Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Updated: Crop Protection Compendium
UW-Madison Libraries subscribe to the Crop Protection Compendium database from CABI, which is now available on their new interface in beta.
This online multi-media resource can be searched by keyword, or browsed by animals (arachnids, molluscs, nematodes, birds, mammals), bacteria, fungi, oomycetes, plants, protozoa, unknown aetiology, and viruses. It includes:
* 2,800+ detailed data sheets on crops, crop pests, diseases, weeds, invasive plants, natural enemies, pesticides and biopesticides
* Information on an additional 27,000 species, including distribution maps
* 8,000+ pictures to allow for easy identification and teaching
* 200,000 article records from the CAB Abstracts database (updated weekly), including 6,500 full-text journal and conference articles
* 9,000+ term interactive glossary
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Plant Management Network: journals and more
UW-Madison is a partner of the Plant Management Network, managed by the American Phytopathological Society, American Society of Agronomy, and Crop Science Society of America. Students, staff and faculty have full access to the site, including:
• Plant Health Progress - peer-reviewed journal focusing on plant protection; covers plant disease, entomology, and nematology of crops and ornamentals.
• Crop Management - peer-reviewed journal covering crop management practices, crop nutrients, and production agriculture; focuses on maximizing crop yield and value.
• Forage and Grazinglands - peer-reviewed journal covering animal nutrition and rangeland management.
• Applied Turfgrass Science - peer-reviewed journal covering the many aspects of turfgrass management.
• Plant Disease Management Reports - More than 5,000 searchable efficacy reports on various means of pest control, such as fungicides, nematicides, and biological controls. PDMR’s purpose is to help users determine the most effective chemicals and nonchemical pest management agents and to ensure maximum effectiveness/minimum use in terms of application. Reports cover various crops, ornamentals, turf and forage.
• Arthropod Management Tests - Efficacy reports of insecticides and other means of insect control. Helps users determine the most effective chemicals and brands in managing insects and also to ensure maximum effectiveness/minimum use in terms of application rates. Reports cover crops, ornamentals, turf and forage.
• Symposium/Meeting Proceedings - A collection of proceedings on topics related to agriculture and horticulture.
• Focus on Soybean - An online portal for growers, crop consultants, and researchers seeking information on producing healthy, high-yielding soybean crops. Features webcasts from noted extension agents on soybean crop production, protection, and management.
• Focus on Potato - An online portal for growers, crop consultants, and researchers seeking information on producing healthy, high-yielding potato crops. Features webcasts from noted extension agents on potato crop production, protection, and management.
• Focus on Ag Practitioners - A one-stop portal of agricultural resources for certified crop advisers, independent consultants, and other ag practitioners.
• PMN Image Collections - A collection of more than 4,000 plant disease and agricultural images for disease identification, class illustrations, and presentations.
Friday, April 30, 2010
New soybean pest: Trochanter mealybug
See also...
* USDA NIFA grant - "Critical Issues: Emerging and New Plant and Animal Pests and Diseases"
* Wisconsin Pest Bulletin (v.54 n.1, 4/23/2010)
Related books & documents at UW-Madison:
* A systematic catalogue of the mealybugs of the world (Insecta, Homoptera, Coccoidea, Pseudococcidae and Putoidae) : with data on geographical distribution, host plants, biology, and economic importance
* Systematic analysis of the mealybugs in the Pseudococcus maritimus complex (Homoptera: Pseudococcidae)
* Handbook of soybean insect pests
* Pest management in soybean
* Soybean pest management in Wisconsin
* Pest management in Wisconsin field crops : a guide to managing weeds, insects, and diseases in corn, soybeans, forages, and small grains
* Some aspects of the biology and ecology of Orius insidiosus (Say) (Hemiptera: Anthocoridae) and a survey of arthropods on soybeans in south central Wisconsin
* Sulfhydryl-dependent inducible phytoalexins in juvenile soybeans predict insect resistance in fully developed plants
* Low-cost technology for controlling soybean insect pests in Indonesia
* Appraisal of insect-resistant soybeans, in Economic, environmental, and social benefits of resistance in field crops
* Two-spotted spider mite management in soybean and corn
* A nucleopolyhedrovirus for control of velvetbean caterpillar in Brazilian soybeans, in Biological control : a global perspective : case studies from around the world
* Biology and management of the soybean cyst nematode
* Soybean resistance to stem-mining agromyzid beanflies (Diptera: Agromyzidae)
* American Soybean Association diagnostic guide
* Sampling methods in soybean entomology
Related research articles:
* Biswas, J., Ghosh, A.B.. (2000). Biology of the mealybug, Planococcus minor (Maskell) on various host plants. Environment and Ecology, 18(4): 929-932.
* Thippaiah, M.; Kumar, N.G. (1999). Dysmicoccus sp. (Pseudococcidae: Homoptera): a pest of soybean in Karnataka. Insect Environment, 5(2): 70.
* Jadhav, R.G.; Madane, N.P.; Kathamale, D.K. (1996). Record of soybean as a new host in India for citrus mealybug. Insect Environment, 2(3): 90.
* Kadiata, B.D.; Mulongoy, K.; Ntonifor, N.N. (1992). A severe mealybug infestation on some tree legumes. Nitrogen fixing tree research reports, 10: 70-72.
* Srivastava, O.S. (1972). Soybean, a new host record of mealy bug, Nipaecoccus vastator (Mask.) (Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae) in India. Indian Journal of Entomology, 34(3): 351-352.
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Organic vs Conventional Production: Wisconsin Integrated Cropping Systems Trial

