Whilst a blueberry with a fungal infection might end up in most people’s compost bin, for a team of researchers in the US, it has provided a key to tackling the unsustainable use of insecticides. In a new study published in the SCI journal Pest Management Science, the team explored how blueberries infected with a specific fungus, Colletotrichum fioriniae, emit odours which repel spotted-wing drosophila – a fruit fly that is a destructive pest of berries and cherries. By recreating…
Today, fruit and vegetables are transported thousands of kilometers to Germany. A team at Fraunhofer IKTS now wants to bring horticulture to the cities with efficient and compact water, energy and gas management – and thereby strengthen regional self-sufficiency. Fresh peppers, crisp salads and juicy tomatoes – German consumers take all this for granted. Supermarket shelves are full of them. But most of these vegetables come from far away. According to the German Federal Statistical Office, a good quarter of…
How tomato plants defend themselves against a devastating ‘young’ Southern African virus has now been investigated at a molecular genetics level for the first time by researchers at the University of Johannesburg (UJ). The Ty-1 gene is known to confer resistance to the well-known tomato yellow leaf curl virus (TYLCV). UJ researchers investigated what happens when tomato plants that harbour the Ty-1 gene are infected with the relatively unknown tomato curly stunt virus (ToCSV). They found a link between tolerance…
Conservation of arable soils through targeted erosion management. Arable soils are a valuable resource for our food and biodiversity – and are at risk from drought, storms and heavy rainfall. To help farmers better protect their fields from erosion, the Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF), in cooperation with the Bavarian State Research Centre for Agriculture (LfL), has produced erosion maps that identify areas particularly at risk of erosion and thus help to target protective measures where they will…
– resistant to a bacterial disease outbreak in Africa. The “Healthy Crops” international research consortium led by Professor Dr Wolf B. Frommer from Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (HHU) is developing disease-resistant rice varieties. In the scientific journal eLife, the authors now report on the discovery of a recent bacterial outbreak in Tanzania – and describe how they modified an African rice variety to make it resistant to the pathogen. Bacterial blight of rice, which is caused by the bacterium Xanthomonas…
Researchers find natural gene variant that allows barley to flower earlier. A tiny mutation in the genetic material of barley ensures that those plants develop faster and thus flower earlier than established barley varieties. At the same time, plant yields remain the same, a team from Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU) reports in the “Journal of Experimental Botany”. According to the researchers, this is advantageous as the plants could potentially adapt better to the effects of climate change and continue…
Comparing single-cell sequencing across cereal crops provides clues about agricultural traits critical for adapting plants to climate change. Comparing individual cells across corn, sorghum, and millet reveals evolutionary differences among these important cereal crops, according to a new study led by New York University researchers. The findings, published in Nature, bring researchers closer to pinpointing which genes control important agricultural traits such as drought tolerance, which will help scientists faced with a changing climate adapt crops to drier environments. Corn,…
For the first time, the effects of silicon fertilization on wheat yields were investigated for a study led by the Leibniz Center for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) and published in the journal Science of the Total Environment. In a field trial in Brandenburg, the plants formed significantly more biomass: Yields increased by 80 percent compared to conventionally farmed areas. The sequestration of carbon in the soil and the availability of water also improved significantly as a result of fertilization. In…
In Nature, Eva Stukenbrock from Kiel University and Sarah Gurr from University of Exeter warn of the devastating consequences of fungal diseases. Worldwide, growers lose between 10 and 23 per cent of their crops to fungal infection each year, despite widespread use of antifungals. An additional 10-20 per cent post harvest. In a commentary in Nature, academics predict those figures are projected to worsen as global warming means fungal infections are steadily moving polewards, meaning more countries are likely to…
Fake seeds can cost farmers more than two-thirds of expected crop yields and threaten food security. Trackable silk labels could help. Average crop yields in Africa are consistently far below expected, and one significant reason is the prevalence of counterfeit seeds whose germination rates are far lower than those of the genuine ones. The World Bank estimates that as much as half of all seeds sold in some African countries are fake, which could help to account for crop production…
The Thünen Institute of Forest Ecosystems publishes for the first time national forest maps of Germany based on current satellite imagery and terrestrial data from the 2012 National Forest Inventory. The Thünen Institute now offers interactive forest maps through the Thünen Atlas (http://atlas.thuenen.de), which provide a nationwide overview of the stocked forest area – i.e. the area on which trees grow – and the dominant tree species. They are not limited to being important sources of information for public authorities,…
Researchers from North Carolina State University and Iowa State University have demonstrated an automated technology capable of accurately measuring the angle of leaves on corn plants in the field. This technology makes data collection on leaf angles significantly more efficient than conventional techniques, providing plant breeders with useful data more quickly. “The angle of a plant’s leaves, relative to its stem, is important because the leaf angle affects how efficient the plant is at performing photosynthesis,” says Lirong Xiang, first…
Federal Minister Cem Özdemir hands over funding notification at the IGW. New “farm of the future” in the Alte Land – Start of the research project “Smart automation systems and services for fruit growing in the Lower Elbe region” (“SAMSON”) funded by the German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL). As part of the awarding of the “Digital Future Farms and Future Regions for Sustainable Agriculture” funding notification at the International Green Week (IGW) in Berlin, Germany, the Federal…
In many countries, the number of fig trees have been declining. While there are numerous explanations, one key problem is fig-wilting disease. A recognized cause of this disease is a fungus, Ceratocystis ficicola, which is transmitted by an ambrosia beetle, Euwallacea interjectus. Now, a group from Nagoya University in central Japan has identified another fungus, Fusarium kuroshium, which is harmless by itself, but ravages fig trees when found together with C. ficicola. Along with known agents, such as C. ficicola,…
The Yield consortium uses satellite data and artificial intelligence to reliably predict agricultural yields. In collaboration with BASF Digital Farming, John Deere, and Munich Re, DFKI develops predictive models for selected arable crops in the focus regions of Europe, South and North America. Later models will extend to other relevant crops and growing regions. How can artificial intelligence help the agricultural sector? Environmental challenges in our world today are materializing on a global scale, in the form of food crises,…
In the cultivation of organic cacao, many factors determine the yield. An international research team with scientists from the universities of Würzburgh and Göttingen has now identified important players and their combined effects. It’s not possible to grow cacao without insects – that’s logical. After all, they ensure that the flowers are pollinated and that the valuable cacao fruits, a sought-after material for the food industry, develop. Studies in Indonesia had shown in the past that birds and bats also…
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