Instant insights: unmanned aircraft systems in agriculture

This book provides a useful overview of the use of unmanned aircraft systems/unmanned aerial vehicles in an array of agricultural settings for differing purposes, such as their use in turfgrass systems to measure and monitor specific targets.

The reflexive teaching artist

Writing from the dual perspectives of artist and educator, Kathryn Dawson and Daniel A. Kelin II raise fundamental questions about the complex functions of the teaching artist in school, community and professional theatre settings. Contributions to the text explore a series of foundational concep...

Memory fragments

Memory fragments

Taking as its starting point four contemporary visual artists whose work utilizes the conventions of museum display and collecting practices, Memory Fragments examines how these artists have reconfigured dominant representations of Australian history and identity, including viewpoints often margi...

World film locations: istanbul

From Head-On to Murder on the Orient Express, World Film Locations: Istanbul offers a compelling look at the many films shot on location in this multicultural metropolis on the Black Sea. Illustrated throughout with film stills as well as photographs of featured locations as they appear today, Wo...

Refugee performance

Exploring theatre works created for, by, and with refugees, this collection of essays combines newly commissioned scholarly work with examples of writing by refugees. These varied contributions illuminate performances that range from theatre in Thai refugee camps to site-specific works staged in ...

Peter weir

Peter Weir's three-decade creative journey from Australia to Hollywood is considered in light of the recent theories on transnational cinema and through an examination of four key films. The films' analyses integrate interviews with Weir and his closest collaborators. The book concludes that Weir...

World film locations: istanbul

From Head-On to Murder on the Orient Express, World Film Locations: Istanbul offers a compelling look at the many films shot on location in this multicultural metropolis on the Black Sea. Illustrated throughout with film stills as well as photographs of featured locations as they appear today, Wo...

Selling war

This book is the first collection of essays to explore the changing relationships between war, media and the public from a multidisciplinary perspective and over an extended historical period. It is also the first textbook for students in this field, discussing a wide range of theoretical concept...

Peter weir

Peter Weir's three-decade creative journey from Australia to Hollywood is considered in light of the recent theories on transnational cinema and through an examination of four key films. The films' analyses integrate interviews with Weir and his closest collaborators. The book concludes that Weir...

Weed management in conservation agriculture-based production of annual crops

This chapter reviews the benefits and use of cover crops in no-till (NT) cultivation systems such as Conservation Agriculture (CA) in order to control undesirable plants (‘weeds’) in different annual crop production systems, whilst minimizing the use of herbicides. It begins by situating use of c...

Weed management in no-tillage vegetable cultivation: using the sistema de plantio direto de hortaliças to achieve an agroecological transition

This chapter describes cultivation of vegetables using the no-tillage cultivation system developed in Brazil (SPDH+: Sistema de Plantio Direto de Hortaliças). Based on agroecological principles, this allows more sustainable cultivation of vegetables without reliance on synthetic fertilizers and p...

Weed management in conservation agriculture systems: farmers’ testimonies

In this concluding chapter, several testimonies of farmers about their experiences regarding weed management after the shift to CA are presented to emphasize the importance of practitioners' views when profound changes in farming methods are needed. The testimonies comprise different agroecologie...

Weed management in perennial conservation agriculture systems: optimising use of groundcover

This chapter reviews ways of optimising use of ground cover in perennial cultivation for weed control. It reviews the multiple roles of ground cover in perennial systems and ways of selecting between different types of ground cover (non-selected or select spontaneous plants; sown grass, legume or...

Using herbicides in conservation agriculture systems: the state of the art

Conservation agriculture has received increasing interest worldwide as a cropping system addressing the future challenge of feeding an increasing world population while minimizing the negative environmental and climate impacts of agriculture and preserving soil fertility. There is an ongoing disc...

Weed ecology in conservation agriculture systems: an overview

This chapter extensively explores the intricate dynamics of weed communities within the framework of Conservation Agriculture (CA). A review of weed density, shifts in species, and seedbank dynamics under CA reveals the challenges inherent in this agricultural system. The chapter underscores the ...

