COCONUT trees are found across the world and it is said that they played a fundamental role in human migrations and the development of civilisations. So far, nobody has studied the genetic variability in the tree. Now a study of the DNA shows that coconuts have two well-defined and differentiated …
STEM rust that ruined wheat crops in several Asian countries last year is still invincible. Scientists say it has established itself on nearly all resistant wheat varieties developed in the last 50 years. There is no way to control this highly adaptive pathogen, dubbed Ug99. What makes the fungus elusive …
IT’S yellow, sweet, large, uniformly sized and firmly textured. For almost everyone the Cavendish variety is the banana. But it was not so until the 1950s when a fungus knocked out its predecessor, Gros Michel, the sweetest variety known so far. The Cavendish, once a littleknown Vietnamese variety, successfully resisted …
China has tremendous climatic and ecological diversity, so the impacts of climate change on natural and managed systems might likewise be expected to be diverse. Yet so far systematic studies have been rare. Here, the impacts of historical and future climate change on water resources and agriculture in China are …
GREENING of citrus or huanglongbing disease affects oranges, kinnows, lemons and other members of the citrus family. The bacterial infection, characterised by yellow leaves and unripe green fruits, is difficult to detect. A recent study offers insight into how the disease might be detected early in sweet oranges. The disease …
Growing food has always been a struggle, and it is only thanks to modern agricultural research that most people now have enough to eat. Today we need that research more than ever. The growing demand for meat can only add to the strain on grain supplies, as livestock need to …
A wheat disease that could destroy most of the world's main wheat crops could strike south Asia's vast wheat fields two years earlier than research had suggested, leaving millions to starve. The fungus, called Ug99, has spread from Africa to Iran, and may already be in Pakistan.
Grape vine are often prone to fungal infestations often and among them powdery mildew is an economically important one. Powdery mildew results in reduced vine growth, yield, fruit quality, and winter hardiness. Severe infestation can depress vine vigour because damage to leaves and shoots limits photosynthesis and inhibits berry sugar …
A deadly new and virulent fungus capable of affecting wheat crop has been detected in Iran, a major cereal growing area in West Asia. The fungus was previously found in East Africa and Yemen and has now moved to Iran, according to Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). The fungus is …
Pests, weeds, diseases take a toll on produce, says agriculture minister. The country is losing agricultural production worth Rs 1.48 lakh crore annually due to damage from pests, weeds and plant diseases, according to the Crop Care Foundation of India (CCFI). This reckoning is based on Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar's …
In a major breakthrough, scientists of the Pepper Research Station, Panniyur, have developed a new hybrid pepper variety that can resist the infamous foot-rot disease. Into the fourth year of its trial, the variety has also shown resistance to drought and erratic climate, KP Mammooty, head, Pepper Research Station said. …
BIOLOGY Yellow pigment clue to evolution Bilirubin, responsible for the yellowish tinge in the skin, eyes and nails of jaundice patients, has for the first time been identified in plants. The pigment was discovered in Strelitzia reginae Aiton, commonly know as the Bird of Paradise plant. It is indigenous to …
