An international team of researchers conducting a long-term study has found that climate-friendly farming practices could lead to higher crop yields, reduced costs and improved local ecosystems. In their paper, the group describes 30 long-running farming experiments designed to improve farming practices in Europe and Africa.
Underneath the surface, plant roots are hard at work. Roots, of course, are how plants get water and minerals from the soil. But digging into how different root systems affect crop yields has been challenging for researchers.
Although about 20% of Illinois cropping systems are planted to continuous corn, it’s nearly impossible to find fields planted this way for decades at a time. Yet long-term experiments, including over 40 years of continuous corn under different nitrogen fertilizer rates, provide incredible learning opportunities and soil management lessons for researchers and farmers alike.
In a recent study a team of
researchers tested the potential for increased plant productivity and intrinsic water-use efficiency through the overexpression of inorganic carbon transporter B (ictB) in field-grown tobacco. However, their results showed no significant difference between the field-grown ictB expressing tobacco lines and wild-type.
Fall armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda (J.E. Smith) is a devastating insect, which is known for its polyphagous nature. That is, its ability to feed on various kinds of food sources. This insect can migrate up to 100 km in a single night and therefore, it becomes a devastating pest in many countries that demands proper management. Recent research has develped a new and innovative technique of managing the larvae on maize plants.
An international team of researchers, has successfully unravelled the genomes of 418 unique samples of rapeseed from across the globe to identify traits that breeders can use to improve crop yield.
Hybrid agricultural and horticultural crops can play an important role in supporting global food security. They produce higher yields and are often more resistant than non-hybrid varieties to diseases and climate stress. But for many crops, no hybrid varieties are available. Why is that?
Recent research opens up the prospect of breeding for aphid resistance by crossing cultivated and wild potatoes.
The researchers have evaluated the impact of the effects of climate change on vital parameters of bean varieties, such as their morphology, reproduction, production, and phenology. Thus, they have detected some very sensitive types to variations in their conditions of origin. These others perform better with the increase in temperature, and others are highly resilient to any change.
Not all lentils are created equal. Lentil genetics can affect both the quality and yield of lentil crops. Environmental factors – like rainfall and soil conditions – can also impact lentil crops. Even the same lentil variety can have vastly different yields and nutritional profiles when grown in different environments.