Allelopathic weed control in conservation agriculture systems

Allelopathy involves release of chemicals from plant roots that can inhibit or promote the growth of other organisms. Allelopathic interactions can be exploited to control weeds in agroecosystems. Conservation Agriculture (CA) characterized by minimum tillage, soil cover, and diversified crop rot...

Cultural techniques to control weeds in conservation agriculture systems

Weeds pose significant challenges limiting productivity and profitability in agricultural production systems. Properly managing these plants is fundamental in developing Conservation Agriculture systems, and incorporating ecological concepts must base a weed management program. Cultural practices...

Modeling weed population dynamics in conservation agriculture systems

We have available a relatively rich arsenal of platforms (satellites, airplanes, UAVs, combines, ATVs), sensors and image processing procedures to detect weeds at various spatial and temporal scales. Up to now these technologies have been mainly used for map-based targeted herbicide spraying, imp...

Weed management in conservation agriculture systems

This collection provides a comprehensive overview of the recent research on ways to optimise weed management in Conservation Agriculture systems without reliance on herbicides such as glyphosate.

Advances in the reduction of herbicide use in conservation agriculture: french case studies

Conservation agriculture (CA) appears as a promising agricultural pathway to achieve multiperformance but is currently questioned due to its reliance on herbicides for weed management, especially glyphosate. One limit in the development of CA-based agroecological cropping system less reliant on h...

Thermal weed control in conservation agriculture systems

The pursuit of sustainable agriculture has elevated the importance of Conservation Agriculture (CA) systems, which emphasize minimal soil disturbance, permanent soil cover, and maximum biodiversity/crop rotations. Traditional weed control methods, often reliant on chemical herbicides, face increa...

Advances in precision application technologies for weed management

Most PWM related research activity is focused on different aspects of weed scouting and mapping, aiming to optimize the weed detection performances of various sensors and imaging platforms. It seems like other aspects of the PWM pipeline get much little attention, nonetheless, their development a...

Advances in biocontrol of crop insect pests

The biocontrol sector continues to expand and diversify. This collection reviews some of the key developments in the creation of new sustainable solutions to manage crop insect pests without the need for synthetic pesticides.

Advances in understanding the dynamics of weed communities in integrated weed management systems

The shift towards integrated weed management necessitated by the negative unintended consequences of over-reliance on herbicides is a significant challenge for predicting the dynamics of weed communities. In response to this challenge, the novel approach of applying trait-based methodologies to w...

Instant insights: weed management in regenerative agriculture

This collection addresses the emerging use of integrated weed management programmes throughout regenerative agriculture. Chapters review the sustainable control of weeds in Conservation Agriculture systems, as well as organic cropping systems.

On-farm implementation of integrated weed management

IWM is a part of integrated pest management (IPM) and adoption of IWM is an important driver for IPM. Within the project IWMPRAISE we developed a novel framework for integrating and implementing existing and novel approaches to IWM. Understanding the drivers of decision making by farmers are esse...

Advances in understanding invasive characteristics in weed species

Genetic modifications are a well-known mechanism for understanding the evolution of weeds and invasive alien plants. Recently more attention has been given to epigenetic modifications in weed ecological genetics since epigenetic modifications can govern the ecological-adaptive potential of weed s...

Optimising integrated weed management in narrow-row crops

Sustainable management of weeds represents a major challenge for farmers. Herbicides offer the most effective curative technique and are widely used. Nevertheless, less reliance on them is necessary for environmental and technical reasons, and also in the face of societal pressure. Four detailed ...

Developing decision support systems (dss) for weed management

The objectives of this chapter are to review what is achievable in DSS designed specifically for weed management, identify the obstacles in creating more effective DSS, and discuss how to increase adoption by farmers. DSS can model crop yield losses due to weed competition and set thresholds for ...

Advances in managing arable weed propagules

The soil propagule bank acts as a reservoir from where weeds colonize arable fields and is composed of weeds seeds and ramets, which are fragments from clonal growth of perennial weeds. This chapter first describes the ways by which weed propagules have been historically managed. It then discusse...

