Engineered crops have become a significant component of modern agriculture. Prior to release for commercial planting, a thorough pre-market regulatory review focuses on any potential agricultural and environmental impacts of genetically engineered crops, as well as any differences in food safety that may be associated with the introduction of novel genes and their products. The regulatory revie...

In this study, a geospatial model for land use allocation was developed from the view of simulating the biological autonomous adaptability to environment and the infrastructural preference. The model was developed based on multi-agent genetic algorithm. The model was customized to accommodate the constraint set for the study area, namely the resource saving and environmental-friendly. The model...

The red pumpkin beetle, Aulacophora foveicollis (Lucas) is a common, serious and major pest of a wide range of cucurbitaceous vegetables. It is injurious to the crops and cause severe damage to almost all cucurbits. The present study was conducted to find out the host suitability of red pumpkin beetle, Aulacophora foveicollis (Lucas) among different cucurbit hosts in the Laboratory and Field La...

The design of an Agent-Based Model (ABM) is described that integrates Social and Land Use Modules to examine population-environment interactions in a former agricultural frontier in Northeastern Thailand. The ABM is used to assess household income and wealth derived from agricultural production of lowland, rain-fed paddy rice and upland field crops in Nang Rong District as well as remittances r...

Land is the central resource for agriculture. In many parts of Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), where a large portion population relies on agriculture subsistence and household incomes, future declines in productive capacity land owing to environmental change pose major threat both farming well-being smallholders. Smallholders’ access concurrently at risk due large-scale acquisitions (LSLA), promoted ...

1049-9644/$ see front matter 2011 Elsevier Inc. A doi:10.1016/j.biocontrol.2011.06.014 ⇑ Corresponding author. Fax: +1 517 353 5598. E-mail address: [email protected] (B.P. Werling). Cultivation of biofuel crops could change agricultural landscapes, affecting natural enemies at multiple scales. We sampled five natural enemy families with sticky cards in three model biofuel habitats (corn, switch...

The taungya system was introduced to the West African sub-region with the aim of addressing land hunger for forest fringe communities. In Ghana, teak (Tectona grandis) was adopted as the main tree species for the taungya system. However, there is a perception that teak degrades the land and excludes undergrowth vegetation. The aims of this study were to identify the extent of the adoption of ag...

The coconut bug, Pseudotheraptus wayi Brown (Heteroptera: Coreidae), is a major pest of a wide range of economically important crops in Eastern and Southern Africa. The suitability of French beans, Phaseolus vulgaris L. (Fabales: Fabaceae) as an alternative food for mass rearing of P. wayi was determined by elucidating its development, survival, and reproduction on French bean pods in the labor...

This study demonstrates the ability of GIS and Remote Sensing in capturing spatial-temporal data on land use and land cover classes. The nine land cover classes captured were Built-up area, Secondary forests, Savannah, Grasslands, and Shrublands containing herbaceous, Rain-fed shrub crops, Fresh water swamps, Water bodies, and Farmlands. The remote sensed imageries also displayed how the land u...

Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor ( L. ) Moench ) has emerged as a leading candidate for biomass utilization among energy crops due to high yield potential, ease o f culture and wide adaptibility. Previously, enormous diversity present in the germplasm has been manipulated by sorghum breeding programs primarily to produce grain, syrup or forage. Development of sorghums for energy utilization will requir...