Biomass-Derived, Target Specific, and Ecologically Safer Insecticide Active Ingredients.

With the continuous increase in food production to support the growing population, ensuring agricultural sustainability using crop-protecting agents, such as pesticides, is vital. Conventional pesticides pose significant environmental risks, prompting the need for eco-friendly alternatives. This study reports the synthesis of new amide-based insecticidal active ingredients from biomass-derived monomers, specifically furfural and vanillin.

Advances in Poultry Vaccines: Leveraging Biotechnology for Improving Vaccine Development, Stability, and Delivery.

With the rapidly increasing demand for poultry products and the current challenges facing the poultry industry, the application of biotechnology to enhance poultry production has gained growing significance. Biotechnology encompasses all forms of technology that can be harnessed to improve poultry health and production efficiency. Notably, biotechnology-based approaches have fueled rapid advances in biological research, including (a) genetic manipulation in poultry breeding to improve the growth and egg production traits and disease resistance, (b) rapid identification of infectious agents using DNA-based approaches, (c) inclusion of natural and synthetic feed additives to poultry diets to enhance their nutritional value and maximize feed utilization by birds, and (d) production of biological products such as vaccines and various types of immunostimulants to increase the defensive activity of the immune system against pathogenic infection.

First report of causing tar spot on corn in Delaware.

In October 2023, lesions consistent with descriptions of tar spot (Phyllachora maydis) were observed on corn (Zea mays) in Kent and Sussex County, Delaware (DE). Black, raised stromata were observed on leaves of commercially grown corn hybrids. Plants were at physiological maturity and disease severity was low with symptoms present on 1 to 10% of plants.

Lesser mealworm Alphitobius diaperinus (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae) displays negative phototaxis and conditional hygrotaxis.

Arthropods use a variety of environmental cues to navigate between and locate hosts. In agricultural systems, clarifying the relevant cues and their effects on arthropod behavior can inform management practices to reduce or inhibit the activity of arthropod pests. The lesser mealworm Alphitobius diaperinus (Panzer) is a ubiquitous arthropod pest of broiler house chicken production, and while the patterns of movement and behavior of A.

Choice uncertainty and the endowment effect.

Unlabelled: We experimentally test for the role of choice uncertainty in generating "endowment effects" - the robust empirical finding that endowing participants with an item raises their reported valuation relative to participants being asked to purchase it instead. While there is some compelling evidence concerning trade uncertainty in the literature, there is substantially less evidence regarding the importance of choice uncertainty. This paper provides novel support for the significance of choice uncertainty in the context of both trading and stated valuations.

First report of Rhizoctonia solani AG 4 causing brown bean of lima bean in Delaware.

Lima bean production has been an economically valuable staple in Delaware agriculture for almost a century, with annual revenue approaching 8 million dollars (USDA-NASS, 2019; Evans et al. 2007). From 2019-2021, lima beans displaying symptoms of brown discoloration, referred to as "brown bean" were observed in the green baby lima variety 'Cypress' across multiple commercial and research fields.

Characterization, Comparative Analysis and Phylogenetic Implications of Mitogenomes of Fulgoridae (Hemiptera: Fulgoromorpha).

The complete mitogenomes of nine fulgorid species were sequenced and annotated to explore their mitogenome diversity and the phylogenetics of Fulgoridae. All species are from China and belong to five genera: Spinola, 1839 ( sp.); Wang and Huang, 1989 ( Wang and Huang, 1989); Stål, 1863 ( sp.

Examining sources and pathways of phosphorus transfer in a ditch-drained field.

Understanding the processes that mobilize and transport dissolved phosphorus (P) during storms is critical to managing P in flat landscapes with open ditch drainage and legacy soil P. In this study, we used routine baseflow monitoring and intensive storm sampling at a ditch-drained site on Maryland's Lower Eastern Shore (July 2017-September 2018) to assess whether concentration-discharge (C-Q) relationships and chemical and isotopic hydrograph separation could provide insight into the processes that mobilize and transport dissolved P in ditch drainage. Using a segmented regression model, we determined that long-term C-Q relationships for dissolved P differed above and below a discharge threshold of 6.

Environmental and Regulatory Concerns During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Results from the Pandemic Food and Stigma Survey.