Fungicide resistance: evolutionary questions and practical implications

The evolution of resistance is a major threat to the efficacy of fungicides. Therefore, to achieve more durable crop protection, we must understand the evolutionary processes driving resistance, in order to apply more effective strategies to manage the risk. The inherent resistance risk of a fung...

Advanced detection technologies for weed scouting

This chapter discusses advanced detection technologies for weed scouting. It starts by highlighting the current techniques that can be used to make optimising herbicide treatments more efficient, such as on-ground and remotely-sensed weed detection. The chapter then goes on to discuss the replace...

Evaluating the economics of integrated weed management

Integrated weed management (IWM) contributes to the reduction of the use of pesticides and the risks of pesticide use. Novel IWM strategies can have economic consequences for farming systems. To develop alternative weed management strategies that maintain productivity while reducing the environme...

Modelling the effects of cropping systems on weed dynamics: the trade-off between process analysis and decision support

Models are essential to synthesize knowledge on weeds and to design integrated weed-management strategies. These models must rank cropping systems as a function of weed infestation, and account for variability in effects to estimate probabilities of success or failure. Three case studies are pres...

Instant insights: integrated pest management in cereal cultivation

This collection reviews the adoption of integrated pest management programmes across cereal cultivation, with chapters dedicated to rice, wheat and sorghum. Chapters consider the key biological, cultural and chemical methods of control, as well as breeding crops for resistance to insect pests.

Advances in understanding the contribution of weeds to the functioning of agroecosystems

Reduction in herbicide use will trigger changes in weed communities. Improving our capacity to identify farming management options that will lead to weed communities offering interesting trade-offs of functions is thus timely. Functional approaches are offering a robust framework to quantify and ...

Advances in monitoring of native and invasive insect pests of crops

Early detection of insect pests is critical to successful integrated pest management (IPM) programmes. This collection reviews the wealth of research on improving monitoring techniques for the detection of both native and alien insect pests.

Advances in understanding insect pests affecting wheat and other cereals

This collection reviews the wealth of research on understanding insect population dynamics, novel pest invasions, the effects of changing production systems, plant-pathogen-interactions, detection, forecasting and decision support for integrated pest management (IPM) techniques to control major i...

Advances in integrated weed management

This collection explores recent developments in integrated weed management (IWM) that embrace a more holistic, landscape-based agroecological approach, including the application of technology to allow more informed decision-making and more targeted solutions.

Cereal leaf beetle (oulema melanopus)

The cereal leaf beetle (Oulema melanopus L.), native to Eurasia and introduced to North America, poses significant economic threat to crops of small grains across much of the northern hemisphere. Pest management is challenging because cereal leaf beetle outbreaks are sporadic and remain unpredict...

Instant insights: managing arthropod pests in cereals

This collection provides a detailed overview of the management strategies available for controlling arthropod pests in cereals, focussing primarily on pests affecting wheat and corn/maize production. Chapters explore the use of insect monitoring technologies as a means of managing future infestat...

Grasshoppers and other orthopteran pests

Grasshoppers, including locusts, and katydids are some of the most destructive pests in the world. Because they typically feed on a wide range of plants and migrate into cereal crops, consistent monitoring over vast areas is required to provide sufficient warning of population outbreaks. The long...

Instant insights: rust diseases of cereals

This collection provides a comprehensive overview of the range of rust pathogens affecting cereal production, focussing on wheat, barley and sorghum production. Chapters discuss the epidemiology of key rust pathogens, as well as the current challenges faced by farmers wishing to control cereal ru...

The hessian fly: a destructive pest of wheat and barley

Hessian fly is a global pest of wheat. Traditional control methods for this pest include implementing fly-free planting dates, stubble plow down and use of resistant cultivars. These methods face challenges due to changes in climate and cultural practice. Fly-free dates are no longer useful or ne...

Greenbug (schizaphis graminum): an overview

Greenbug, Schizaphis graminum (Rondani), (Hemiptera: Aphididae) is a major insect pest of cereal grains on the southern Great Plains of the United States. This chapter summarizes greenbug life history and biology, provides a description of the direct and indirect crop injury caused by greenbug to...

