Glyphosate is the most widely used herbicide in the world for several reasons, including: 1) high level of effectiveness, 2) flexibility in application, 3) large margin of crop safety in glyphosate resistant crops, and 4) safety to applicators and the environment. Glyphosate was used for more than 20 years before weeds developed resistance to the chemical. This relative low risk of glyphosate r...

Abstract Breeding of disease-resistant and high-yield crops is essential to meet the increasing food demand global population. However, breeding such remains a significant challenge for scientists breeders. Two recent discoveries may help overcome this challenge: discovery novel molecular framework fine-tune disease resistance yields that includes epigenetic regulation antagonistic immune recep...

INTRODUCTION Canola, which is genetically modified (GM) for tolerance to glyphosate, has the potential to become established as a new glyphosate resistant weed, thus reducing the effectiveness of glyphosate. METHODS Volunteer from dormant canola seeds produced thousands of plants per hectare in the fourth year (2011) following a 2007 crop harvest. This occurred with no additional canola seed ...

Monitoring of pest populations is an essential component of integrated pest management. An early warning system helps growers decide when best to take control measures, or when to alter them, should a control method prove inadequate. Studies have shown that adding chemical attractants to sticky cards can increase trap catch of western flower thrips, Frankliniella occidentalis, a global pest of ...

BACKGROUND Honey bees (Apis mellifera L.) are the most important pollinators of many agricultural crops worldwide and are a key test species used in the tiered safety assessment of genetically engineered insect-resistant crops. There is concern that widespread planting of these transgenic crops could harm honey bee populations. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS We conducted a meta-analysis of 25...

Somatic embryogenesis and transformation systems are indispensable modern plant breeding components since they provide an alternative platform to develop control strategies against the plethora of pests and diseases affecting many agronomic crops. This review discusses some of the factors affecting somatic embryogenesis and transformation, highlights the advantages and limitations of these syst...

Transgenic crops are now grown commercially in 25 countries worldwide. Although pathogens represent major constraints for the growth of many crops, only a tiny proportion of these transgenic crops carry disease resistance traits. Nevertheless, transgenic disease-resistant plants represent approximately 10% of the total number of approved field trials in North America, a proportion that has rema...

2015 was a milestone marking the 20th anniversary of the commercial introduction of genetically engineered (GE) crops. Global acceptance of this technology by 18 million farmers has resulted in more than 181 million hectares planted in GE crops (http:// www.isaaa.org/resources/publications/briefs/default). This includes greater than 90% of all soybeans, upland cotton, and corn planted in the Un...