Crop resistance to pests and

Impact of phytochemicals on crop resistance to pests and diseases... 

Many consumers also wish to be made aware of any genetic modification to the crop. Genetic modification might be beneficial for cocoa butter production as the characteristics of the butter could be modified in the growing bean, and also resistance to pests and diseases might be introduced to the plant. Analytical methods are required to detect such modification, in both the raw materials and the processed product. 

The determination of DNA sequences of genes for resistance to pests and pathogens, cloned from a number of crop species, suggests the existence of certain domains in the protein products. These are shared among... 

The use of varieties of crop species that are resistant to pests and diseases. If the crop species has genetically based variations of tolerance to the pest or disease, then resistant varieties can be developed using standard breeding techniques ... 

To try to cope with the disastrous effects of collectivization, the Communist Party ordered the rapid development of more productive varieties of wheat and other important crops. It imposed impossible demands on agricultural research institutions to improve (within one year) crop yields, resistance to diseases and pests, ease of harvest, food value, and so on. 

Rotating to a cover crop also helps reduce insects and nematode pests, weeds, and plant disease. When a grower doesn t rotate, he is likely to be faced with one or more of these problems. Conventional growers can use pesticides to control these pests rather than rotate. So there is a choice between crop yield (while cover crops are planted) and pesticide use (that can maintain yield but may have toxic effects on the environment), at least in the short run. In the longer run, pests become resistant to pesticides and farmers may be forced to rotate because the crop can no longer be grown in that area. 

Growing populations need ever more food, produced by ever more efficient agriculture. We demand high crop yields and low prices. Use of fertilizers and pesticides, together with selective breeding of productive and pest-resistant varieties of crops, help to produce increased yields. But some 40 percent of the world s crops are still lost to pests and disease before they come... 

In order to achieve this, the main emphasis is on building a living soil and environment that encourages beneficial organisms at all levels. When the land is enriched, the soil creates strong, healthy crops. These plants have more inherent resistance to diseases and pests and therefore need less intervention - chemical or otherwise. This focus in the... 

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