Wheat midge (sitodiplosis mosellana): management in the northern great plains of the united states and canada

This chapter examines wheat midge and its management in the Northern Great Plains of the United States and Canada. The chapter first provides an overview of the morphology of wheat midge at each stage of its life cycle. It then moves on to discuss the life cycle of the pest in more depth. The dam...

Biotechnology for wheat crop protection: potential and challenges

Wheat is an economically important commodity because of the fundamental place it holds in human diets, and to keep up with ever rising demands crop yield must increase substantially. Wheat grain yield, however, is under constant threat by abiotic (e.g., heat, drought, pollutants) and biotic stres...

Fescue aphid (metopolophium festucae)

The Fescue aphid or Grass aphid, Metopolophium festucae, is a pest of forage grasses, wheat, and other small grains in its native range in the United Kingdom and parts of Europe. It is an adventive pest in the Pacific Northwest, USA, several countries in South America, and in New Zealand. Infesta...

Understanding and minimising fungicide resistance

This collection reviews the wealth of research on understanding the development of fungicide resistance and preventative measures to limit the problem and its impact on effective control of crop diseases.

Online decision support systems, remote sensing and artificial intelligence applications for wheat pest management

Infestation with herbivorous insects and other invertebrates (“pests”) can be extremely damaging to wheat production, potentially resulting in up to 80% yield loss. Reducing the damage caused by these pests is a central component of crop protection practices. Decision Support Systems (DSS) are in...

Recent invasions of insect pests of wheat and sorghum

This chapter provides general description of the invasion and management response of six insects that have affected wheat and other cereal grains: Agriphila aeneociliella Eversmann (Lepid: Crambidae), Metopolophium festucae cerealium Stroyan (Hem: Aphididae), Cephus cinctus Norton (Hymen: Cephida...

The english grain aphid sitobion avenae

The English grain aphid, Sitobion avenae (Fabricius), is an economically important insect pest on cereal crops worldwide. Damage by this aphid can be destructive for cereal crops due to its ability to transmit yellow dwarf viruses, and its control often relies on routine application of synthetic ...

How pathogens develop resistance to fungicides: an overview

This chapter examines how pathogens develop resistance to fungicides, it first reviews the ways to detect and measure resistance. It then moves on to examine mechanisms of resistance, such as target site mutation and oppression and multi-drug resistance. The chapter also reviews the evolution of ...

Russian wheat aphid (diuraphis noxia): an overview

Russian wheat aphid, Diuraphis noxia (Kurdjumov) occurs on all the world’s continents and has been extensively studied. This chapter aims to give an overview of this somewhat unusual grain aphid. The damage this aphid can cause is notorious, however focusing on commonalities associated with pesti...

Advances in managing wireworms in cereal crops: challenges and future directions

Wireworms are the immature stage of click beetle (Coleoptera: Elateridae) species. Several species of wireworms are considered serious pests of agricultural crops, including small grains. Limited information with respect to objective species- and crop-specific economic injury levels, effective in...

Greenbug-wheat interactions, pest management and host resistance

This chapter analyses greenbug–wheat interactions, as well as greenbug pest management and host resistance. The chapter first introduces integrated pest management practices, then moves on to analyse the importance of host plant resistance. A section on how the environment of a wheat crop can inf...

Improving biosafety testing of plant protection products (ppps) and bioprotectants

This chapter presents an update of trends on insecticide resistance in Northwest Europe. It addresses the current status and future estimations of the insecticide market in Europe, specifically in context of evolving agricultural practices and environmental challenges. The chapter then explores i...

Advances in the use of entomopathogenic viruses as biopesticides in suppressing crop insect pests

This chapter reviews advances in the use of entomopathogenic viruses as biopesticides in suppressing crop insect pests. It begins by discussing insect pests and their impact on the environment and how insect pest control has developed over time. It also highlights how viruses have been used as po...

