From the earliest days, mankind has had to compete with insects for its food supply. In addition, many insects propagated diseases such as malaria, or the bubonic plague which have killed millions of people throughout history. Thus, when modern insecticides were introduced in the early 1940s, they had a tremendous impact both on the world food supply and the general health of people. For instan...

Low-pressure gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (LP-GC-MS) using a quadrupole MS instrument was further optimized and evaluated for the fast analysis of multiple pesticide residues in food crops. Performance of two different LP-GC-MS column configurations was compared in various experiments, including ruggedness tests with repeated injections of pesticides in matrix extracts. The tested colum...

water productivity is a function of crop yield and management operation. determination of different yield levels through field experiments is difficult. therefore, applying simulation model is an approach which makes possible to assess water balance, simulate growth process and survey different scenarios. using the cropsyst crop growth model to analyze water productivity, as an indicator of wat...

The N available after legumes is sufficient for maximum crop yields in many cropping systems. Fertilizing without accounting for the "extra" N mineralized from legume residues can contribute to high nitrate-N concentrations in the soil during crop production and increase nitrate-N leaching potential. Tillage practices also affect the physical, biological, and chemical nature of the soil, changi...