Update: New Pest & Disease Records (16 May 12)

May 16, 2012 by Leave a comment

© Henrique Pinto (CC BY 2.0 license, via Flickr)

We’ve selected a few of the latest new geographic, host and species records for plant pests and diseases from CAB Abstracts. Records this fortnight include new records of rust fungi for South Africa, a new species of Stemphylium on spinach vine in China, and the first report of the root-knot nematodes Meloidogyne javanica and M. incognita on ginger and coriander crops in two Indian regions.

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MoU Signed in Grenada

May 15, 2012 by Leave a comment

Lizz Johnson and Michael Lett holding the MoU that outlines how the Ministry of Agriculture and CABI will work together to bring Plant health system to Grenada and provide information to the Plantwise Knowledge Bank.

Plant clinics are now a reality in Grenada.  Phil Taylor and Lizz Johnson recently travelled to Grenada to give Module 2 of the Plantwise “How to be a Plant doctor” training and additional  exercises in data management.  The week-long course involved a brief recap of what was learned in Module 1 (symptom recognition and description) and then moved onto how to make recommendations in response to farmers’ pest and disease problems. CABI courses encourage non-chemical control of pests and diseases but also acknowledges the importance of chemical inputs in food production. Module 2 studies cultural control measures as well as the use and the modes of action of various chemicals so that they can be used judiciously and minimise the likelihood of resistance.  The course involves a visit to local agro-chemical suppliers in the area to alert them of the Plantwise initiative and to begin dialogue with them and to incorporate them into a true plant health system. In each case the trainees were well received and the dealers were keen to learn more and become involved in the initiative. Read more of this post

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Update: Plant Health News (9 May 12)

May 9, 2012 by Leave a comment

Disease-resistant raspberries – from FreshFruitPortal.com

Here’s a taste of some of the latest stories about plant health, including the development of disease-resistant raspberries in the U.S., news on a biofertilizer that could save citrus crops in Brazil, and how DNA barcoding could be the future of crop pest control.

Click on the link to read more of the latest plant health news!

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Arctic fungus spreads to UK

May 3, 2012 by Leave a comment

Scientists have recently identified the first specimens of the fungus Sclerotinia subarctica in the UK. The fungus has not previously been found this far south and may pose a risk to UK agriculture. The findings were made by scientists at the Warwick Crop Centre at the University of Warwick. Read more of this post

Filed under Agriculture, Crop losses, Plant health, Plant pests and diseases Tagged with , , , , ,

Update: New Pest & Disease Records (02 May 12)

May 2, 2012 by Leave a comment

The blackfly, Aleurocanthus terminaliae, has been found for the first time on mango © V R Kiran (CC BY-SA 3.0 license, via Wikimedia Commons)

We’ve selected a few of the latest new geographic, host and species records for plant pests and diseases from CAB Abstracts. Records this fortnight include the blight disease, Phytophthora, reported for the first time in Lithuania; the first record of blackfly on mango in India; and a new species of Lymantria moth in China.

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Plant-bacteria relationships a-maize scientists

April 30, 2012 by Leave a comment

The seedlings of cultivated Zea mays. Credit Bff.

Many of us have seen the adverts trying to convince us that there are ‘good bacteria’ that we should be making the most of in yogurty, pro-biotic drinks to help keep our guts healthy. Now it turns out that plants like maize are already one step ahead of us – not only making the most of beneficial soil (or rhizo-) bacteria, but having also learnt to draw the good bacteria towards their root system. Once they’ve done that, the plants just sit back, relax, and let the hardworking bacteria do all the work for them.

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Aphids Run Scared from GM Wheat

April 27, 2012 by Leave a comment

Wheat fields have just become a lot scarier (Source: RaeAllen, Flickr)

Genetically Modified wheat, gifted with the ability to fight off plant pest attacks, is being grown in England. In a situation similar to the film The Happening, wheat crops are now able to defend themselves against aphids. In the barely-believable movie, plants gained the ability to release chemicals that affected people’s behaviour in order to defend themselves from the polluting ways of humanity. Whilst we are not quite at that stage yet, the ability to produce plants that can defend themselves is an important step in reducing the use of chemical insecticides. Some plants naturally evolve defences against herbivores, but in this case, the wheat crop’s chemical defences have been specifically chosen by scientists.

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Filed under Agriculture, Crop losses, Food security, Plant pests and diseases Tagged with , , , ,

Update: Plant Health News (25 Apr 12)

April 25, 2012 by Leave a comment

Coconuts by Joyonweb

Here’s a taste of some of the latest stories about plant health, including the development of a new scab-resistant apple, how temperature and rainfall affect crop pest and disease interactions, and the Tanzanian research hoping to combat coconut troubles.

Click on the link to read more of the latest plant health news!

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Mining technology can help find nutritional crop varieties

April 23, 2012 by 1 Comment

Millet grains can be analysed for nutritional content using X-ray fluorescence © ICRISAT HOPE/Peter Casier (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 license)

Farmers face difficult challenges in deciding which crop variety to continue growing. They need to choose crop varieties that have a high likelihood of survival and that will have a high yield. The communities that these farmers provide crops for also have needs. Their need is focused on the access to nutritious crops that contain high concentrations of minerals such as zinc and iron. It is easy for farmers to see which crop varieties with the largest vegetative organs and those that survive longest, but how do farmers discover which crops are the most nutritious? They can’t simply look at each plant to find their nutritional content. Now agricultural scientists believe that they may have solved this problem by using X-Ray Fluorescence technology to analyse crop seeds. Read more of this post

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Plantwise launched in Uganda

April 19, 2012 by Leave a comment

SANY0098Plantwise has officially been launched in Uganda as of 16th April 2012. The ceremony was held at Nkokonjeru in Buikwe district central Uganda and was attended by over 300 people made up of Plantwise plant doctors local dignitaries and farmers who have been helped by the local plant clinic. The honoured guests were the local MP (himself a part-time farmer) Mr Komayombi and Dr Karyeija the Commissioner and Deputy Commissioner of crop protection within MAAIF (Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industries and Fisheries). Read more of this post

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