Agricultural and Forestry Science

The parasitic weed, broomrape, attaches to the root of such vegetable crops as tomato, potato, beans, and sunflowers. With no need for leaves of its own, it produces only a floral shoot above ground. Meanwhile, its host is barely able to survive, much less be productive.

Now, the defense mechanism of another pest – the fly – may provide a weapon against parasitic weeds.

Researchers from Virginia Tech in the United States and the Agricultural Research Organization (ARO) of Israel w

Is there an alternative to using GM crops in agriculture to eradicate the need for applying excessive phosphate fertiliser? John Hammond of UK’s Horticulture Research International thinks so. Working in collaboration with Nottingham University, he is developing a diagnostic test that tells when plants are low on phosphorus so they can be fertilised by precision management rather than the current practice of fertilising indiscriminately. Dr Hammond will present his results at the Society for Experimen

Obtaining quality proteins from grain legumes for both human and animal consumption is the aim of the “Grain Legumes” project, financed by the European Union VI Framework Programme for Technological Research and Development in which the Public University of Navarre is a participant.

The project, in which research teams from 67 institutions from 18 European countries and is aimed as a response to the challenge faced by the European Union in order to obtain quality plant proteins given that,

Scientists discover a method to detect trace levels of swine antibiotics in the groundwater.

Scientists from the Department of Soil, Water, & Climate at University of Minnesota have developed a simple method to quantify two types of antibiotics in animal manures, and surface and ground waters. Chlortetracycline and tylosin antibiotics are commonly used for growth promotion in swine production.

In general, as much as 90% of antibiotics fed to food animals are excreted unchang

Research in Agronomy Journal suggests producers reduce seeding rates when planting Roundup Ready varieties

Roundup Ready soybean acreage has drastically increased since their introduction in 1996. Approximately 84% of Wisconsin soybeans were planted to Roundup Ready in 2003 with similar trends cross the United States. While much research had been conducted with management of conventional soybeans, little had been conducted to see how Roundup Ready soybeans compare.

The study

Gardeners will soon have access to an environmentally-friendly garden mulch product developed at the University of Leeds, thanks to a £30,000 award won by its inventor.

The straw-based mulch – called Strulch – was developed by Dr Geoff Whiteley in the School of Biology. It will be marketed by Ingwermat, a company formed to use patents developed at Leeds, with the help of the Home Grown Cereals Authority Enterprise award.

The mulch is made from shredded straw treated with iron miner