Biotechnology aiding the fight against cowpea pest damage in Africa
Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata), a staple crop in West Africa, is consumed by more than 200 million people a day and is an important source of income for farming communities. Nigeria is the largest producer of cowpea, yet still imports roughly 500,000 tonnes of the crop per year due to the domestic consumption demand. This need…
Update: New Pest & Disease Records (7 July 2021)
We’ve selected a few of the latest new geographic, host and species records for plant pests and diseases from CAB Abstracts. Records this month include a new species of bark beetle in Taiwan and the first record of fungi isolated from Thrips tabaci on garlic in the Philippines.
How Nutrient Management Digital Tools are Helping to Combat Climate Change
Fertilizers, whether organic or mineral provide essential macro and micronutrients to crops which results in more productive growth and yields. While proper fertilization is crucial for productivity, there are also negative impacts to the misuse of such products, notably the excessive application of fertilizers on farm plots which can result in the leaching of nutrients…
Update: New Pest & Disease Records (7 June 2021)
We’ve selected a few of the latest new geographic, host and species records for plant pests and diseases from CAB Abstracts. Records this month include new records of Dichotomophthora portulacae in Iraq and the first report of Grapevine Pinot gris virus infecting grapevine in Algeria.
New ePlant clinics to help the most remote farmers in Northern India
Plantwise ePlant clinics have opened in a further five districts of Jammu province in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir. With its mountainous landscape, these districts are often inaccessible to public service providers. To make information available to farmers, the Department of Agriculture, Jammu (DAJ) in collaboration with CABI, has established a network of…
Update: New Pest & Disease Records (12 May 2021)
We’ve selected a few of the latest new geographic, host and species records for plant pests and diseases from CAB Abstracts. Records this month include new records of long horned beetles (Cerambycidae: Coleoptera) in Pakistan and the identification of Curvularia lunata as new causal pathogen of tomato early blight disease in Egypt.
Gene editing of pigs worries consumers more than gene editing of tomatoes
A large survey of Japanese consumers shows that they have more negative opinions about the use of new gene-editing techniques on livestock than they do about the same techniques being used on plants. However, the context of survey questions affects the extent of those feelings. The survey findings were reported in the CABI open-access journal CABI…
Update: New Pest & Disease Records (08 March 2021)
We’ve selected a few of the latest new geographic, host and species records for plant pests and diseases from CAB Abstracts. Records this month include the first report on black spot disease of Phyllanthus emblica fruits caused by Thielaviopsis paradoxa in Bangladesh and the first record of broad headed bugs on Dalbergia sissoo from India.
AI Plant Doctor app launched to help diagnose pests and diseases on dragon fruit crops in Vietnam
A new state-of-the-art mobile application has been launched – available on computers or smartphones – to help smallholder farmers in Vietnam identify pests and diseases which can devastate their dragon fruit crops. Vietnam is the largest producer of dragon fruit in Asia and is the leading exporter of the ‘super fruit’ in the world. According…