More than 250 million under-fives in the world are at risk from vitamin A deficiency. Such deficiency, currently the primary cause of avoidable blindness, provides the conditions for diseases to take hold, leading to high death rates among these young children. Several strategic options exist for combating these deficiencies: medicinal supplements, vitamin A enrichment of foods at industrial or community scale, or diet diversification founded on the use of locally available resources. The latter appr
Agricultural research by Boston College’s Harrison
Kevin G. Harrison, an assistant professor in Boston College’s Geology and Geophysics Department, has published new research on a farming technique that can both increase crop yields and reduce the release of carbons that develop into greenhouse gases. In the book Changing Land Use and Terrestrial Carbon Storage, Harrison and his co-authors, Michelle Segal (BC master’s degree in 2003) and Matthew Hoskins (BC bachelor’s degree in 2000)
The parasitic weed, broomrape, attaches to the root of such vegetable crops as tomato, potato, beans, and sunflowers. With no need for leaves of its own, it produces only a floral shoot above ground. Meanwhile, its host is barely able to survive, much less be productive.
Now, the defense mechanism of another pest – the fly – may provide a weapon against parasitic weeds.
Researchers from Virginia Tech in the United States and the Agricultural Research Organization (ARO) of Israel w
Is there an alternative to using GM crops in agriculture to eradicate the need for applying excessive phosphate fertiliser? John Hammond of UK’s Horticulture Research International thinks so. Working in collaboration with Nottingham University, he is developing a diagnostic test that tells when plants are low on phosphorus so they can be fertilised by precision management rather than the current practice of fertilising indiscriminately. Dr Hammond will present his results at the Society for Experimen
Obtaining quality proteins from grain legumes for both human and animal consumption is the aim of the “Grain Legumes” project, financed by the European Union VI Framework Programme for Technological Research and Development in which the Public University of Navarre is a participant.
The project, in which research teams from 67 institutions from 18 European countries and is aimed as a response to the challenge faced by the European Union in order to obtain quality plant proteins given that,
Scientists discover a method to detect trace levels of swine antibiotics in the groundwater.
Scientists from the Department of Soil, Water, & Climate at University of Minnesota have developed a simple method to quantify two types of antibiotics in animal manures, and surface and ground waters. Chlortetracycline and tylosin antibiotics are commonly used for growth promotion in swine production.
In general, as much as 90% of antibiotics fed to food animals are excreted unchang
Research in Agronomy Journal suggests producers reduce seeding rates when planting Roundup Ready varieties
Roundup Ready soybean acreage has drastically increased since their introduction in 1996. Approximately 84% of Wisconsin soybeans were planted to Roundup Ready in 2003 with similar trends cross the United States. While much research had been conducted with management of conventional soybeans, little had been conducted to see how Roundup Ready soybeans compare.
The study
Gardeners will soon have access to an environmentally-friendly garden mulch product developed at the University of Leeds, thanks to a £30,000 award won by its inventor.
The straw-based mulch – called Strulch – was developed by Dr Geoff Whiteley in the School of Biology. It will be marketed by Ingwermat, a company formed to use patents developed at Leeds, with the help of the Home Grown Cereals Authority Enterprise award.
The mulch is made from shredded straw treated with iron miner
New research at the University of Leeds has overturned existing advice to farmers that has been maintaining the disease toxoplasma in the nation’s sheep flocks for years.
Toxoplasma is a disease humans catch from sheep and cats that causes human abortions and birth defects with greater frequency than rubella.
In a study of a pedigree Charolais flock and commercial flock, Dr Judith Smith (left) and her colleague Dr Geoff Hide from the University of Salford found that some sheep fami
Cotton lint yields can be increased by up to 18 per cent when cotton crops are rotated with crops of a little known legume, vetch, according to a team of researchers at CSIRO Plant Industry.
Following an eight-year study the team found that vetch fixes large amounts of nitrogen, increases soil organic matter, improves soil structure, makes cultivation easier, increases soil water holding capacity and reduces the incidence of black root rot.
“Data from 2003 show when vetch is used
Greater investment in smallholder agriculture could offer a route out of the deepening poverty facing many African nations, a study by Imperial College London economists has concluded.
Reporting today in the journal Oxford Development Studies they outline five key policy themes that must be embraced by the international community if sub-Saharan Africa is to have any chance of meeting two of the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals – halving both the number of people living on le
The harmful effects of chemical contaminants in food are of major health concern in Europe today. However, a lack of integration of interdisciplinary activities, such as basic research and risk assessment, severely hampers the efforts to reach European excellence in this area. The individual research projects are also small in scale and not well integrated into a coherent structure. To tackle the fragmentation problems and to achieve synergistic effects and full European research potential, the Europ
North Carolina State University plant pathologist Jean Beagle Ristaino shocked the scientific world when she published a paper in the journal Nature that called into question the then-prevailing theories about the strain of pathogen – and its place of origin – that caused the Irish potato famine in the 1840s.
Using DNA fingerprinting analysis of 150-year-old leaves – evidence that had not previously been studied – Ristaino ruled out the longtime prime suspect behind the famine: the Ib haplot
British scientists have found a natural way to produce healthier milk and butter, according to new research in the Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture. Cows fed rapeseed oil as part of their daily diet produce milk with a significantly less saturated fat. Butter made from the milk is easier to spread at fridge temperatures because it is lower in saturated fat than ordinary butter. According to Anna Fearon, one of the authors of the study: “This kind of tailored milk production could in fut
Current methods of predicting short-term intake of pesticide residues by humans should be improved, according to a new study published in the journal Pest Management Science.
In the article, researchers from around the world come together to review existing safety measures and make eleven recommendations based on their research. Studies suggest that a single, or short-term exposure can affect health, as well as long term exposure.
‘The publication will prove an invaluable resource
A team of researchers at the University of California, Davis, has pieced together a clearer picture of how wheat has been able to adapt to such a wide range of climates and become one of the world’s staple food grains.
They accomplished this by isolating and cloning the VRN2 gene in wheat, which controls vernalization — the cold-weather requirement for triggering flowering. The findings of the study, which have practical implications for improving wheat varieties through manipulation
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