Master Agreement will focus on improving agriculture with non-destructive imaging technology for root growth dynamics.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
India’s protected areas are at a crossroads, and a new book by top Indian scientists provides a roadmap on the way forward.
Researchers look into the practice of alley cropping, planting long-term tree crops alongside short-term cash crops, for sustainability.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
“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.
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.
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.
Future food security depends on a variety of factors – but better soil data could substantially help improve projections of future crop yields, shows new research from the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA)
Crop yields will fall within the next decade due to climate change unless immediate action is taken to speed up the introduction of new and improved varieties, experts have warned.
Scientists at Washington University in St. Louis have discovered a previously unknown strategy photosynthetic organisms use to protect themselves from the dangers of excessive light, providing further insight into photosynthesis and opening up new avenues for engineering this process, which underlies the global food chain.
Consumers know some of the benefits blueberries provide, but they’re less aware of the advantages of reverting aging, improving vision and memory, a new University of Florida study shows. Researchers surveyed more than 2,000 people in 31 states – mostly on the East Coast and in the Midwest – to see what they know about the health benefits of blueberries.
North Dakota farmers are growing industrial hemp for the first time in more than 70 years, and the New Crops research program in the NDSU Department of Plant Sciences is conducting research to assist them.
When it comes to the most beneficial cover crops farmers can use to suppress weeds and increase production values, University of New Hampshire scientists have found that forage radish is at the top of the list, according to new research from the NH Agricultural Experiment Station.
Antibiotics and manure. You probably don’t think of them at the same time. But across North America, manure and antibiotics often share the same pile. Researchers find out how quickly antibiotics delivered in animal feed break down in manure applied as fertilizer to fields.
Cities face challenges with stormwater, because the asphalt and concrete don’t absorb the water like the soils found in rural areas. But, the Soil Science Society of America (SSSA) June 15 Soils Matter blog post explains that there are many things urban homeowners can do to help keep water out of stormwater systems. Homeowners can enhance soils’ natural ability to clean and capture water.
Because the Q-biotype whitefly feeds for longer periods on some plants, it has a greater chance of acquiring a plant virus, said Jane Polston, a UF/IFAS plant pathology professor. The more time a whitefly spends feeding on a plant, the more likely it is to acquire a virus from an infected plant.
Known by many as the “Chileman,” Paul Bosland is widely considered the world’s foremost authority on chile peppers.
A new study published in Nature Climate Change indicates soil moisture levels will determine how much carbon is released to the atmosphere as rising temperatures thaw Arctic lands.
Tyler D'Angelo and his fellow ambassadors will spread the word about the importance of agricultural education and learning more about how to teach the subject.
Carbon dioxide emissions from dry and oxygen-rich environments will likely strengthen the climate forcing impact of thawing permafrost on top of methane release from oxygen-poor wetlands in the Arctic, according to a study in Nature Climate Change.
Will Dezern focuses his research on the phenotypic, biochemical and genetic characterization of peanuts. Through his research, Dezern hopes to provide peanut breeders a standardized, updated database to reference and compare peanut lines for their work. “One area in particular I have focused on is the use of genetic markers to select for increased oleic acid content in peanuts,” he said.
University of Delaware researchers have found that incorporating rice husk to soil can decrease toxic inorganic arsenic levels in rice grain by 25 to 50 percent without negatively affecting yield. This could have important implications in developing countries where rice is a dietary staple.
Cornell University researchers in the Department of Food Science found that exposure to light-emitting diode (LED) sources for even a few hours degrades the perceived quality of fluid milk more so than the microbial content that naturally accumulates over time.
Click here to go directly to the Food Science News Source
As you read this, a NASA satellite orbits around planet Earth, gathering data on — of all things — soil moisture. By using numerous instruments here on Earth, researchers are helping NASA determine the accuracy of its Soil Moisture Active Passive, or SMAP, satellite. At the same time, they are working to ensure the methods and instruments they are using on the ground are also comparable.
The origins of over two-thirds of the grains, legumes, fruits, vegetables, and other agricultural crops countries grow and consume can be traced to ancient breadbaskets in distant parts of the world, according to an exhaustive peer-reviewed report published today.
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