The courtyard of Retnamma’s house resembles a battlefield. There are dead giant snails strewn around, slime oozing from their brown conch-shaped shells. “These are the ones I killed last night with salt,” says the 60-year-old resident of Konni village in the foothills of the Western Ghats in Kerala. “I was …
Are hybrids always a precursor to a genetically modified (GM) version of the crop? In the case of maize, both the champions of GM and the opposition believe GM maize is round the corner. Currently, four multinationals are conducting field trials of GM maize in India. Monsanto India Ltd is …
Cotton has been the biggest success story in Indian agriculture since the Green Revolution. In a country struggling with stagnant yields in most crops, cotton has been the one bright spot. Production has soared from 13.6 million bales (each bale is 170 kg) in 2002-03 to 31.2 million bales in …
Why have yields stagnated? Yield stagnation at an average of 520 kg fibre per hectare over the past five years could be because of several factors, including bad weather and poor agronomic management. But over 800 Bt cotton hybrids developed by private seed companies have been approved for commercial cultivation …
Entomopathogenic bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) and its toxins have been extensively used for pest control in agriculture and forestry and in public health programmes since the 1930s. At the core of such application are protein crystals that get synthesised when Bt cells develop spores. The proteins called Cry (from Crystal) …
Centre approves field trials of 14 GM crops. But some states refuse trials, saying safety regulations are too lax. With politicians joining activists, the issue is likely to take a politically volatile turn. This special report in DTE uncovers the mess in GM crops. As India gets ready to unleash …
AT daybreak on March 11, there was a burst of activity at Litchi Lawn, a corner plot on the sprawling campus of the Pusa Institute in Bihar’s Samastipur district. Workers were uprooting the maize growing in a small patch of land close to the office, intent on finishing their work …
IT is just a 12-member body but the Agricultural Group (AG) of the Association of Biotechnology Led Enterprises (ABLE-Ag) must be about the most powerful lobby groups in India. Among the dozen companies are the world’s largest biotech companies— Bayer BioScience, Dow AgroSciences, Monsanto, PHI Seeds—and a clutch of rising …
WHY would a company with a turnover of Rs 9,712 crore and profits of Rs 933 crore want a research loan of less than Rs 10 crore from the government? Ask the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), which has become venture capitalist to well-heeled industry. In a novel scheme that turns …
For many of us city-born-and-bred folks, thrills at night are restricted to sitting on a couch and watching the idiot box. For those of us who have the gumption to step out of our comfort zones and venture out for occasional night walks, a whole new world beckons. Recently, I …
Tango with nature India has been using lakes, ponds and baolis (step wells) since ancient times ('What monsoon means', July 16-31, 2010). Delhi was once replete with water bodies. In the past 50 years, government agencies started disbanding natural ponds, lakes and baolis, declaring their water untested, and therefore, unfit …
THE little brown bat seen roosting in the eaves of buildings, crevices in trees and caves across North America could go extinct by 2026. So could several other bat species. Researchers warn that a cold-loving fungus is quietly attacking the bats in hibernation, waking them up in mid-winter. Once they …
Potato type I and II serine protease inhibitors are produced by solanaceous plants as a defense mechanism against insects and microbes. Nicotiana alata proteinase inhibitor (NaPI) is a multidomain potato type II inhibitor (pin II) that is produced at high levels in the female reproductive tissues of the ornamental tobacco, …
with chemical pesticides accumulating in crops, entering the food chain and creating pests with the next level of immunity, biocontrol is taken a little more seriously. Bacteria, fungi and insect parasitic nematodes assume greater importance in agricultural research. The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization was the first to use …
Coconut Development Board (CDB) will promote a new technology that controls pests in coconut trees. The technology that was invented by Bio-Control Research Laboratories (BCRL), a division of Pest Control India Pvt Ltd, would control the pests like Rhinoceros beetle (RB) and Red Palm Weevil (RPW) in coconut palms. CDB …
In order to minimise procedural costs, India has said presence of inspectors from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) is not required to certify irradiation of mango export consignments. Presently, India bears the cost of USDA inspectors, who visit the country to oversee the irradiation process. Last year, inspectors from …
Thanks to pesticide usage falling with Bt cotton, another pest is assuming menacing proportions. Woes of the cotton growers seem to be unending. While the threat of annihilation of their crops from the dreaded American Bollworm has abated thanks largely to the availability of pest-protected transgenic Bt-cotton hybrids, another pest …
The Hyderabad-based Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture (CRIDA) has said that plantation of different tree borne oilseeds in wastelands under different agro-climatic conditions can be taken up for production of bio-fuels. But pests control needs adequate attention. CRIDA has conducted on-farm experimentation in three districts in Andhra Pradesh, namely …
Pineapple mealy bug is a major pest occurring wherever pineapple is grown. It is root feeding insect, yet some colonies are found on the basal portion of leaves and fruits. The pest sucks the sap and simultaneously injects saliva containing wilt virus, inflicting heavy losses. The first symptoms of the …
