Have you ever wondered how the monthly Plant Cuttings’ collection comes to be? Do you think Mr P Cuttings knows in advance what he’s going to write about each month? He has a notional idea of the items he wants to...
Tag - agriculture
Nigel Chaffey
Decision time: Inorganic or Organic..?
Plants need appropriate amounts of essential nutrients if they are to grow fully and generate the yield of which they are capable. Quite often, however, one of those essentials – principally, nitrogen (N) – is in...
Plants, given a helping hand
I’ve been known to remind my students that just because testing demonstrates presence of e.g. ‘phosphate’ in a soil sample that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s in a form that can be accessed/utilised by plants. And...
Location, Location, Location [Or, Why rice is thrice as nice (maybe…)]
Arguably, one of humankind’s greatest achievements is agriculture [“the art and science of growing plants and other crops and the raising of animals for food, other human needs, or economic gain”], which in turn...
Altruistic plants?
There’s been a thoughtfulness* of books recently that reflect on aspects of plant intelligence – e.g. Daniel Chamovitz’s What a Plant Knows, Anthony Trewavas’ Plant Behaviour & Intelligence, Richard Karban’s Plant...
Will a Martian save the Earth?
Plant scientists are essential to help provide solutions to three of the most important current and future threats to mankind’s existence on the planet – food security, water supply and climate change. But as...
Plant-insect relationships, a double-edged sword
Flowering plants have had an intimate relationship with insects for millions of years. Indeed, this is often cited as an example of co-evolution , particularly with regards to the flowers and their pollination...
80 shades of plants…
Around the world in 80 plants. Stephen Barstow. 2014. Permanent Publications I normally have to request copies of books to review, but for this one I was invited to review a copy. Suitably intrigued by the book’s title...
If ’10 000 BC’ is the answer, the question is…?
This article focuses on the possible advent of human agriculture occurring 23,000 years BP.
The Hulk is Green, but is he Organic?
Scotland is to ban GMOs, because there’s more to GMOs than Science. It might sound good, but is it really a way to a more ‘natural’ method of farming? What mutants can you grow in Scotland? View Poll...
Alun Salt
Fancy a cool slice of watermelon?
This study uncovers the north-eastern African origins of the dessert watermelon and concludes that it was is domesticated there over 4000 years ago.
AJ Cann
GM crops, quantity or quality…?
GM crops can help, not only with the quantity of food produced worldwide, but also the quality. Golden Rice has enhanced levels of β-carotene.
Using Plant and Crop Extracts to Enhance Rural Household Food Security
Various plants, crops and extracts have been used over several generations to contribute to household food and nutrition security in semi-arid areas (Khan, et al. 2013; , Smith, et al. 2007; Schipper, 2000; Heslop...
Edward Mutandwa