Researchers of the University of Malaga are to develop molecular markers and biochips that allow the early identification and selection of trees with good features for improving forest production in appropriate environments. This is a project of excellence funded with 190,900 euros by the Andalusian Ministry of Innovation, Science and Enterprise.
Scientists believe that the new technologies of genomics, proteomics and bioinformatics can be used to determine the function of the genes invol
“Harmless” bacteria in the digestive tracts of dairy cows, may not be so harmless after all. They may be a reservoir for antibiotic resistance genes that can be transferred to more harmful, disease-causing bacteria, according to research presented today at the 106th General Meeting of the American Society for Microbiology in Orlando, Florida.
“There is concern that veterinary therapeutic usage of antibiotics in animals is responsible for the emergence of drug-resistant Salmonella.
With an annual output of 127 million tonnes of fruit and vegetables, India lies second in the world producing country rankings, after China. Since the end of the 1990s, it has been eyeing up the export markets, in the hope of gaining in international visibility and repute. However, yields are still low, and most of what is produced is either consumed in India or lost as a result of poor postharvest management. Moreover, barely 2% of the fruit and vegetable crop is processed, and India accounts for
Over the past five years, the Central African Republic has embarked upon managing 90% of its forestry concessions. This is the result of an original incentive scheme involving the authorities and logging firms, headed by CIRAD.
In Gabon, Cameroon and the Republic of Congo, industrialists are obliged by law to fund management schemes for their forestry concessions. In the Central African Republic, it is up to the State to draw up such schemes, which are then implemented by priva
The Tuva reindeer quantity has fallen down to the critical level, but the population still preserves sufficient genetic diversity. Such conclusion has been made by specialists of the Vavilov Institute of General Genetics, Russian Academy of Sciences, who worked at the deer-raising farms in the Todzhinski Region, Tuva. Control over genetic markers and well thought-out breeding system will help to protect the most southern domestic reindeer population from degeneration. The researchers assessed geneti
Researchers from the universities of Cadiz, Seville and Cordoba are working on a study to shorten the traditional biological ageing process of sherry wines, brandies and wine vinegars in oak butts and casks (the soleras and criaderas system) in Andalusia without losing quality in the final product.
The project is funded by the Andalusian Ministry of Innovation, Science and Enterprise (148,200 Euros), and is aimed at obtaining detailed information about the key parameters in the ageing proce
A team of researchers from the University of Seville (US) participate in the setting up of a technical and professional Euro-Mediterranean network for the protection, promotion and territorial development of artisanal Mediterranean cheeses. The network, named MIREDAF, is part of the INTERREG III B MEDOCC European Programme. Andalusia, through the University of Seville, participates in this project together with four French regions (Provence, Alps, Côte d’Azur, and Corsica), and three Italia
Researchers have isolated two Chinese soybean lines that grow without the primary protein linked to soy allergies in children and adults. The two lines already are adapted to Illinois-like conditions and will be given away to breeders seeking to produce new varieties of allergy-free soybeans without genetic engineering.
Crop scientists at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the USDA-Agricultural Research Service’s Donald Danforth Plant Science Center in St. Louis s
Scientists at the Umeå Plant Science Centre (UPSC) and the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) report today about a breakthrough in our understanding of how the growth and development of forest trees is controlled. In an article published in the international journal Science, May 4, they show that the FT gene that was previously shown to control the flowering time of annual plants, also controls tree flowering.
With the help of this gene poplar trees can be stimulated
Maite Estevan Muguerza, a researcher of the University of Navarra, has improved existing treatments against brucellosis and sheep salmonella, by applying, in her doctoral thesis, techniques of micro- and nano-technology which permit the encapsulation of vaccines.
In this way the sustained liberation of the vaccine or antigenic compound is assured, so that it remains active in the body of the animal over the period of at least six months”. The existing treatments possess a limited effect du
MTT Agrifood Research Finland researchers have identified the birth mechanism of an infertility problem afflicting Finnish Yorkshire pigs. A retroposon, or “jumping gene”, was found to be behind the hereditary defect giving rise to the immotile short-tail sperm defect (ISTS) in boars, by producing a mutation in the KPL2-gene in pigs.
The ISTS defect, causing sterility, was detected in Finnish Yorkshire boars for the first time in 1987. Spermatozoa of boars suffering from the def
Arizona farmers receive the same yield/acre, use fewer chemical insecticides and maintain insect biodiversity when they plant the biotech cotton known as Bt cotton, according to new research.
The finding comes from the first large-scale study that simultaneously examined how growing Bt cotton affects yield, pesticide use and biodiversity.
It’s good news for the environment.
“What we see is that it’s positive here in Arizona — no doubt about it,” sai
Research News from the Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture
Fermenting beans and then cooking them not only reduces the majority of the soluble fibre that leads to flatulence, but also enhances their nutritional quality. Now we know which bacteria are important for the fermentation, reveal findings published online today in the SCI’s Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture.
Beans are already an important source of nutrients, and many people would eat m
In order to develop sustainable agricultural production, what is required is a study of nitrogenated sources as alternatives to the nitrates that predominate in agricultural soils and that have a greater contaminant capacity. The current use of nitrates as a nitrogenated fertiliser in intensive farming has given rise to environmental problems such as the contamination of water or the degradation of the ozone layer. There are also health problems such as deficiencies in the oxygenation of blood
Three years ago, Benin, Burkina Faso, Mali and Chad submitted a negotiating proposal to the World Trade organization (WTO). In particular, the proposal, entilted “Poverty Reduction: Sectorial Initiative in Favour of Cotton”, called for a ban on the massive subsidies the United States, Europe and China grant their cotton producers. To gain a clearer understanding of the issues surrounding subsidies, a team from CIRAD decided to analyse the strengths and weaknesses of the American, Brazilian and
The EUREKA E! 2692 MOLECULAR TESTS project has developed a simple, fast and easy-to-apply test to assess the robustness of the immune system in poultry. The test can be performed in two days on blood samples from poultry houses, using equipment already available in poultry diagnostic laboratories. Current immune system tests are imprecise, expensive and take weeks – providing information too late to be useful. Combining this test with new immune-system boosting drugs would improve poultry welfar
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