News by Subject Agriculture

Researchers have uncovered an unusual protein activity in rice that can be exploited to give crops an edge in the evolutionary arms race against rice blast disease, a major threat to rice production around the world.

When land plants' nutrient availability dwindles, they have to respond to this stress. Plant researchers at Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (HHU) have used available data to examine which genes plants activate in the event of stress and what these mean. They published their findings in the journal iScience.

'Coprolites' from the Must Farm archaeological excavation in East Anglia, UK, shows the prehistoric inhabitants were infected by parasitic worms that can be spread by eating raw fish, frogs and shellfish.

Freshwater wetlands from Georgia to New York are home to a previously unrecognized species of medicinal leech, according to scientists at the Smithsonian's National Museum of National History. The new species was first identified from specimens collected in southern Maryland less than 50 miles from Washington, D.C., prompting a search through marshes and museum collections that revealed that the leech has long occupied a range that stretches throughout the eastern United States.

When it comes to plant growth and development, one hormone is responsible for it all: auxin. New Washington University in St. Louis research has uncovered a mechanism by which it can affect a plant in a myriad of ways.

An unprecedented survey has revealed the loss of about 85 percent of historical tidal wetlands in California, Oregon, and Washington. The report, published today in PLOS ONE, also highlights forgotten estuary acreage that might now be targeted for restoration.

For their 19-year study, UC Davis scientists dug roughly 6 feet down to compare soil carbon changes in different cropping systems. They found that compost is a key to storing carbon, a strategy for offsetting CO2 emissions.