Perimeter trap cropping (PTC) is a method of integrated pest management (IPM) in which the main crop is surrounded with a perimeter trap crop that is more attractive to pests. Blue Hubbard (Cucurbita maxima Duch.) is a highly effective trap crop for butternut squash (C. moschata Duch. ex Poir) attacked by striped cucumber beetles (Acalymma vittatum Fabricius), but its limited marketability may ...

The present research is conducted to find out the services and facilities of tobacco companies in promotion of tobacco crop in Malakand division of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. A multi-stage sampling technique applied for selection sample size. In this method, 135 tobacco growers were selected from fifteen villages of tobacco growers. The principle researcher interviewed selected respondents f...

without any scientific basis. About 20 years ago, researchers In response to requests by small scale cane growers of KwaZulu-Natal for advice on i~nproving their system of crop production, a Joint Project between SASEX and the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Agricul~ure was started in 1996. Trials were initiated to investigate the practicalitics of intercropping rainfed and irrigated cane with food...

The asparagus season has recently ended for northern hemisphere crops. Tradition has it that, at the summer solstice, growers stop cutting spears to allow the plant to grow and produce enough resources to generate spears for the next spring’s crop. The plant is becoming increasingly fashionable and production is increasing to meet demand. But the cultivated asparagus has a wild relative that is...

Understanding Crop Management Decisions for Sustainable Vegetable Crop Protection: A Case Study of Small Tomato Growers in Mayotte Island J. Huat, C. Aubry & T. Dore a CIRAD, UPR Hortsys, Montpellier, France b Africa Rice Center, Cotonou, Benin c INRA, UMR Sadapt, Paris, France d AgroParisTech, INRA, UMR 211, Thiverval-Grignon, France Accepted author version posted online: 24 Mar 2014.Published...

In this study, the aim is to develop a population model based approach to optimize fruit harvesting strategies with regard to fruit quality and its derived economic value. This approach was applied to the case of tomato fruit harvesting under Vietnamese conditions. Fruit growth and development of tomato (cv. "Savior") was monitored in terms of fruit size and color during both the Vietnamese win...

performance, aid with weed and pest management, better utilize soil and water resources, and, in the case of Brassica oilseeds, provide benefits for pollinators. Growers have relatively few economically viable cool season crop options in California (USDA NASS 2012), but diversifying winter crop options may become more valuable if summer production of irrigated annual or short-term perennial spe...

In greenhouse horticulture, energy costs form an increasingly larger part of the total production costs. Energy is primarily used for temperature control, reduction of air humidity, increase of light intensity and CO2 supply. Use of fossil energy can be reduced by limiting the energy demand of the system and decreasing energy losses, by intelligent climate control, by increasing the energy effi...

Transgenic maize engineered to express insecticidal proteins from the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) has become widely adopted in U.S. agriculture. In 2009, Bt maize was planted on more than 22.2 million hectares, constituting 63% of the U.S. crop. Using statistical analysis of per capita growth rate estimates, we found that areawide suppression of the primary pest Ostrinia nubilalis (Eu...

Striped cucumber beetle, Acalymma vittatum F., is the primary insect pest of cucurbit crops in the northeastern United States. Adult beetles colonize squash crops from field borders, causing feeding damage at the seedling stage and transmitting bacterial wilt Erwinia tracheiphila Hauben et al. 1999. Conventional control methods rely on insecticide applications to the entire field, but surroundi...