Agricultural and Forestry Science

The world’s biggest fungus, discovered in Oregon’s Blue Mountains in 2001, is challenging traditional notions of what constitutes an individual. The underground fungus–estimated to be between 2000 and 8500 years old–is also deepening our understanding of the ecosystem, with possible implications for the management of Canadian forests, according to a paper by the discoverers (B.A. Ferguson, T.A. Dreisbach, C.G. Parks, G.M. Filip, and C.L. Schmitt) published March 17 on the Web site of the

Known for its intoxicating effects on felines, catnip oil may also have a future in termite control. Recent experiments by USDA Forest Service researcher Chris Peterson show that catnip oil repels and even kills termites in a laboratory setting.

Peterson, a researcher with the Forest Service Southern Research Station (SRS), and fellow researcher Janice Ems-Wilson, a chemist at Valencia Community College in Orlando, FL, presented the results of their research at the national meeting of the Am

Vegetable oil similar to the stuff you use to cook your food may one day fill your car’s engine. Researchers at the U.S. Department of Agriculture have developed a chemically modified version of the edible oil that shows promise as a cleaner, renewable alternative to petroleum-based motor oil, while enhancing its protective properties.

Veggie motor oil could eventually be produced cheaper than petroleum-based oil and may help reduce this country’s dependence on foreign oil, the re

A biological process using three different types of fungi to control common plant diseases and mite pests has been developed by researchers at the Hebrew University’s Faculty of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Quality Sciences in Rehovot.

Use of these fungi enables crops to overcome such plant diseases and pests without having to apply environmentally-polluting chemicals, said Abraham Sztejnberg, the Hebrew University’s Francis Ariowitsch Professor of Agriculture, a member of the resear

Researchers from Imperial College, England have just shown in a forthcoming article in the journal Ecology Letters, that insect larvae can use an engineered toxin (Cry1Ac) as a supplementary food source.

They found that toxin-resistant larvae of the Diamondback Moth developed faster and had a greater pupal weight in the presence of the toxin. This could be a genetic effect, linked indirectly to the presence of a resistance allele but more simply, could be due to resistant insects enhancing

Scottish company IceRobotics will develop a new generation of dairy farm robots, working in a way that is similar to an elephant’s trunk, that can milk cows without the presence of the farmer, thanks to an Invention & Innovation award of £98,000 from NESTA (the National Endowment for Science, Technology & the Arts), the organisation that invests in UK creativity and innovation.

While studying for his PhD, Dr Bruce Davies, a senior lecturer at Heriot-Watt University, came up with the id