Despite international breeding efforts, advanced agronomy and effective management of pests and diseases, sugarcane yields have been static for decades owing to constraints on culm development. The culm’s sugar storage capacity is physically limited, restricting the volume of sucrose and biomass that can be obtained from the crop for sugar and ethanol production, according to experts in the area. 

Abandoned farmlands hold potential for the preservation of wetland and grassland birds as rehabilitation zones.

Think summer holidays and you’ll likely call up images of a beautiful beach or a glittering blue lake. But more and more lakes, rivers and coastal areas are plagued by an oversupply of nutrients that causes algae to grow at an explosive rate, which can eventually lead to water bodies that can’t support aquatic life.

Will they bite?

Plants can’t do without phosphorus. But there is often a ‘withdrawal limit’ on how much phosphorus they can get from the soil. That’s because phosphorus in soils is often in forms that plants can’t take up. That affects how healthy and productive the plants can be.

New real-time strategy for future foot-and-mouth outbreaks finds that focusing on surveillance and vaccination is most effective method to quickly fight spread of the virus

An international group of researchers has demonstrated that branching complexity of rivers affects regional population stability and persistence in nature, contrary to current theories which suggest the importance of an ecosystem’s size.

New IIASA-led research has found that a single climate mitigation scheme applied to all sectors, such as a global carbon tax, could have a serious impact on agriculture and result in far more widespread hunger and food insecurity than the direct impacts of climate change. Smarter, inclusive policies are necessary instead.

Rice plants engineered to have fewer stomata – tiny openings used for gas exchange - are more tolerant to drought and resilient to future climate change, a new study has revealed.

Plants have to defend themselves against drought, enemies and disease. But different threats demand different responses. So how do plants know what’s attacking them?