Update: Plant Health News (03 Jul 13)
Here’s a taste of some of the latest stories about plant health, including the discovery of a gene conferring resistance to the Ug99 wheat stem rust pathogen, a locust plague threatening food security in Madagascar and a research project that aims to double rice production in Africa. Click on the link to read more of…
Plantwise Photo Of The Month – July
This photo shows the Plantwise Knowledge Bank booth at the CABI Review Conference 2013, which took place from the 27-28th June in Oxford, UK. 70 delegates from 36 countries attended the review conference, in which research priorities aimed at protecting global food supply were discussed. To find out more about the review conference you can…
Tomorrow: Plantwise comes to CABI RC13
In an event which takes place every 2 to 3 years at CABI, over 100 delegates of member countries will gather from across the globe for an open discussion on the major issues effecting livelihoods and environments back home. Plantwise is set to present impacts, programme highlights and lessons learned over the course of the…
Update: New Pest & Disease Records (26 Jun 13)
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 a report of 5 broad-nosed weevil species damaging soybean in Brazil, the first report of Meloidogyne incognita infecting corn in western Spain and the detection and monitoring of spinosad resistance in thrips.
Corn rootworm resistance to crop rotation explained
Crop rotation is often recommended as an effective control method against agricultural pests, including corn rootworms. Rotation works by removing the host on which the pest feeds and reproduces, and planting a crop which they are unable to live on. This reduces the number of pests that survive to the next season. Crop rotation is…
World Food Prize 2013 winners announced
The most prestigious prize in food and agriculture, the World Food Prize, has this year been awarded to three scientists, Belgian Marc Van Montagu and Americans Mary-Dell Chilton and Robert T. Fraley for their work on agricultural biotechnology. These scientists have all worked on different projects with one goal in mind: to develop better crops…
Update: Plant Health News (19 Jun 13)
Here’s a taste of some of the latest stories about plant health, including how how irrigation is unlocking the ag potential in Chile’s driest region, how climate change is affecting food supply in Ghana and an assessment of the first billion acres of biotech crops. Click on the link to read more of the latest plant…
The Evolution of Insect Resistance to Bt Crops
A group of scientists at the University of Arizona have this week published a paper in Nature Biotechnology on the evolution of resistance in insect pests populations to insecticidal proteins from Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) that are produced by transgenic crops. Resistance is defined as the phenotype of an individual that gives the individual the ability to…
Cassava Brown Streak Disease threatens the “Rambo root” further north in Africa
by MaryLucy Oronje and Willis Ndeda Ochilo Cassava Brown Streak Disease (CBSD) is threatening gains made in the intensification of cassava production in Africa. Since my colleague, Abigail Rumsey, reported on the resurgence of this disease in East Africa, and spread to Central and Western Africa, there are now reports of it spreading to northern…
Update: New Pest & Disease Records (12 Jun 13)
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 conservation biology challenge of European ash dieback, the first report of Nigrospora oryzae causing stem blight on Brassica juncea in India and a new Brazilian Passiflora leafminer: Spinivalva gaucha, the…