Agriculture News and Research

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Pesticide Exposure Strongly Correlated with Fewer Wild Bee Sightings

Whether you're strolling through a garden, wandering a park, or simply enjoying an open space in the United States, you're likely to notice bees buzzing about the flowers. While honeybees, imported from Europe in the 17th century to produce honey, are the most recognizable, they aren't the only bees at work. If you're a keen observer, you might spot some of the thousands of less familiar, native bee species that call these spaces home.

28 Aug 2024

Honeybees Contribute to Bumble Bee Virus Prevalence

Honey bees might contribute to rising virus levels in wild bumble bees each spring, according to Penn State researchers who studied seasonal patterns of parasite and virus transmission in bees.

22 Aug 2024

Scientists Create Disease-Resistant Potatoes Using CRISPR

The global food system is under increasing pressure due to the compounding effects of climate change, which exacerbates the prevalence of pests and diseases in crops. Potatoes, being the third most important food crop worldwide, are particularly at risk. The quest for sustainable agricultural practices necessitates the development of crops that can withstand these adversities, prompting an urgent need for research into enhancing the inherent resilience of our staple foods.

9 Aug 2024

Study Reveals Strigolactones as Key Regulators of Tomato Flowering

In an article published in the journal PNAS, researchers at the University of São Paulo's Luiz de Queiroz College of Agriculture (ESALQ-USP) in Brazil describe for the first time how strigolactones, plant hormones discovered several decades ago, control flowering and fruiting in the tomato (Solanum lycopersicum). The findings of their study point to a new opportunity for management of fruiting time and could have a significant impact on total yields for this crop.

1 Aug 2024

New Study Uncovers Genetic Secrets of Cotton's Drought Resilience

Cotton is woven into the very fabric of our lives, from soft T-shirts to comfortable jeans and cozy bedsheets.

30 Jul 2024

Harvard Researchers Crack the Code on Western Equine Encephalitis Decline

The story of the rise and fall of western equine encephalitis as a lethal disease offers essential lessons about how a pathogen can gain or lose its ability to jump from animals to humans.

29 Jul 2024

Dairy Cattle Become Hosts for Avian Flu Transmission

A new study reveals evidence that avian influenza has spilled over from birds to dairy cattle across several U.S. states, resulting in mammal-to-mammal transmission between cows and from cows to cats and a raccoon.

25 Jul 2024

New Approach to Finding Antibiotic Alternatives Using Bacterial Data

Researchers have devised an approach for identifying novel antimicrobial drugs with clinical potential using bacterial databases, offering insights into finding alternatives to existing antibiotics.

17 Jul 2024

Few Chicken Products with Highly Virulent Salmonella Strains Responsible for Most Illnesses

Raw poultry is one of the main causes of Salmonella poisoning, which affects thousands of people in the U.S. every year. A new study from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign shows that few products with high levels of very virulent Salmonella strains are responsible for most of the illnesses from raw chicken parts.

16 Jul 2024

Phage Protein Discovery Holds New Key to Battling Bacteria

An unexpected find has enabled important progress to be made in the battle against harmful bacteria.

11 Jul 2024

Integrating Genomic Data for Enhanced Fruit Tree Breeding

Genotyping techniques can be used to select fruit trees with desired traits at the seedling stage, increasing the efficiency of fruit tree breeding.

8 Jul 2024

Study Reveals Key Genetic Interaction for Enhanced Drought Tolerance in Plants

Drought significantly impacts agricultural productivity and plant survival. Traditional methods for improving drought resistance, such as selective breeding and genetic modification, have had limited success.

5 Jul 2024

Pasteurization Effectively Eliminates H5N1 Virus from Milk

In March 2024, dairy cows in Texas were found to be infected with highly pathogenic avian flu, or H5N1 bird flu, in the first known case of the virus spreading to cattle.

4 Jul 2024

Unexpectedly Large Genomes Found in Mycena Mushroom Species

A study of multiple Mycena mushroom species reported in the journal Cell Genomics has found that they have unexpectedly large genomes.

1 Jul 2024

TATSI Technology Enhances Crop Genome Editing with Transposase-Assisted Integration

With the goal of reducing the time and cost it takes to bring an improved crop to the marketplace, research conducted in the laboratory of Keith Slotkin, PhD, and his colleagues in the Plant Transformation Facility at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, was recently published in the scientific journal.

1 Jul 2024