Blushing plants reveal when fungi are growing in their roots

Almost all crop plants form associations with a particular type of fungi – called arbuscular mycorrhiza fungi – in the soil, which greatly expand their root surface area. This mutually beneficial interaction boosts the plant’s ability to take up nutrients…

Compost improves apple orchard sustainability

As the saying goes, an apple a day keeps the doctor away. But what’s the key to growing a quality apple? Apple trees need access to important nutrients, which come from the soil. However, soil is quite different from orchard…

Greenhouse gas data deep dive reaches new level of ‘reasonable and true’

URBANA, Ill. – For the most accurate accounting of a product’s environmental impact, scientists look at the product’s entire life cycle, from cradle to grave. It’s a grand calculation known as a life cycle assessment (LCA), and greenhouse gas emissions…

Beneficial arthropods find winter sanctuary in uncultivated field edges, study finds

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Many species of ground-dwelling beetles, ladybugs, hoverflies, damsel bugs, spiders and parasitic wasps kill and eat pest species that routinely plague farmers, including aphids and corn rootworm larvae and adults. But the beneficial arthropods that live in…

Scientists call for international investment to tackle major wheat losses

Urgent investment in new tools is needed to address major global losses of wheat crops which cost £22 billion per year. Leading scientific experts are calling for governments around the world to come together and fund a new international research…

Raised buildings may help reduce malaria transmission in Africa

There is growing evidence that house design can decrease the force of malaria infection. The world’s most deadly assassin is Africa’s malaria mosquito: Anopheles gambiae. In 2019, the World Health Organisation estimated that malaria killed 386,000 people in sub-Saharan Africa,…

Colorado School of Public Health receives grant to address kidney disease among women in Guatemala

The three-year K01 grant from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences provides support to examine the environmental determinants of kidney injury in female sugarcane workers and female community members in Guatemala

Digital Precision Agriculture Tool Helps Nepalese Rice Farmers Breakthrough Yield Barriers

Rice farmers in Nepal are chronically falling short of their potential productivity. Poor rice yields are persistent across the Terai–a lowland region lying south of the outer foothills of the Himalayas that extends through southern Nepal into northern India–and existing decision support…

Soybean cyst nematode is the most damaging soybean pathogen–and it’s rapidly spreading

The soybean cyst nematode (SCN) is the most damaging pathogen of soybean in the United States and Canada and it is spreading rapidly, according to information compiled by Gregory Tylka and Christopher Marett, nematologists at Iowa State University. SCN was…

New edition provides updates on fungicides used to control turfgrass diseases

A Practical Guide to Turfgrass Fungicides , Second Edition, is a current, comprehensive, and hands-on resource focused specifically on the fungicides used for disease control on turfgrass. Author Richard Latin developed this user-friendly guide based on his belief that if…

Data Sharing Toolkit could contribute to unlocking greater food security

CABI and the Open Data Institute (ODI) has launched a Data Sharing Toolkit which could contribute to greater food security in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia through better access to data on soil health, agronomy and fertilizer

$3 Million NIH grant for Colorado School of Public Health Worker Health study

Three groups from the Colorado School of Public Health (ColoradoSPH) have been awarded a $3 million 5-year grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to study the effects of air pollution and climate on the kidney health of sugarcane…

Rodenticides in the environment pose threats to birds of prey

Over the past decades, the increased use of chemicals in many areas led to environmental pollution – of water, soil and also wildlife. In addition to plant protection substances and human and veterinary medical drugs, rodenticides have had toxic effects…