reduce crop yield News
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Neonicotinoids: may reduce crop yields by poisoning insects that eat slug pests
Beetles that are helpful to farmers can be poisoned if they feed on slugs that have eaten crops treated with neonicotinoids, a new study reports. The slugs themselves are not harmed by neonicotinoids. In American field trials, researchers found that plots planted with neonicotinoid-treated soybeans contained more slugs, fewer beetle predators and had 5% lower yields. The insecticide may be ...
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Agricultural ammonia emissions could be reduced without affecting crop yield
Ammonia released by nitrogen fertilisers in Spanish agriculture could be reduced by up to 82% with only a very minimal impact on crop yield, finds new research. This could be achieved by combining optimised management of manure with the use of non-urea synthetic fertilisers. Agriculture accounted for almost 94% of total European atmospheric emissions of ammonia in 2011. The main sources of these ...
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Population has bigger effect than climate change on crop yields, study suggests
Population pressure will be as significant a factor as climate change in reducing crop yields — and thus increasing food insecurity — in West Africa, according to a modelling study. The authors inserted different climate change, land use, and demographic change scenarios, into an internationally validated model to estimate maize yields in Benin from 2021–2050. They found that, ...
By SciDev.Net
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Overseas Lab Seeks U.S. Weed Control `Recruits`
The search is on for insects, mites, microbes or nematodes that could be used in a biologically based approach to controlling silverleaf nightshade, an invasive weed from the Americas that has spread to southern Europe, Africa, India, Australia and elsewhere. According to U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) entomologist Walker Jones, the perennial weed, Solanum elaeagnifolium, is being targeted ...
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EPA Registers New Nematicide Alternative to Restricted-Use Soil Fumigants, Including Methyl Bromide
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is registering a new active ingredient, fluensulfone, a non-fumigant nematicide that provides lower-risk chemical control of nematodes than methyl bromide and other Restricted Use soil fumigants. Under the Montreal Protocol, EPA has phased out methyl bromide because its use depletes the ozone layer. Nematodes are difficult to control and can cause ...
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Comparing N2O emissions from organic and mineral fertilisers
A recent study compares the effects of organic, 'natural' fertilisers, such as compost, with mineral, synthetic fertilisers, such as urea, on N2O emissions from Mediterranean soil. It suggests that there is little difference between the fertilisers, but that pig slurry offers the best overall balance in terms of emissions and crop yield. Nitrous oxide (N2O) is a powerful greenhouse gas (GHG). ...
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Genetic change could make crops thrive on salty soils
Scientists have genetically modified plants to tolerate high levels of salt — offering a potential solution to growing food in salty soils. The researchers inserted a gene to remove salt — in the form of sodium ions — from water taken up by the plant before it reaches the leaves, where it does most damage. The research was published in The Plant Cell this month (7 July). High salinity reduces ...
By SciDev.Net
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Predicting contamination of farmland after flooding
Floods and the resulting damage to agricultural and urban environments are likely to increase as a result of climate change. Major floods in Europe, such as those affecting the Elbe River in Germany in August 2002, can result in contamination by heavy metals of flooded farmland. Taking zinc as an example, a new modelling approach showed that there was more than a one in three chance that ...
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Rising heat hits Indian wheat crop
Researchers in the UK have established a link between changing climate and agriculture that could have significant consequences for food supplies in South Asia. They have found evidence of a relationship between rising average temperatures in India and reduced wheat production, which was increasing until about a decade ago but has now stopped. The researchers, Dr John Duncan, Dr Jadu Dash and ...
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Indicators for more sustainable phosphorus management
Phosphorus is essential for modern agriculture. Supplies are dwindling and markets are concentrated, presenting a serious threat to food security. Tackling this emerging global sustainability risk requires effective governance to ensure phosphorus is available and accessible to farmers worldwide. This study presents a series of phosphorus security indicators to support this goal. Phosphorus is ...
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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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Straw residue helps keep nitrogen on the farm
Scientists are exploring ways to reduce non-point pollution from agriculture. A new study finds that using straw residue in conjunction with legume cover crops reduces leaching of nitrogen into waterways, but may lower economic return. Agriculture is the largest source of nitrogen non-point pollution to waterways in the United States, flowing into streams and rivers via erosion from farmlands, ...
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Insect-eating bats save global maize farmers €0.91 billion a year from crop damage
Insect-eating bats are estimated to be worth US$ 1 billion (€0.91 billion) a year to maize farmers around the world, a new study has revealed. Not only do bats reduce crop damage by eating adult corn earworm crop pests, they also suppress fungal infections in maize ears. Bats and their habitats need to be better protected for their ecological and economic contributions, say the study’s ...
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Simulating the effect of climate change on agriculture
Increased atmospheric CO2 levels and climate change are believed to contribute to extreme weather conditions, which is a major concern for many. And beyond extreme events, global warming is also predicted to affect agriculture.1,2 While climate change is expected to affect agriculture and reduce crop yields, the complete effects of climate change on agriculture and the resultant human food ...
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HPGen™ improves crop yields, reduces irrigation system maintenance in Almeria greenhouse
Located in the highly productive greenhouse area in the Almeria region in southern Spain, a greenhouse grower with cucumbers in winter and watermelons in summer ran into some irrigation issues: the soil in the region is dry, the climate warm and the operators use organic fertilizers. The plants are grown in the typical Almeria sandy soil (enarenado) and are irrigated with a modern drip irrigation ...
By HPNOW
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Living mulch, organic fertilizer tested on broccoli
Cover crops provide many benefits to agricultural production systems, including soil and nutrient retention, resources and habitat for beneficial organisms, and weed suppression. In regions where short growing seasons can hinder the establishment of productive cover crops between cash crop growing periods, living mulch systems may provide vegetable crop growers with opportunities to establish ...
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World cereal production set to reach historic high in 2013
World total cereal production is forecast to increase by about 7 percent in 2013 compared to last year, helping to replenish global inventories and raise expectations for more stable markets in 2013/14, according to the latest issue of FAO's quarterly Crop Prospects and Food Situation report. The increase would bring world cereal production to 2 479 million tonnes, a new record level. FAO now ...
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New test can detect plant viruses faster, cheaper
A new test could save time and money diagnosing plant viruses, some of which can destroy millions of dollars in crops each year in Florida, says a University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences researcher. In a newly published study, Jane Polston, a UF/IFAS plant pathology professor, examined several ways to detect the DNA genome of begomoviruses. These viruses have emerged ...
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Independent variety trials show productivity of wheat varieties continues to increase
Nowhere in the world is the average grain yield as high as in the Netherlands, where it is over ten tonnes per hectare. Research by Wageningen UR shows that the introduction of new varieties has caused yields to increase by approximately 8 to 10 per cent per decade. Converted to a hectare of winter wheat, this represents an increase of 800 to 1,000 kilograms; a huge achievement for breeders of ...
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Soil biodiversity reduces nitrogen pollution and improves crops’ nutrient uptake
Increased soil biodiversity can reduce nitrogen pollution, improve nutrient uptake by plants and even increase crop yields, new research suggests. The two-year study found that levels of nitrogen leaching from soil with an abundant soil life were nearly 25% lower than for soil with a reduced level of soil life. Practices which enhance soil biodiversity such as reduced tilling, crop rotation and ...
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