field crop research News
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Committee advises halt to Indian Bt crop trials
A technical expert committee, appointed by the Supreme Court of India to advise upon open field trials for genetically modified (GM) crops, has recommended a ten-year moratorium on all Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis) food crop trials. Bt crops are GM plants that kill insects using a toxic protein from the Bt soil bacterium. Currently there is a moratorium in India on Bt brinjal (eggplant) — ...
By SciDev.Net
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Loss of wild pollinators would hit crops, finds study
The loss of wild pollinators from agricultural landscapes could threaten global crop yields, a study has found. Led by Lucas Garibaldi, an assistant professor at the National University of Río Negro inArgentina, a team of researchers compared fields containing many wild pollinators — mostly insects — with those containing few. They studied 41 crop systems across all continents ...
By SciDev.Net
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Reducing the negative impacts of pesticides
Ensuring that pesticides do not endanger public health or the environment is a key objective of the European Commission. Due to spray-drift, the effects of pesticides are often observed outside of crop fields, where they affect non-target plants, fungi and insects as well as humans. New research discusses the effects of pesticides on non-target species and demonstrates that employment of “best ...
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Cooler Weather Conditions, Late Planting, Impacts Insects on Crops
Rainy, cooler weather experienced recently throughout the region means slugs may be on the rise in some field crops, says an entomologist with the College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences at The Ohio State University. The rains combined with colder temperatures are ideal slug weather, said Kelley Tilmon, a field crop entomologist with Ohio State University Extension and the Ohio ...
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Patches of flowers boost pollinator diversity and lead to higher crop yields
Falling levels of insect pollination are causing declining yields of important agricultural crops. However, new research from South Africa now indicates that planting small patches of native flowers in agricultural fields can be a profitable and sustainable method of increasing pollination and yield. Insect pollination is a vital ecosystem service as animal-pollinated crops form an essential ...
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