USDA-ARS scientists have made important contributions to the molecular genetic analysis of agriculturally important insects, and have been in the forefront of using this information for the development of new pest management strategies. Advances have been made in the identification and analysis of genetic systems involved in insect development, reproduction and behavior which enable the identif...

The larger black flour beetle, Cynaeus angustus (LeConte) (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae), is an agricultural and home nuisance pest in North America. In the Southern High Plains of Texas, the larger black flour beetle is associated with cotton gin trash, by-products of cotton ginning that are field stored in large piles for economic reasons. Larger black flour beetle overwinter in gin trash piles ...

Integrated fruit production (IFP) offers an alternative to the chemically intensive, conventional pear production system. In 1994, we began a 4-year project supported by the Hood River Grower Shipper Association (HRGSA) together with Oregon's Center for Applied Agricultural Research (CAAR) to demonstrate to the industry how to bring about changes in orchard management practices, particularly as...

Legal requirements and consumer demands for residue-free products pose a big challenge for pest control in grain stores. One possible alternative to chemical insecticides is biological pest control with the pteromalid wasp Lariophagus distinguendus against the weevils Sitophilus granarius, S. oryzae (Coleoptera: Dryophtoridae), and many other storage pest beetles. The use of this wasp as a bioc...

The scientific community working in the field of insect pathology is experiencing an increasing academic and industrial interest in the discovery and development of new bioinsecticides as environmentally friendly pest control tools to be integrated, in combination or rotation, with chemicals in pest management programmes. In this scientific context, market data report a 15% annual growth of the...

Biocontrol, or Biological Control, can be defined as the use of natural organisms, or genetically modified, genes or gene products, to reduce the effects of undesirable organisms to favour organisms useful to human, such as crops, trees, animals and beneficial microorganisms. This strategy of control is ecologicaly clean and compatible with different models of agriculture: organic, biological a...

With the advent of data generation, collection and storage technologies, world is overwhelmed with data everywhere. Following this trend, more and more agricultural data are nowadays are virtually being harvested along with the crops and are being collected/stored in databases. As the volume of the data increases, the gap between the amount of the data stored and the amount of the data analyzed...