31 Year-to-year variations in crop yields can have major impacts on the livelihoods of subsistence farmers 32 and may trigger significant global price fluctuations with severe consequences for people in developing 33 countries. Fluctuations can be induced by weather conditions, management decisions, weeds, diseases, 34 and pests. Although an explicit quantification and deeper understanding of w...

INTRODUCTION World trade in agricultural commodities continues to grow. As agricultural trade expands, it increases the risk of introducing exotic insects into new areas where they may become plant pests. The establishment of new pests can be costly due to increased crop damage, control programs, and quarantine restrictions on trade. Quarantine or phytosanitary treatments such as cold, fumigati...

Blood samples were collected from all study-group subjects for biochemical parameters assays before and after 15 days of vitamin C supplements. The study clearly showed that giving vitamin C supple ments protects liver damage in vineyard crop sprayers, which results in decreased aspartate transaminase and alanine transaminase activity. In addition to its antioxidant activity, vitamin C is known...

More than half of the worldwide expenditure on agrochemicals was devoted to insecticides in an effort to combat over half a million different herbivorous insect species1}. Despite this, 15% of the crops planted are lost to feeding insects and other pests2). The cost of this damage and its effect on agriculture has increased the demand for more effective crop protection agents. For manyyears, pe...

SUMMARY This Technical Memorandum provides a comprehensive and critical review of the available literature on the primary processing, storage and quality of fresh lowbush (wild) blueberries (Vaccinium angustifolium Ait. and V. myrtilloides Michx.). Areas of discussion include: pre-process cooling, mechanical damage, washing, storage temperature and quality parameters. Recommendations for furthe...