Environment
In Australia this week a crucial battle begins to combat every Australian farmer’s nightmare, the worst locust plague in 40 years.
There is a $100 million national campaign in Australia to prevent a locust plague from wiping billions of dollars from the value of the Australian rural sector.
The public are being asked to help to pinpoint the locations of the young locusts or ‘hoppers’ because the "strike time" for spraying is limited to one month before they start flying in plagues, and devastating orchards, vineyards and pastures. See locust plague clip at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=…
Large interest groups get medicinal plants collected from the fields and thus they endanger the plant species in natural conditions and many medicinal plants have come in the category of endangered plants due to their overexploitation.
One possible answer could large scale fermenter culture of medicinal plants (Ashwani Kumar, Shikha Roy 2006 Plant Biotechnology and its Applications in Tissue Culture IK international, New Delhi; Karl-Hermann Neumann, Ashwani Kumar and Jafargholi Imani (2009) Plant Cell and Tissue Culture - A Tool in Biotechnology: Basics and Application Springer Heidelberg.…
This week is World Water Week. The big event takes place in Stockholm Sweden where Stockholm International Water Institute SIWI is organizing this yearly event. The World Water Week is an unique forum for the exchange of views and experiences between scientific, business, policy and civic sectors from around the globe. By harnessing and linking best practices, scientific understanding, policy insight and decision-making, the meeting aims to transcend rhetoric and provide real answers to the world’s water-related problems. This year the topic, besides the fact that it is all about water of…
I have railed against this particular form of lawn care hokum ever since I first heard about it, but I think I might have narrowed down it's origin. The story goes like this.
Rumors float around the net saying that sugar can control weeds in your lawn. Guys like me say "no, it really can't." Internet responds with "you're in the pocket of the big chemical companies."
I dug in to search around the internet for any sign that someone had done some testing on this that would have set off the stampede to the grocery store's baking goods section.I finally tracked down a scientist who actually has…
While proponents of organic farming insist it can meet population projections and is better for wildlife, scientists at the Universities of Leeds and York say instead a balanced approach is superior. At least for butterflies.
Their study found that organic farms have more butterflies than conventional farms but that a conventional farm plus an area specifically managed for wildlife could support more butterflies and produce the same amount of food from the same area of land. Drawback: the wildlife area would have to be similar in quality to a nature reserve rather than similar to…
Most fashion students keep finished designs in a wardrobe but Emily Crane has to use a freezer. Unlike the stereotypical fashion designer, Crane is more likely to be found in a lab coat and wearing goggles than working with pencils or scissors.
Crane’s work forms an exotic part of Kingston University’s display at Vauxhall Fashion Scout on September 17, during London Fashion Week, and she is currently preparing her collection but can’t promise what she’ll be showing - because it doesn't always work, being that her clothes are made of things like gelatin and seaweed.
“I never know…
Soil has limited potential in terms of productivity and nutrient cycle regulation. Drinking water on the earth is limited. Excessive agriculture destroys soil structure and reduces chemical balance. Not all the minerals present in soil are available to the plants.
Set aside lands have their own benefits in terms of regulation of pests and diseases as fallow land will prevent rapid spread of diseases in case they appear and it also improves soil health to have crop rotation.
The use of set aside lands for raising rapeseed mustard or raising it as biodiesel crop may appear to be attractive…
What Morrow plots showed to the world in 1876 and still being maintained as the historical site the world has forgotten.
During my visit to UIUC to Professor Jack Widholm the pioneer scientist in crop science ,its heartening to see the Morrow plots. What makes me sad is to realize what American perceived in 1876 the world is forgetting now . It is written there that
"University of Illinois
The Morrow Plots
America's oldest experimental field established in 1876.
Results demonstrate that soil quality is a vital component of agricultural productivity. "
Food productivity is going down due to…
Ashwgandha (Withania somnifera) is commonly known as old mens lathi ( support for ageing people) as it helps to restore memory loss or at least delays the degenration of neurons during ageing process.
However the price of ashwagandha roots depends on the place of its origin. Nagaroi aswagandha is cosidered to be best. It come from somewhere in Madhya Pradesh on the borders of Rajasthan or approximately Mandsor area . I could never locate its production area but it is sold by this name.
Many people have tried it to grow and sell but the market forces determine the price of the crude drug. A…
Prairie plants which were original vegetation of certain regions of the world in prehistoric times are the hope for the future. Global warming has local solutions only.
A screening of plants for their biomass potential , productivity, nutrient uptake and utilization and production of hydrocarbons or organic fractions could be determining factor about such plants having utility as potential candidate for biomass and biofuel.
Only local solutions are required for global problems.
It has been habit of looking towards advanced countries for the solutions to problems. Local advice by…