The use of non-crop plants to provide the resources that herbivorous crop pests' natural enemies need is being increasingly incorporated into integrated pest management programs. We evaluated insect functional groups found on three refuges consisting of five different plant species each, planted next to a maize crop in Lima, Peru, to investigate which refuge favoured natural control of herbivor...

Rice (Oryza staiva L.) is one of the world's most important crops, providing a stable food for nearly half of the global population (FAO 2004). Almost 90% of the rice is growing and consumed in Asia. The striped stem borer (Chilo suppressalis Walker) is one of the most important rice pests in Asia. Rice stem borers cause damage to the crop at the larval stages. Larvae borer in to the plant stem...

There is evidence that crop yields are showing a trend of stagnation in many countries. This review aims to make an inventory of the last decade's crop productions and the associated economic and environmental challenges. Manipulating nitrogen use efficiency in crops appears to be the best way to conciliate global food security, respecting environmental policies, and the need to produce biofuel...

Toxic plants have been used for years in agriculture to control major crop pests. However, the continuous exposure of targeted pests to toxins dramatically increases the rate of resistance evolution (Gassman et al. in Annu Rev Entomol 54:147-163, 2009a; Tabashnik et al. Nat Biotechnol 26:199-202, 2008). To prevent or delay resistance, non toxic host plants can be used as refuges. Our study cons...

This paper explores the relationship of weeds and crop parasites in the domestication of crop-plants within the Old World, drawing predominately on China and the Near East. This relationship is explored using the concept of niche construction in which the act of cultivation sets about chains of feedback in which the ecological worlds of plants and humans became increasingly intertwined resultin...

Epidemiology of vectored plant pathogens involves the plant, the pathogens, the vectors, and the environment, all interacting in various ways. Often, an understanding is needed of seasonal cycles of host plants, pathogens, and vectors. For example, pathogens and vectors important to an annual crop may have non-crop reservoirs between harvest and re-planting. Vectors may overwinter in the crop, ...

Plant scientists have long recognized the need to develop crops that absorb and use nutrients more efficiently. Two approaches have been used to increase nutrient use efficiency (NUE) in crop plants. The first involves both traditional breeding and marker-assisted selection in an attempt to identify the genes involved. The second uses novel gene constructs designed to improve specific aspects o...

Plant-associated microbiomes have tremendous potential to improve plant resilience and yields in farming systems. There is increasing evidence that biological technologies that use microbes or their metabolites can enhance nutrient uptake and yield, control pests and mitigate plant stress responses. However, to fully realize the potential of microbial technology, their efficacy and consistency ...

sometimes when hybridization in quantitative traits due to occurring of transgressive segregation phenomena in f2 and other generations, phenotypes are observed that are outside the scope of their parents. transgressive segregates can be fixed via selfing and selection. classical genetic and qtl studies know complementary action of genes as the main reason for the occurrence of the above phenom...

The use of toxic protein bait sprays to suppress melon fly, Bactrocera cucurbitae (Coquillett) (Diptera: Tephritidae), populations typically involves application to vegetation bordering agricultural host areas where the adults seek shelter ("roost"). Although bait spray applications for suppression of oriental fruit fly, Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel), populations have traditionally been applied ...