Snails and slugs became a serious molluscan pests and damaging leaves of purple compacta, Cordyline fruticosa extensively grown for export at Green Farm Ltd, Sri Lanka. The export quality of leaves of C. fruticosa is lowered due to feeding of snails, Achantina fulica (Bowditch), Opeas pyrgula Schmacker and Boettgerx and Helix aspersa Muller and slugs incurring great loss to cut foliage industry...

Many birds display plumage coloration and patterns that act as visual aposematic mimetic signals for predators. Avian aposematism can also be communicated via chemical cues, where so-called non-host odours (NHO) emitted from the plumage, uropygial (preen) gland or other sources denote status of dangerous unprofitable hosts ectoparasitic haematophagous arthropods. NHO are in natural concentratio...

Overuse of different chemical fertilizers is one of the causes for the degradation of environment and soil. Biological fertilizers are the newest and most technically advanced way of supplying mineral nutrients to crops. Compared to chemical fertilizers, their supply nutrient for plant needs, minimizes leaching, and therefore improves fertilizer use efficiency. Vermicompost is an organic compou...

The self-assembly of block copolymers (BCPs) into a nanostructure with novel morphology and property has attracted an increasing interest as a new approach for materials science, chemical synthesis, and nanofabrication [1,2]. Recently, rod-coil block copolymers have received a great deal of attention since they offer an attractive strategy for the organization of many highly functional rod-like...

The present situation with an accelerating population growth worldwide will generate unprecedented demands on several crucial supply factors including shelter, especially in developing and underdeveloped countries. And as many of these countries are regularly exposed to natural hazards that frequently turn into disasters, this project has identified as a logic consequence to focus the research ...

Classic vector control strategies target mosquitoes indoors as the main transmitters of malaria are indoor-biting and -resting mosquitoes. However, the intensive use of insecticide-treated bed-nets (ITNs) and indoor residual spraying have put selective pressure on mosquitoes to adapt in order to obtain human blood meals. Thus, early-evening and outdoor vector activity is becoming an increasing ...

BACKGROUND Sleeping sickness, or human African trypanosomiasis, is caused by two species of Trypanosoma brucei that are transmitted to humans by tsetse flies (Glossina spp.) when these insects take a bloodmeal. It is commonly assumed that humans must enter the normal woodland habitat of the flies to become infected, but recent studies found that tsetse frequently attack humans inside buildings....

Acyl sugars present in the tomato Solanum lycopersicum 'LA-716' accession confer good levels of resistance to arthropod pests. The objective of the present study was to select F₂ plants from the interspecific cross Solanum pennellii 'LA-716' x Solanum lycopersicum 'Redenção' to assess resistance to spider mites (Tetranychus urticae) based on the leaf acyl sugar content and repellence tests. Fou...

The potential of bacterial antagonists of fungal pathogens to control the root-knot nematode Meloidogyne incognita was investigated under greenhouse conditions. Treatment of tomato seeds with several strains significantly reduced the numbers of galls and egg masses compared with the untreated control. Best performed Bacillus subtilis isolates Sb4-23, Mc5-Re2, and Mc2-Re2, which were further stu...

BOTRYTIS-INDUCED KINASE1 (BIK1) plays important roles in induced defense against fungal and bacterial pathogens in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana). Its tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) homolog is required for host plant resistance to a chewing insect herbivore. However, it remains unknown whether BIK1 functions in plant defense against aphids, a group of insects with a specialized phloem sap-fe...