released: 24-Jun-2016 12:05 PM EDT
'Amazing Protein Diversity' Is Discovered in the Maize Plant
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory

Cold Spring Harbor, NY -- The genome of the corn plant - or maize, as it's called almost everywhere except the US - "is a lot more exciting" than scientists have previously believed. So says the lead scientist in a new effort to analyze and annotate the depth of the plant's genetic resources.

Released: 23-Jun-2016 1:05 PM EDT
Sea Star Death Triggers Ecological Domino Effect
Simon Fraser University

A new study by Simon Fraser University marine ecologists Jessica Schultz, Ryan Cloutier and Isabelle Côté has discovered that a mass mortality of sea stars resulted in a domino effect on B.C.'s West Coast Howe Sound marine ecology.

Released: 22-Jun-2016 1:05 PM EDT
A “Fitbit” for Plants?
American Society of Agronomy (ASA), Crop Science Society of America (CSSA), Soil Science Society of America (SSSA)

Knowing what physical traits a plant has is called phenotyping. Because it is such a labor intensive process, scientists are working to develop technology that makes phenotyping much easier. The tool is called the Phenocart, and it captures essential plant health data. The Phenocart measures plant vital signs like growth rate and color, the same way a Fitbit monitors human health signals like blood pressure and physical activity.

Released: 22-Jun-2016 8:05 AM EDT
UF/IFAS Researchers to Study How to Reduce Carbon Dioxide in Ranch Soil
University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences

“The goal is to put together a model that can predict the release of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide from soils under a climate that is expected to be warmer and experience more extreme dry and wet periods across the Southeast,” said Stefan Gerber, a UF/IFAS assistant professor in soil and water sciences and one of the investigators on the new study.

Released: 21-Jun-2016 4:05 PM EDT
Nematode Containment Facility Has Ability to Inspect Soil and Plants Prior to Export
New Mexico State University (NMSU)

NMSU has made upgrades to its nematode containment facility, which provides producers with the certification of sites being free of nematodes. The facility is now able to successfully accommodate and inspect a large amount of plant samples at one time. Funding was also used for new equipment to improve the molecular characterization of nematodes.

Released: 21-Jun-2016 8:05 AM EDT
New Test Can Detect Plant Viruses Faster, Cheaper
University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences

A new test could save time and money diagnosing plant viruses, some of which can destroy millions of dollars in crops each year in Florida, says a University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences researcher.



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