Agricultural and Forestry Science

Biologists at the University of California, San Diego have discovered that Bacillus thuringiensis, or Bt — a bacterium that produces natural protein insecticides that have been used by organic farmers for five decades — can also produce similar natural proteins that kill nematodes.

The discovery could pave the way for the development of an inexpensive and environmentally safe means of controlling the parasitic roundworms that each year destroy billions of dollars in crops, cause debilitating

MTT Agrifood Research Finland and the University of Liège, Belgium, have worked together successfully in locating a gene that regulates total yield and protein and fat content of milk. The scientists found a variation in the growth hormone receptor gene in the bovine chromosome 20. The variation in the receptor gene is associated with a major effect on milk yield and composition in Ayrshire, Holstein and Jersey cows.

Dr Johanna Vilkki of MTT says that developing associated markers for genes

Scientists at the Department of Global Ecology of the Carnegie Institution of Washington in Stanford, California, have found that climate trends significantly affect corn and soybean yields. David Lobell and Dr. Gregory Asner analyzed 17 years of data on crop yields, temperature, precipitation, and solar radiation throughout the U.S. for their study and published their results in the February 14, 2003, issue of Science.

The investigation showed that gradual increases in temperature cause si

Troubled by slugs? The latest research suggests luring them away from crops and plants with clover. Slugs are major pests of many crops, but current methods of control are often unreliable, so researchers studied a number of different legumes to find one which slugs prefer to lure them away from crops. This research will be published online in the SCI journal Pest Management Science on 12 February 2003 and in the March 2003 print issue.

The common field slug (Deroceras reticulatum Müller) is

Genetically modified (GM) pest-resistant cotton may provide yields up to 80 per cent higher than traditional types. This has been observed by scientists from the University of Bonn and the University of California at Berkeley in field trials in India. Their conclusion: peasants in the tropics and sub-tropics can benefit substantially from GM plants. These findings are surprising, since it has hitherto only been possible to detect very minor increases in yield, if any, in similar studies in temperate

Scientists study the affects of nitrogen fertilizer applied to corn hybrids

Scientists at the USDA-ARS, Jamie Whitten, Delta States Research Center in Stoneville, MS, have found that Bt concentrations in young corn plants are directly influenced by the amount of nitrogen fertilizer applied at planting. The research is published in the January-February 2003 issue of Agronomy Journal.

Hybrid corn cultivars genetically modified to have the Bt-producing gene synthesize special p