GreenBio News - Last 20 News Articles with full text

`Pratik Cotton Seed` increases cotton yield for farmers

2012-05-23T13:41:56+02:00 GMT

Krishidhan Seeds ``Pratik``, a superior quality hybrid cotton seed, known for yielding massive increase in cotton production; has yet again set a record production across Southern and Central India.

Pratik is one of the leading BT cotton seed brands which provided great results to farmers in last season and is expected to cover larger areas in the coming Kharif season.

Expert Meeting Discusses Testing of Oxitec Transgenic Mosquitoes in Panama

2012-05-23T13:34:45+02:00 GMT

PANAMA CITY, Panama - International scientific and government experts held a forum on 16 May 2012 to discuss the potential use of Oxitec's genetically modified Aedes aegypti mosquitoes as a tool to combat Dengue Fever in Panama.

Blossom end rot plummets in Purdue-developed transgenic tomato

2012-05-23T13:29:58+02:00 GMT

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The brown tissue that signals blossom end rot in tomatoes is a major problem for large producers and home gardeners, but a Purdue University researcher has unknowingly had the answer to significantly lowering occurrences of the disease sitting on a shelf for 20 years.

Seeds explored on Living Land

2012-05-23T13:05:13+02:00 GMT

Genetically modified seed will be the topic of SABC2 agriculture programme Living Land on 2 June at 11:30am.

The show will explore the life-giving miracle locked up inside a seed and how new technologies like genetic modification can improve crop yields.

Living Land travels around South Africa to learn about the agricultural sector which is one of the backbones of the economy.

The show gives new entrants in agriculture a better idea of opportunities, challenges and skills required for specific farming activities.

MP says GE should be food safety issue

2012-05-23T13:03:09+02:00 GMT

The biggest flaw with the government's proposed Food Bill is that it does not include reference to genetically engineered food, a member of the primary production select committee told a collection of concerned area residents last week.

Green MP Steffan Browning says there was a lot of confusion around the Food Bill when it was presented, but despite many of those initial concerns being due to misinformation, there still are issues with the bill, which he says will inevitably become law.

Scientist asks SC to junk kalikasan writ plea against GMO eggplant

2012-05-16T11:21:44+02:00 GMT

A SCIENTIST assessing Bacillus thuringiensis eggplant’s applicability here has urged the Supreme Court to junk the arguments of those seeking the issuance of a writ of kalikasan against the biotech crop.

Dr. Emiliana Bernardo, a member of the Scientific and Technical Review Panel of the Department of Agriculture (DA), claims the arguments being raised against Bt eggplant were resurrected by “the same groups of petitioners that raised the same old questions against biotech corn more than 10 years ago.”

Challenges in Genetically Engineered Crop Regulatory Process

2012-05-16T11:17:24+02:00 GMT

A new innovation can completely reshape an industry - inspiring both optimism and debate.

BGI reports the completed sequence of foxtail millet genome

2012-05-16T11:15:13+02:00 GMT

Shenzhen, China - BGI, the world's largest genomics organization, in cooperation with Zhangjiakou Academy of Agricultural Science, has completed the genome sequence and analysis of foxtail millet (Setaria italica), the second-most widely planted species of millet.

This study provides an invaluable resource for the study and genetic improvement of foxtail millet and millet crops at a genome-wide level. Results of the latest study were published online today in Nature Biotechnology.

Cellular secrets of plant fatty acid production understood

2012-05-16T11:12:39+02:00 GMT

A curious twist in a family of plant proteins called chalcone-isomerase recently was discovered by Salk Institute for Biological Studies scientist Joseph Noel and colleagues at Iowa State University led by Eve Wurtele.

Pursuing basic scientific discovery, they found three similar proteins that could soon translate into positive results for bio-renewable fuels, commodity chemicals like plastics, food security and nutrition and biomedicine.

Specialty crop group petitions EPA on herbicide-resistant crops

2012-05-16T11:09:30+02:00 GMT

A coalition within the U.S. specialty crop industry has petitioned the Environmental Protection Agency and USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service to conduct an environmental impact statement (EIS) for dicamba- and 2,4-D-tolerant crops, saying more study of the technologies is needed.

Crops containing the technologies, which include Dow AgroSciences 2,4-D-tolerant corn and soybeans and Monsanto’s dicamba-tolerant soybeans, are expected on the market within a few years.

New Research Reveals Challenges in Genetically Engineered Crop Regulatory Process

2012-05-15T13:57:46+02:00 GMT

A new innovation can completely reshape an industry - inspiring both optimism and debate.

Barley takes a leaf out of reindeer’s book in the land of the midnight sun

2012-05-15T13:49:40+02:00 GMT

Barley grown in Scandinavian countries is adapted in a similar way to reindeer to cope with the extremes of day length at high latitudes new research from the John Innes Centre and the Max Planck Institute has found.

Barcoding Insects as a Way to Track and Control Them

2012-05-15T13:42:50+02:00 GMT

Barcodes may bring to mind the sales tags and scanners found in supermarkets and other stores.

But U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists are using "DNA barcodes" to monitor insects that damage crops as diverse as wheat, barley and potatoes, and to make pest management decisions.

Genes underlying the key domestication process in sorghum and other cereals

2012-05-15T13:41:09+02:00 GMT

A study by a team of university and government scientists led by a Kansas State University researcher, indicates that genes responsible for seed shattering - the process by which grasses disseminate their seeds - were under parallel selection during sorghum, rice and maize domestication.

GM crops need of the hour, say experts

2012-05-15T13:37:00+02:00 GMT

Genetically Modified seeds are the need of the hour to bolster farm production in the face of rising demand, and a way to match productivity of countries such as China and Vietnam, according to food scientists and experts here.

With GM crops seen with suspicion by most, the scientists said there is an inherent lack of awareness about its advantages among people.

Antarctic Octopus Study Shows West Antarctic Ice Sheet May Have Collapsed 200,000 Years Ago

2012-05-14T13:13:48+02:00 GMT

Scientists at the University have found that genetic information on the Antarctic octopus supports studies indicating that the West Antarctic Ice Sheet could have collapsed during its history, possibly as recently as 200,000 years ago.

Japanese scientists use particle accelerator to create salt-resistant rice

2012-05-14T13:10:27+02:00 GMT

An unfortunate and little reported side effect of last year’s Japanese earthquake and tsunami is that thousands of acres of farmland were contaminated with seawater.

Rice is a staple crop in Japan, and it requires large amounts of water to grow. The salt in seawater, however, stunts or outright kills the plant. Researchers out of Riken Nishina Centre near Tokyo have been looking at the problem, and it just so happens they have a particle accelerator laying around. You can probably see where this is going.

GM crops need of the hour, say experts

2012-05-14T13:07:52+02:00 GMT

Don’t live in fear of genetically modified food

2012-05-14T13:06:10+02:00 GMT

Arzeena Hamir’s April 27 tirade against genetically modified food caught my attention not because of its wisdom, but because of its unscientific one-sided blather.

As she herself states, “Not a single long term test for human safety has been conducted,” yet she makes the bold negative assertion that we, in effect, are being poisoned by such products.

New Tool for Tracking a Voracious Pest

2012-05-14T13:04:27+02:00 GMT

Since it first appeared in Texas in 1986, the Russian wheat aphid has cost U.S. wheat growers an estimated $200 million each year.

But U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists have developed a new tool to keep track of this nasty worldwide threat to wheat and barley and to provide guidance to researchers and plant breeders on control strategies.