Hamedan province is one of the main potato growing areas in Iran. Potaoto scab disease caused by Streptomyces spp. is one of the prevalent and important diseases of potato in this provice. Potato tubers with symptoms of scab diseases including raised and deep or shallow pitted lesion were collected from potato growing area in this region. A total of 20 and 25 strains of Streptomyces were isolat...

Sweet potato belongs to Ipomoea series batatas and is thought to have originated in Central America and Northern South America. World sweet potato production is around 106 million tons in an area of about 8.1 million ha. Asia is the world’s largest sweet potato-producing region and China is the world’s leading sweet potato-producing country accounting for about 76% of production. Sweet potato h...

Introduction Organic farming systems are challenged by many of the same crop protection issues as conventional farming systems. Approaches to crop protection in organic agriculture differ widely among growers globally and regionally. At one end of the spectrum, organic growers use substitution-based approaches in large-scale operations to capture premium prices in a niche market. At the other e...

More than 36000 individuals living in rural Malawi were skin tested with antigens derived from 12 different species of environmental mycobacteria. Most were simultaneously tested with RT23 tuberculin, and all were followed up for both tuberculosis and leprosy incidence. Skin test results indicated widespread sensitivity to the environmental antigens, in particular to Mycobacterium scrofulaceum,...

Plastic reflective mulches significantly reduced populations of corn leafhopper, Dalbulus maidis (DeLong & Wolcott), adults and the incidence of corn stunt disease caused by Spiroplasma kunkelii (CSS) in late planted sweet corn (Zea mays L.). The reflective mulches were more effective than were either foliar or soil applied insecticides in managing both the leafhopper and the pathogen it transm...

Colorado potato beetle (Leptinotarsa decemlineata Say) is the leading insect pest of potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) in northern latitudes. Host plant resistance is an important tool in an integrated pest management program for controlling insect pests. Field studies were conducted to compare natural host plant resistance mechanisms (glandular trichomes and Solanum chacoense Bitter-derived resist...

Avocado thrips arrived in California in 1996. Since then, we have made substantial progress in our understanding of this pest. We now know the area of origin of the avocado thrips and have compiled an inventory of other potential pest thrips species on avocados in Mexico and Central America. Trials have helped us to identify several selective insecticides for use in treating avocado thrips in o...

Sweet potato chlorotic stunt virus (SPCSV) was first detected in China in 2010, and several partial sequences have been determined for Chinese SPCSV isolates. This report describes the complete genome sequences of two SPCSV isolates from the Guangdong and Jiangsu provinces and will be valuable for understanding the characteristics of SPCSVs in China.

Integrated pest management adoption is quite low around the globe, particularly in developing countries, due to different factors. Here, we examine factors affecting intention of Pakistani farmers adopt integrated practices vegetable production using a structured questionnaire. We interviewed 301 growers Multan, Pakistan. The reliability and validity data, along with underlying relationship bet...

References 1 Greiner, S. et al. (1999) Ectopic expression of a tobacco invertase inhibitor homolog prevents cold-induced sweetening of potato tubers. Nat. Biotechnol. 17, 708–711 2 Hemberg, T. (1985) Potato rest. In Potato Physiology (Li, P.H., ed.), pp. 353–388, Academic Press 3 Suttle, J.C. (1995) Postharvest changes in endogenous ABA levels and ABA metabolism in relation to dormancy in potat...