Development of plant-derived compounds as biopesticides

This chapter reviews the development of plant-derived compounds as biopesticides. It begins by providing an overview of the legal framework and authorization of plant-derived plant protection products, then goes onto discuss how these products are developed. The chapter focuses on how plant-deriv...

Advances in the use of bt genes in insect-resistant crops

Insecticidal toxins derived from the soil bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) have been widely used as microbial pesticides to selectively control juveniles of Lepidoptera, Coleoptera, Diptera and soil-dwelling nematodes. Synthetic genes derived from different strains of Bt have been used to pr...

Advances in the use of entomopathogenic fungi as biopesticides in suppressing crop pests

Hypocrealean ascomycetes have a set of properties such as their unique mode of action by direct penetration through the cuticle, relatively ease to mass production, and their newly discovered ecological roles as endophytes and/or plant growth promoters which put them at the forefront of the globa...

Improving regulatory approval processes for biopesticides and other new biological technologies in agriculture

This chapter reviews the progress that has been made in adapting plant protection regulations to the specific needs of biopesticides in Europe and rest of the world. They do need to be regulated as they can give rise to some environmental and other challenges, but existing regulations have been t...

Implementing biopesticides as part of an integrated pest management (ipm) programme

This chapter reviews the way biopesticides and other biocontrol agents can be integrated into integrated pest management (IPM) programmes. It discusses regulatory assessment of when it is safe and appropriate to use biopesticides, the use of biopesticides in different crop production systems and ...

Advances in the use of entomopathogenic bacteria/microbial control agents (mcas) as biopesticides in suppressing crop insect pests

Biopesticides based on entomopathogenic bacteria are the most economically successful microbial pesticides and an effective and safe alternative to increase sustainability of agricultural crop production. Hallmarks of bacterial biopesticides include potent and highly specific insecticidal activit...

Advances in the use of entomopathogenic nematodes (epns) as biopesticides in suppressing crop insect pests

Entomopathogenic nematodes (EPNs) have been commercialized as biopesticides since the 1980s. Since the 1990s, research on the application, biology, and ecology of these biocontrol agents has seen exponential growth, and since the mid-2000s basic research on EPNs has further expanded due to the u...

Peptides as novel biopesticides

Venom peptides are small toxic proteins originated from animal venoms. They have attracted great interest as a route to develop the next generation of novel, effective and safe biopesticides. This chapter reviews the characteristics and discovery of a range of venom peptides. It shows how inhibit...

Advances in the use of entomopathogenic oomycetes as biopesticides in suppressing crop insect pests

This chapter reviews advances in the use of entomopathogenic oomycetes as biopesticides in suppressing crop insect pests. It begins by discussing how oomycetes have evolved from invertebrate pathogens to plant pathogens, what they are commonly known as today. The chapter also provides a case stud...

Possible use of allelochemicals in integrated pest management (ipm)

Allelochemicals are produced and released into the environment by one species and have an effect on another species. They include attractants, repellents and toxic defence compounds which could provide valuable tools for use in IPM. There have been successes with botanical pesticides such as neem...

Plant growth-promoting bacteria (pgpbs) as biocontrol agents against invertebrate pests

Plant growth promoting bacteria (PGPBs) represent an important resource for agricultural crops, providing several benefits to the plant such as optimizing the use of environmental resources, improving plant health and resistance to biotic and abiotic factors, and directly acting against plant pat...

Advances in the use of semiochemicals in integrated pest management: pheromones

Semiochemicals enable intra- and interspecific chemical communication in insects. Among them, pheromones are species-specific and have been used in the management tactics for control of many insect pests for the last 50 years. During this time, important advancements have been made in understandi...

Improving methods for developing new microbial biopesticides

This chapter discusses improving methods for developing new microbial biopesticides. It begins by highlighting the role and economics of biopesticides. The chapter moves on to analyse the strategic framework for biopesticide development and provides an overview of the biopesticide development pro...

Instant insights: novel biocontrol agents

This book features five peer-reviewed reviews on the development and use of novel biocontrol agents.The first chapter provides an overview of the development of botanical pesticides and focusses on the potential of essential oils in replacing traditional synthetic products. A case study on the us...

