Agricultural and Forestry Science

The method that has been used for the last twenty years to measure the production of laughing gas (nitrous oxide) from different natural sources is not working. Due to this, the size of some of the sources of this greenhouse gas has locally probably been underestimated. This conclusion is drawn by Nicole Wrage in her PhD thesis that she is going to defend at Wageningen University (Netherlands) on February 28.

The research of the PhD student at Wageningen University focussed on the productio

Researchers from St. Petersburg have invented a way to check the viability of grains and seeds of agricultural plants without prior germination. The scientists assume that injuries of the germ and tissues of seeds can be revealed through X-ray photomicrography with the help of computer recognition system. This methodology allows determining the quality of wheat, barley, oats, rye and other crops seed grain.

The yield of agricultural cultures depends on viability and quality of seed grain. Re

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