Biology Archives - Page 9 of 137 - Manitoba Co-operator

Scout for silent soybean killer

The soybean cyst nematode is all over the map in North Dakota, so it’s only a matter of time  before it arrives in Manitoba

By Shannon VanRaes January 16, 2015

While the soybean cyst nematode, Heterodera glycines, has yet to be found in Manitoba, producers are being urged to begin scouting now for what is sometimes called the “silent killer.” “They call it the silent killer in areas where it’s been a problem for longer, because yield loss occurs long before symptoms are visible,” Holly

Did you know?

Weak bones? Agriculture may be to blame

Lack of loading rather than lack of nutrition may be the reason

By Manitoba Co-operator Staff January 8, 2015

The invention of agriculture may have allowed for many human advances, but strong bones may not be one of them, say researchers at the University of Cambridge. Writing in the journal PNAS, they say that human skeletons have become much lighter and more fragile since the invention of agriculture. Hunter-gatherers from around 7,000 years ago

Beef cattle, Livestock

Beef 911: Cattlemen can ensure biosecurity on the ranch

Maintaining a few simple precautions can minimize the risk of disease outbreaks

By Roy Lewis December 3, 2014

Biosecurity refers to protecting the health of our livestock by preventing disease transmission. The extreme happened many years ago now regarding the spread of foot-and-mouth through Britain. A more likely example would be the spread of scours from farm to farm or from pen to pen within the farm itself. This article will try and

Livestock, National news

Federal scientists muzzled by PMO

Stance on antibiotic issues hard to pin down

By Shannon VanRaes November 28, 2014

Canada’s federal government wants the public to know that it is promoting the “prudent use” of medically important antimicrobial drugs in food-producing animals. But it doesn’t want the public to know what that means — and it certainly doesn’t want the public to hear what its scientists and veterinarians have to say about what many

Livestock

Antibiotic-resistant genes pass between bacteria

Solving the problem of increasing antibiotic-resistant organisms will require stakeholders to move beyond the blame game and collaborate

By Shannon VanRaes November 21, 2014

It’s a microscopic problem with huge repercussions, repercussions that could end a way of life humans have enjoyed for seven decades. Experts say that antibiotic resistance is on the rise, including resistance to antibiotics important to human health. “It is indeed a crisis, the evolution of antibiotic resistance is occurring at an alarming rate, outpacing

Crops, National news, Oilseeds

Canola Council joins coalition for bee health road map

A diverse group of corporate entities join together  with beekeepers as the Honey Bee Health Coalition

By Shannon VanRaes November 4, 2014

The Canola Council of Canada has joined the Honey Bee Health Coalition, a North American coalition of more than 30 organizations, in the hopes of improving pollinator numbers. “We’re really dependent on pollinators to have seed stocks for this 20-million-acre industry, so obviously we want that relationship to continue,” said Gregory Sekulic, who represents the

A sample of Aegilops tauschii, a wild relative of wheat, collected in Afghanistan. It has natural resistance to the Hessian fly, a major pest of cereals worldwide. Photo: USDA/ARS

Cereals, Did you know?

Conflicts threaten plant genetic resources

Highest concentration of important wild crop relatives  is in Syria and Lebanon

By Manitoba Co-operator Staff September 18, 2014

Future crop-breeding improvements could be hampered by conflict in the world’s war zones, say researchers from the University of Birmingham in the U.K. Many of today’s most important crops evolved from wild ancestors in the “Fertile Crescent” of the Middle East, arcing around the Arabian desert from Jordan, Palestine, Israel, Syria, Lebanon, Turkey and ending

Emerson’s “R” rating for fusarium head blight is driving demand for the new winter wheat. photo Canterra Seeds

Cereals, Crops

Big demand for “R” rated Emerson winter wheat

Early indications are Canada’s only fusarium head-blight resistant wheat  performed well despite a high incidence of fusarium this year

By Allan Dawson September 5, 2014

Canada’s first fusarium head-blight resistant wheat variety survived a baptism by fire this summer, which explains why demand for its seed exceeds the available supply. Emerson winter wheat is the first variety to achieve the “R” rating for resistance to fusarium. The level of fusarium head blight infection affecting winter wheat crops in Manitoba in

The treatment works by introducing a beneficial fungus which consumes the harmful fusarium strain. photo: lionel kaskiw, MAFRD

Cereals, Crops, News

A new biocontrol for fusarium head blight in cereals coming

An Ontario company will use a fungal organism found on a Manitoba field pea leaf  to ward off FHB and possibly other fungi

By Allan Dawson August 25, 2014

Fighting fungi with fungi. That’s how an Ontario company plans to use an Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) discovery to control fusarium head blight in wheat and other cereal crops. Adjuvants Plus Inc. at Kingsville, Ont. has reached a 10-year licensing agreement with AAFC to use its patented technology — a fungal organism called Clonostachys

The Mediterranean fruit fly damages 300 types of cultivated and wild fruits, vegetables and nuts worldwide. Photo: USDA

Did you know?

Population control — just let the males take over

Unlike sterilized males, GM versions are good  performers but run out of females

By Manitoba Co-operator Staff August 21, 2014

Scientists at the University of East Anglia and Oxitec Ltd. in the U.K. say they have a new way to control a damaging crop pest — release males genetically engineered to father only male offspring. The scientists conducted greenhouse research with the Mediterranean fruit fly, which damages 300 types of cultivated and wild fruits, vegetables

Daily Network News

‘Significant’ Canadian GDP slide expected in 2026, FCC says

Gene edited, PRRS resistant pig approved in Canada

U.S. livestock: Cattle futures end week higher

Tag Archives Biology