Rice (Oryza sative L.) is the main food crop in Asia and the staple food of the majority of the population in many regions of the world. The population pressure in rice-consuming countries demands that more attention be directed towards new approaches to sustainable rice produc‐ tion. Improvement of both crop quality and yield is an urgent task [1]. Optimally, rice yield improvement must be sou...

The enormous challenges to 21st century societies that include rapidly rising global population, ensuring food security, the need for increased food production in the face of changing climates with lower agricultural inputs, guaranteeing adequate nutrition to reduce the global burden of chronic disease, and the escalating need for energy produced from renewable feedstocks, have been viewed as p...

In many animal species, male acoustic signals serve to attract a mate and therefore often play a major role for male mating success. Male body condition is likely to be correlated with male acoustic signal traits, which signal male quality and provide choosy females indirect benefits. Environmental factors such as food quantity or quality can influence male body condition and therefore possibly...

Ecological communities show great variation in species richness, composition and food web structure across similar and diverse ecosystems. Knowledge of how this biodiversity relates to ecosystem functioning is important for understanding the maintenance of diversity and the potential effects of species losses and gains on ecosystems. While research often focuses on how variation in species rich...

Animals can be trained to avoid eating specific foods by offering them the food and subsequently administering an emtic to induce nausea. The animal associates the taste of the food with the induced illness and subsequently avoids eating that food. Conditioned food aversion (CFA) is a potential tool to prevent livestock poisoning from palatable and abundant poisonous plants. Cattle have been tr...

Basic Substances are a newly effective category of Plant Protection Product under EC Regulation No 1107/2009. The first approved application of Equisetum arvense L. opened Part C of Implementing Regulation (EU) No 540/2011, which lists the basic substance approved. Although E. arvense was described as a fungicide extract, subsequent applications like chitosan were related to non-biocide molecul...

Plant production systems globally must be optimized to produce stable high yields from limited land under changing and variable climates. Demands for food, animal feed, and feedstocks for bioenergy and biorefining applications, are increasing with population growth, urbanization and affluence. Low-input, sustainable, alternatives to petrochemical-derived fertilizers and pesticides are required ...

Entrohemorrhagic Escherichia coli is a human pathogen that causes hemorrhagic colitis due to its verotoxin. It is an agent with food poisoning importance; a significant number of cases subsequntly develop hemolitic uremic syndrome (HUS) which is probably the most common cause of renal failure in childeren and occasionally resulting in death. Inhibition of bacterial growth in food is the most im...

For centuries, Aloe Vera has been used by many different cultures. The ancient Greeks, the Romans, the Babylonians, Indians and the Chinese have all used Aloe Vera as a medicinal plant. One of the common experimental cancer models is sarcoma-180. When Aloe was administered to mice bearing S-180 tumors, the tumor growth was inhibited. Aloe vera is a dietary supplement and not a regulated drug. T...

Current theories about vegetation succession and food web assembly are poorly compatible, as food webs are generally viewed to be static, and succession is usually analyzed without the inclusion of higher trophic levels. In this study we present results from a detailed analysis of ecosystem assembly rules over a chronosequence of 100 years of salt marsh succession. First, using 13 yearlong obse...