Viral diseases in crop plants constitute a major obstacle to food security in the developing world. Subsistence crops, including cassava, sweetpotato, potato, banana, papaya, common bean, rice and maize are often infected with RNA and/or DNA viruses that cannot be controlled with pesticides. Hence, healthy planting materials and virus-resistant cultivars are essential for high yields of good qu...

Declines in cabbage (Brassica oleracea var. capitata) crop quality may result from delaying harvest to allow for greater total yield. An accurate, reliable, rapid and inexpensive method to estimate yield before harvest not requiring direct weight measurements would assist cabbage growers and handlers in harvest scheduling. Results from 3 years of study during which a tool to predict cabbage yie...

INTRODUCTION Ornamental grasses and sedges have a long history. Are they a new crop? Yes, both old and new at the same time. And a crop that has had a dramatic impact on the appearance of our developed landscape, on the work of landscape architects and planting designers, on nursery producers and landscape managers, and on researchers! Millions and millions of units of grasses and sedges are cu...

The crop chosen for this study is chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) as the fourth most important legume in Australian agriculture (FAOSTAT 2004). One of the major obstacles in growing this crop is its poor competitive ability with weeds, which leads to significant reductions in yield. The best method to control weeds in crops such as chickpea is through the use of integrated weed management (IWM). ...

The concept of planting trees in widely spaced rows and growing cash crops in the alleyways is a special form of agroforestry called alley cropping. To be successful, the companion crop’s physiological requirements (i.e., light, water and nutrients) must be accommodated by the tree. Black walnut’s (Juglans nigra L.) foliage and root system are unique and readily adapted to the growth of compani...

To guide soil fertility investment programmes in sub-Saharan Africa, better understanding is needed of the relative importance of soil and crop management factors in determining smallholder crop yields and yield variability. Spatial variability in crop yields within farms is strongly influenced by variation in both current crop management (e.g. planting dates, fertilizer rates) and soil fertili...

Biofuels are now an important resource in the United States because of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007. Both increased corn growth for ethanol production and perennial dedicated energy crop growth for cellulosic feedstocks are potential sources to meet the rising demand for biofuels. However, these measures may cause adverse environmental consequences that are not yet fully und...

Crop rotation is an effective tactic for soybean cyst nematode (SCN) management. In the North Central region of the USA, corn is almost exclusively used as a nonhost rotation crop with soybean. This study was conducted to determine the effectiveness of crops common to or having potential use in the North Central region as rotation crops for managing SCN. Sixteen potential rotation crops and SCN...