Researchers performing long-term agricultural studies in Wisconsin conclude that "...organic systems were more profitable than the Midwestern standards of continuous corn, no-till corn and soybeans, and intensively managed alfalfa" while "rotational grazing of dairy heifers was as profitable as the organic systems."
Further, "...organic forage crops can yield both as much dry matter as their conventional counterparts and with quality sufficient to produce as much milk..." and organic corn, soybean, and winter wheat "can produce 90% as well as their conventionally managed counterparts..." with weed control being a problem on average in one out of three years, and production being almost identical in two out of three years.
Original articles:
Chavas, J-P., Posner, J.L., Hedtcke, J.L. (2009). Organic and conventional production systems in the Wisconsin Integrated Cropping Systems Trial: II. Economic and risk analysis 1993-2006. Agronomy Journal 101:2, 288-295.
- Currently free - future access via UW-Madison library online subscription
Posner, J.L., Baldock, J.O., Hedtcke, J.L. (2008). Organic and conventional production systems in the Wisconsin Integrated Cropping Systems Trials: I. Productivity 1990-2002. Agronomy Journal 100:2, 253-260.
- UW-Madison access via library online subscription
More information:
- Wisconsin Integrated Cropping Systems Trial Project
- Report of the Wisconsin Integrated Cropping Systems Trial Project (1989-2006)
- Vertical distribution of phosphorus at the Wisconsin Integrated Cropping Systems Trial (2004)
- Low-input forage rotation: similar returns, reduced costs (2001)
- Cropping systems trial provides unique analysis (1999)
- Diversity pays off on cash grain farms (1999)
- Gross margins comparison of three cash grain cropping systems 1991-1994 (1995)
- Long-term study evaluates impacts of six Wisconsin cropping systems (1993)
- Baseline data for a coorientational approach to evaluation of changes produced by a sustainable agricultural demonstration program: the Wisconsin Integrated Cropping Systems Trial (1993)
Monday, March 30, 2009
Top 100 Plant Science Questions

"How can plant scientists change the world?"
Initiated by researchers in the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Bristol, "100 Plant Science Questions" invites submissions of pressing plant-related research issues facing the world today. Deadline: March 31st, 2009.
A panel drawn from academia, the public services sector and the corporate world will screen submissions.
From the website:
"Plant science is helping to address many of the big issues facing society today, such as food security, biofuels, and the effects of climate change, but what are the key questions that you think the next generation of plant scientists should be addressing?
Anyone is welcome to contribute their question, including members of the general public; agriculture, horticulture and forestry industries; ecologists; charities; policy makers; food, fibre, fuel and pharmaceutical industries; funding bodies; and researchers."
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Rice database wins award

The Rice Bibliography Database of the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) Library is the winner of the 2009 Oberly Award by the Association of College and Research Libraries.
This online search engine of the world’s scientific and technical rice literature has its roots in "The International Bibliography of Rice Research," first published in 1961 and then supplemented annually. Since 1996, the database has been online, and updated daily.
All publications represented by the database's 267,000+ entries are available in print or electronic format, and made available upon request.
More:
- Oberly Award press release
- What's New in the IRRI Library blog
- Global rice and agricultural trade liberalisation: poverty and welfare implications for South Asia (2008)
- Deep roots: rice farmers in West Africa and the African diaspora (2008)
- Arroz en Bolivia (2007)
- Weedy rices: origin, biology, ecology and control (2007)
- Neak sre = Les gens de la rizière = Rice people [videorecording] (2006)
- Monograph on genus Oryza (2003)
Friday, January 30, 2009
Global Research on Cocoa

GRO-Cocoa
- "Global Research On Cocoa: Working with and for farmers" - is a twice-yearly newsletter funded by the USDA and created by CABI.
All issues of the newsletter are available free online, back to issue #1 in June 2002.
CABI is "a not for profit, intergovernmental organization that improves people's lives worldwide by providing information and applying scientific expertise to solve problems in agriculture and the environment." They are publishers (ex: CAB Abstracts), researchers, consultants, and purveyors of microbial research services.
You may also be interested in:
- Bitter chocolate: the dark side of the world’s most seductive sweet
- Trichoderma stromaticum for management of witches’ broom of cacao in Brazil, chapter in Biological control: a global perspective
- Chocolate (video)
- The chocolate tree: a natural history of cacao
- Chocolate in Mesoamerica: a cultural history of cacao

