Feature Channels: Agriculture

• share
• favorite_border

Researchers at the University of Vienna, along with collaborators from France, Germany, Switzerland and the USA, have achieved a major breakthrough in understanding how genetic drivers influence the evolution of a specific photosynthesis mechanism in Tillandsia (air plants). This sheds light on the complex actions that cause plant adaptation and ecological diversity. The results of their study are now published in Plant Cell.

• share
• favorite_border

• share
• favorite_border

Fungal disease Fusarium head blight (FHB) is on the rise due to increasingly humid conditions induced by climate change during the wheat growing season, but a fundamental discovery by University of Adelaide researchers could help reduce its economic harm.

• share
• favorite_border

The Quest Diagnostics Foundation today announced an expanded collaboration with Green Bronx Machine (GBM), a transformational educational nonprofit helping students and teachers turn classrooms into agricultural learning experiences.

• share
• favorite_border

A research team developed Fourier transform infra-red (FTIR) spectroscopy-based partial least squares regression (PLSR) models to assess Cenchrus spp (buffel grass) accessions, discovering significant correlations between cell wall composition and digestibility metrics like neutral detergent fiber (NDF) and indigestible NDF (iNDF).

• share
• favorite_border

A research team has substantially enhanced the annotation of the sweetpotato genome 'Taizhong 6', introducing a more comprehensive and detailed version, v1.0.a2.

• share
• favorite_border

A research team has demonstrated that gene-based breeding (GBB) offers a transformative approach to advancing plant and animal breeding, showing remarkable predictability, speed, and cost-effectiveness.

• share
• favorite_border

A research team reviewed the advancements in managing cassava brown streak disease (CBSD), highlighting the integration of new plant breeding technologies (NPBTs) with traditional breeding to enhance resistance.

• share
• favorite_border

Sweet potato quality assessment is crucial for producers and processors because features influence texture and taste, consumer preferences, and viability for different purposes. A new study from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign explores the use of hyperspectral imaging and explainable artificial intelligence (AI) to assess sweet potato attributes.

• share
• favorite_border

The genus Musa, encompassing approximately 70 herbaceous species, is predominantly found in the tropical and subtropical regions of Asia and Oceania.

• share
• favorite_border

Cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) holds significant importance among greenhouse vegetables in China, despite its relatively low salt tolerance. Grafting cucumber onto pumpkin rootstocks, which exhibit strong salt tolerance, can improve its resistance to saline conditions. Earlier research conducted by the team revealed that the pumpkin rootstock CmoNAC1 boosts salt tolerance in grafted cucumbers by modulating H2O2/ABA signaling and maintaining K+/Na+ balance through its interaction with the promoters of CmoRBOHD1/CmoNCED6 and CmoAKT1;2/CmoHKT1;1.

• share
• favorite_border

A research team completes a high-quality chromosome-scale assembly of the 'Chuanhonghua 1' safflower genome.

• share
• favorite_border

The frequency and intensity of plant stresses have increased in recent years due to climate change. Among them, low temperature is an unavoidable environmental factor limiting agricultural productivity.

• share
• favorite_border

Researchers investigated the influence of ploidy level on mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) copy number and gene expression in fish. They compared mtDNA copy numbers in liver and muscle of red crucian carp, common carp, and two allotriploid fish across different seasons.

• share
• favorite_border

In many parts of America, we take food for granted. With full grocery store shelves and copious options available at the push of a button on food delivery apps, we seldom think about the complex but critical food and agricultural systems behind this abundance.

• share
• favorite_border

Finding out what farmers want in terms of mental health support is the focus of a new University of South Australia study, with researchers looking to establish who farmers turn to once they’ve exhausted their personal coping systems through family and friends.

• share
• favorite_border

AI provides a new lens to bridge science and practice in crop breeding research, said Iowa State University agronomy professor Jianming Yu, one of the world’s top-ranked scientists in the fields of quantitative genetics and plant breeding.

• share
• favorite_border