Feature Channels: Agriculture

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Speakers from the forefront of the scientific and production-based issues of industrial hemp

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William Anderegg and his colleagues looked for patterns in previous studies of tree mortality and found some common traits that characterized which species lived and which died during drought. The results, published today in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, can help chart the future of forests.

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A new analysis shows that if tropical farming intensifies, there could be a staggering cost: millions of tons of phosphorus “tax” that must be paid to the soil.

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Though cassava is easy to cultivate, it is particularly vulnerable to plant pathogens which can significantly reduce crop yields. With the help of genomics, researchers hope to apply advanced breeding strategies that can improve cassava’s resistance to diseases and improve crop yields.

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“Even though the industry acknowledges that greening has reached epidemic proportions across the state, estimates of the level of infection and its impact on citrus operations are scarce,” the researchers wrote in the paper.

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Women live longer in areas with more green vegetation, according to new research funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), part of the National Institutes of Health. Women with the highest levels of vegetation, or greenness, near their homes had a 12 percent lower death rate compared to women with the lowest levels of vegetation near their homes. The results were published Apr. 14 in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives.

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How soil testing is done in the future may change to include microbial content

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Whether it’s hybrid termites, grain pathogens, mosquito mating or something in between, University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences researchers are studying important topics and helping to solve global issues.

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Rising levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide have reduced protein in goldenrod pollen, a key late-season food source for North American bees, a Purdue University study shows.

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New field research measured how far common bacteria—including Salmonella and E. coli—are likely to travel downwind from manure application sites. Proper spacing can ensure food safety.

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Maple syrup protects neurons and prevents the development of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis in C. elegans worms, according to a study by college students, now students at the university level, and published today in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. Supervised by PhD student Martine Therrien and by researcher Alex Parker, Catherine Aaron and Gabrielle Beaudry added maple syrup to the diet of these barely 1 mm-long nematodes.

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Culex erraticus is more abundant than Culiseta melanura, the study shows. So it may be more important than scientists originally thought in transmitting EEE virus, at least in the Southeast. EEE virus, transmitted through the bite of an infected mosquito, can be passed to a wide range of animals including birds, reptiles and mammals. But once infected, horses and humans appear to suffer the most adverse effects.

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Research finds massive phosphorus buildup.

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Just like humans, when plants are cut they clot at the site of the wound. Just how they do it is has been a botanical mystery until now. Two University of Delaware researchers have uncovered the enzymes that produce this response. The findings will be published on Monday in Nature Plants.

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Research shows extraordinary commitment to science and soil physics and support of soil physicists

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New simulations by researchers at the University of Warwick and UCL’s Institute of Archaeology of plant evolution over the last 3000 years have revealed an unexpected limit to how far useful crops can be pushed to adapt before they suffer population collapse. The result has significant implications for how growers, breeders and scientists help agriculture and horticulture respond to quickening climate change.

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Longer monsoon seasons with increased daily rainfall, aspects of climate change, are contributing to reduced tea yield in regions of China, with implications for crop management and harvesting strategies, according to findings by a global interdisciplinary team led by Tufts University researchers and published online today in Climate.

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Plants share their carbohydrates with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi that colonize their roots and, in exchange, these fungi provide their hosts with nitrogen and phosphorous. By exploiting this relationship, scientists may be able to increase the biomass production of bioenergy crops and the yield of food crops and to reduce the required fertilizer inputs. This could improve the environmental sustainability of agricultural production systems according to professor Heike Bücking of South Dakota State University.

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While farm soil grows the world’s food and fiber, scientists are examining ways to use it to sequester carbon and mitigate greenhouse gas emissions.

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A multi-university collaboration has issued a report on steps to reduce harmful algal blooms in Lake Erie