Agriculture News and Research

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Researchers produce a high-quality reference sequence of the switchgrass genome

Gardeners and farmers around the country recognize that crop varieties grow best in certain regions. Most plant species have adapted to their local environments; for example, crop and ornamental seeds sold for the upper Midwest are often very different than those bred for Texas.

28 Jan 2021

LEAFY protein licenses cell reprogramming to floral fate

Cells don't express all the genes they contain all the time. The portion of our genome that encodes eye color, for example, doesn't need to be turned on in liver cells. In plants, genes encoding the structure of a flower can be turned off in cells that will form a leaf.

28 Jan 2021

Researchers publish a complex genome analysis of switchgrass

Biologists believe they are one step closer to a long-held goal of making a cheap, widely available plant a source for energy and fuel, meaning one of the next big weapons in the battle against climate change may be able to trace its roots to the side of a Texas highway.

28 Jan 2021

New variant of CRISPR-Cas9 tool expands genomic editing in plants

For the first time, Yiping Qi has represented the College of Agriculture & Natural Resources on the Web of Science 2020 list of Highly Cited Researchers.

26 Jan 2021

Pioneer transcription factors help turn on key genes that give cells unique properties

Biologists have long wondered how complex organisms contain a variety of dramatically different types of cells with specialized functions, even though all of those cells are genetically identical.

25 Jan 2021

Microalgae cultivation can be a promising way to produce healthy 'superfoods'

Marine microalgae-based cellular agriculture is a promising new way to sustainably produce plant-based 'meat' and healthy 'superfoods' for the future.

25 Jan 2021

Global collaboration aims to develop new technologies to produce green ammonia

A new global collaboration to examine new ways of producing green ammonia is to receive DKK 21 million from the EU framework program for research and innovation, Horizon 2020. The project is being headed by engineering researchers from Aarhus University.

25 Jan 2021

New way to make 'green' ammonia from air, water, and renewable electricity

Chemical engineers at UNSW Sydney have found a way to make 'green' ammonia from air, water and renewable electricity that does not require the high temperatures, high pressure and huge infrastructure currently needed to produce this essential compound.

From The University of New South Wales (UNSW) 22 Jan 2021

New approach to biomaterial production may ease environmental burden of forestry, agriculture

It takes a lot to make a wooden table. Grow a tree, cut it down, transport it, mill it ... you get the point. It's a decades-long process. Luis Fernando Velásquez-García suggests a simpler solution: "If you want a table, then you should just grow a table."

22 Jan 2021

Global analysis of the impact of land acquisitions on local food security

Large-scale land acquisitions by foreign investors, intended to improve global food security, had little to no benefit, increasing crop production in some areas while simultaneously threatening local food security in others, according to researchers who studied their effects.

20 Jan 2021

Scientists urge global policymakers to recognize fish as a solution to food insecurity

Scientists are urging global policymakers and funders to think of fish as a solution to food insecurity and malnutrition, and not just as a natural resource that provides income and livelihoods, in a newly-published paper in the peer-reviewed journal Ambio.

20 Jan 2021

Ethylene allows plant roots to sense and avoid compacted soils

The volatile plant hormone ethylene allows plant roots to sense and avoid compacted soils, researchers report. Rendering roots insensitive to ethylene allowed them to penetrate compacted soils more effectively, the same group showed.

15 Jan 2021

Study: Cattle feed yards emit synthetic chemical cocktails into the environment

A recent Point of Reference article, "The meat of the matter: Environmental dissemination of beef cattle agrochemicals," published in Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, points at synthetic chemical cocktails being emitted from cattle feed yards into the environment and how they can impact our ecosystem and our health.

15 Jan 2021

Study: No-till practices can significantly reduce soil erosion rates

Soil erosion is a major challenge in agricultural production. It affects soil quality and carries nutrient sediments that pollute waterways. While soil erosion is a naturally occurring process, agricultural activities such as conventional tilling exacerbate it.

13 Jan 2021

Finding ways to cultivate plants more efficiently in space

When in space, astronauts typically eat dehydrated, nutrient-dense food, but when it comes to longer space missions, that can become a problem as they'll eventually lack nutrients from fresh vegetables.

12 Jan 2021

Researchers show how the genetic material travels from cell to cell

The genetic material of plants, animals, and humans is well protected in the nucleus of each cell and stores all the information that forms an organism. For example, information about the size or color of flowers, hair or fur is predefined here.

12 Jan 2021

Scientists identify gene that helps rice adapt to low soil nitrogen

Chinese researchers from the Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) have identified a gene that plays a significant role in helping rice adjust to low nitrogen levels in soil.

7 Jan 2021

Scientists discover why food-ingredient-based pesticide is effective against spider mites

Scientists have uncovered why a food-ingredient-based pesticide made from safflower and cottonseed oils is effective against two-spotted spider mites that attack over a thousand species of plants while sparing the mites' natural predators.

7 Jan 2021

Installation of agrivoltaic systems could lead to reduction of carbon dioxide emissions

Co-developing land for both solar photovoltaic power and agriculture could provide 20% of total electricity generation in the United States with an investment of less than 1% of the annual U.S. budget, a new paper by Oregon State University researchers found.

6 Jan 2021

Bacteriophage can play important role in microbial control

Crop plants and animals can be infected by bacterial pathogens that reduce yield, cause food wastage, and carry human pathogens that spread disease on consumption.

5 Jan 2021