Plant microbiomes

Plant microbiome-based approaches aim to enhance plant immunity and resilience by leveraging beneficial microbes and managing the microbial community through both direct applications and indirect agricultural practices. Advances in sequencing technologies now enable targeted, sustainable disease management strategies that complement traditional crop protection within integrated pest management (IPM) frameworks.

Biostimulants and resistance elicitors

Biostimulants have the potential to enhance both plant growth and defence mechanisms. Elicitors, a specific category of biostimulants, can activate plant defence responses by simulating the presence of biotic stressors. The use of natural products such as biostimulants and elicitors can reduce reliance on chemical pesticides, promote crop resilience and health, and contribute to more sustainable agricultural practices.

Arable Scotland 2 July 2020

A brand-new arable event for Scotland

Now in its second year, Arable Scotland aims to bring together the key players in food production from farmers to distillers and exporters to demonstrate and discuss key industry issues such as innovative and sustainable farming.

Find IPM@Hutton in the Virtual Marquee

Following the success of the inaugural event, this year's Arable Scotland is happening online and will major on alternative crops and new markets.

Learning‐induced switching costs in a parasitoid can maintain diversity of host aphid phenotypes although biocontrol is destabilised under abiotic stress

A recent paper shows that a ‘switching penalty’ incurred by parasitoids searching for host aphids could explain stable coexistence of parasitism-resistant and -susceptible aphid phenotypes in the population. The study highlights the importance of understanding diversity within aphid populations and how this influences the efficacy of aphid biocontrol by parasitoid wasps.

https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1365-2656.13189

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