one of the most important forms of preharvest damage to wheat is caused by sunn pests. the insects insert their mouth parts into the immature grain and while injecting their saliva suck the milky juices. flour from damaged wheat results in low baking performance due to the bug proteolytic enzymes’ injected which cause the breakdown of gluten structure in the dough. in the present study three wh...

The concept of remote insect surveillance at large spatial scales for many serious insect pests of agricultural and medical importance has been introduced in a series of our papers. We augment typical, low-cost plastic traps for many insect pests with the necessary optoelectronic sensors to guard the entrance of the trap to detect, time-stamp, GPS tag, and—in relevant cases—identify the species...

In an age of free international shipments of mail-ordered seeds and plants, more policing will not stop the global migration of hitchhiking pests. The solution is in a preemptive response based on an internationally coordinated genomic deployment of global biodiversity in the largest breeding project since the "Garden of Eden." This plan will enrich the narrow genetic basis of annual and perenn...

Food losses caused by pests, contamination and spoilage are enormous. It is estimated1 that 42% of the production of the eight major food and cash crops of the world are lost to pests, with post harvest losses adding a further 10%. Despite the use of modern food processing and distribution systems, food borne diseases still pose a widespread threat to human health as well as being an important ...

Signalling chemicals play an essential role in arthropod life cycles. They provide the means whereby mates, host and oviposition sites are located and recognized. The identification of such semiochemicals (sex pheromones, host location and habitat-related cues) in mosquitoes, midges and sealice of farmed salmon is revealing ways in which such devastating pests may be monitored and controlled by...

With the rapid development of internet technology and protected cultivation in China, it is impending to implement a web-based information service system to spread professional agricultural knowledge. In this study, a 3-layer architecture web-based information service platform (ISP) for protected crop pests was developed using HTML, JavaScript and active server page (ASP). The platform included...

Invasive pests impose a major burden on the agricultural industries and the natural environment, threatening some native species with extinction. Although chemical agents are often deployed to eliminate pests, unspecific toxicity makes their use undesirable. Biological agents are of interest as an alternative method to cull specific pest species with little residual environmental harm. The deli...

Of the 31 species of exotic mammals that have current wild or feral populations confirmed in New Zealand, at least 25 are actively managed as pests in at least part of their range to reduce their impacts on biodiversity and production values. This paper summarises the current legal status of introduced mammals, the strategic and tactical options to manage them as pests, and their actual managem...

Marie-José Côté, Canadian Food Inspection Agency, Ottawa Laboratory (Fallowfield), Centre for Plant Quarantine Pests, 3851 Fallowfield Road, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, K2H 8P9; Marie-Claude Tardif, Health Canada, Food Directorate, Building #7, Tunney’s Pasture, P.L. 0700E1, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1A 0L2; and Allison J. Meldrum, Canadian Food Inspection Agency, Ottawa Laboratory (Fallowfield), C...

n their continuing battle with more I than 10,000 insect pest species, scient ists and growers in the United S ta tes achieved some striking successes against many pests, mainly with broad-spectrum insecticides. Unfortunately, those pesticides have had detrimental side effects: Pest insects developed resistance to formerly lethal materials; natural enemies of pests were destroyed; previously in...