Instant insights: advances in detecting and forecasting crop pests and diseases

This collection provides a comprehensive overview of the recent advances in crop pest monitoring and forecasting models. Chapters address emerging technologies in the area, as well as some of the issues and challenges that can arise as a result of implementing particular models.

Harnessing actinobacteria for crop protection: current advances and future perspectives

Recent efforts in bioprospection have uncovered new Actinobacteria bioactivities ranging from antibiotics, fungicides, insecticides, and herbicides, and have renewed interest in the development of Actinobacteria-based inoculants, mainly composed of microbial cells and cell-free microbial cultured...

Effective biocontrol of grape diseases: assessing and improving efficacy

This chapter reviews the current literature to gather efficacy data on biocontrol in planta for the main diseases and analyzes them quantitatively. A meta-analysis of these data was carried out in selected cases (powdery mildew, trunk diseases, and certain species of Aspergillus producing ochrato...

The use of pythium oligandrum as a biocontrol agent

The oomycete Pythium oligandrum is a soil-inhabiting mycoparasite of both fungi and oomycetes, and colonizes the root ecosystems of diverse plants to induce defense responses against pathogens. Based on the multiple advantages of P. oligandrum in plant disease control, which is non-toxic and envi...

Advances in the use of biocontrol agents to control diseases in potatoes

Potato production faces significant challenges from a wide range of diseases, which have traditionally been managed using synthetic fungicides. However, increasing concerns over environmental impacts, the development of pathogen resistance, and public health risks have led to the exploration of b...

Advances in bioherbicides/biological control of weeds

Weed control plays a critical role in crop production, but the overuse of synthetic herbicides has led to various problems such as chemical residue accumulation, herbicide resistance in weed species, and environmental concerns. To address these challenges, sustainable weed management strategies a...

Disease management in cereals using biocontrol agents

Cereals are challenged by many fungal and bacterial diseases, some of which can be most destructive, threatening food security and, when considering mycotoxin accumulation, also food safety. The application of antifungal and antibacterial chemicals, the development of resistant varieties and cult...

Developing a global regulatory regime for bioprotectants

This chapter reviews the piecemeal development of pesticide regulation and the challenges of developing a more harmonised and global approach to approving new crop protection products. Such as approach needs to meet the needs of farmers, companies and regulators in balancing criteria such as effi...

Biopesticides for sustainable agriculture

Part 1 of this collection reviews research on developing and assessing new biopesticides. Part 2 summarises advances in different types of entomopathogenic biopesticide. Part 3 assesses semiochemical, peptide-based and other natural substance-based biopesticides.

Tracking the development of fungicide resistance

This chapter focuses on tracking the development of fungicide resistance. It starts by first providing an overview of the key objectives and requirements in tracking fungicide resistance. The chapter then moves on to review phenotyping tracking of fungicide resistance, which is followed by a disc...

Instant insights: fungal diseases of apples

This collection features four peer-reviewed literature reviews discussing fungal diseases of apples.

Techniques for understanding and modifying microbial activity in the phytobiome to suppress disease/promote plant disease resistance

This chapter provides an overview of techniques for understanding and modifying phytobiome microbial activity toward plant disease control. It reviews traditional and advanced techniques for analyzing microbial communities, including molecular, culture-based and microscopic approaches, and it exp...

Foundations of an ipm program: detection, identification, and quantification

Integration of pest management efforts based on advanced technologies and multiple pest assessments in multi-field and areawide venues has led to a host of sophisticated approaches that continue to shape the discipline of integrated pest management (IPM). From the initial efforts, the concept of ...

Instant insights: integrated weed management in cereal cultivation

This collection features five peer-reviewed literature reviews on integrated weed management in cereal cultivation.

Mitigating invasive insect species: eradication, long-term management, and the importance of sampling and monitoring

In this chapter, we introduce major concepts associated with the management of invasive insects. We then focus more deeply on eradication and long-term management, especially integrated pest management, describing common factors associated with successful programs and potential challenges of each...