In this article, we present data from the monthly Pandemic Food and Stigma Survey (PFSS), a nationwide representative sample of adults in the United States designed to identify how the pandemic is affecting concerns about food and the environment. Two surveys were conducted in May and June 2020. Our analysis suggests that the public's concern about contracting COVID-19 has been high; however, infection with COVID-19 was not the only concern.

A New Genus and Species of Delphacidae (Hemiptera: Fulgoroidea: Delphacidae) from Costa Rica.

Melaniphax suffusculus gen. et sp. nov.

Fasting in the ureotelic Lake Magadi tilapia, , does not reduce its high metabolic demand, increasing its vulnerability to siltation events.

Lake Magadi, Kenya, is one of the most extreme aquatic environments on Earth (pH~10, anoxic to hyperoxic, high temperatures). Recently, increased water demand and siltation have threatened the viable hot springs near the margins of the lake where , the only fish surviving in the lake, live. These Lake Magadi tilapia largely depend on nitrogen-rich cyanobacteria for food and are 100% ureotelic.

Climate and lawn management interact to control C plant distribution in residential lawns across seven U.S. cities.

In natural grasslands, C plant dominance increases with growing season temperatures and reflects distinct differences in plant growth rates and water use efficiencies of C vs. C photosynthetic pathways. However, in lawns, management decisions influence interactions between planted turfgrass and weed species, leading to some uncertainty about the degree of human vs.

Zerovalent iron-sand filtration can reduce the concentration of multiple antimicrobials in conventionally treated reclaimed water.

Irrigation with reclaimed water is increasing in areas that lack access to, and infrastructure for, high-level treatment and distribution. Antimicrobial residues are known to persist in conventionally treated reclaimed water, necessitating the investigation of reuse site-based mitigation options to further reduce these contaminants. We examined the effectiveness of a 50:50 volume/volume, particle matched, micro-scale zerovalent iron (ZVI)-sand filter in reducing concentrations of mixtures of antimicrobials present in pH-unadjusted conventionally treated reclaimed water.

Sliced inverse regression for integrative multi-omics data analysis.

Advancement in next-generation sequencing, transcriptomics, proteomics and other high-throughput technologies has enabled simultaneous measurement of multiple types of genomic data for cancer samples. These data together may reveal new biological insights as compared to analyzing one single genome type data. This study proposes a novel use of supervised dimension reduction method, called sliced inverse regression, to multi-omics data analysis to improve prediction over a single data type analysis.

Urban forest fragments buffer trees from warming and pests.

Trees are important components of urban landscapes because of the ecosystem services they provide. However, the effects of urbanization, particularly high temperatures, can benefit chronic insect pests and threaten ecosystem services offered by urban trees. Urban forest fragments are an often-overlooked component of the greater urban forest which may help to mitigate the damaging effects of urbanization.

A new species of Oecleus Stål (Hemiptera: Fulgoroidea: Cixiidae) from coconut in Brazil.

A new species of cixiid planthopper (Hemiptera: Fulgoroidea) in the genus Oecleus Stål, Oecleus sergipensis n. sp., is described from Sergipe State, Brazil.

Factors affecting the numbers of expected viable lactic acid bacteria in inoculant applicator tanks.

The application of correct numbers of viable microorganisms to forages at the time of ensiling is one of the most important factors affecting the probability of a beneficial effect from an inoculant. The objective of this study was to determine relationships between numbers of expected lactic acid bacteria (LAB) from silage inoculants in application tanks and various factors that might affect their viability. The pH and temperature of inoculant-water mixes were measured in applicator tanks (n=53) on farms in Wisconsin, Minnesota, South Dakota, and California during the corn harvest season of 2012.

Generic names in Magnaporthales.

The order Magnaporthales comprises about 200 species and includes the economically and scientifically important rice blast fungus and the take-all pathogen of cereals, as well as saprotrophs and endophytes. Recent advances in phylogenetic analyses of these fungi resulted in taxonomic revisions. In this paper we list the 28 currently accepted genera in Magnaporthales with their type species and available gene and genome resources.

Wild-type and mutant AvrA- Salmonella induce broadly similar immune pathways in the chicken ceca with key differences in signaling intermediates and inflammation.

Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium (ST) is a serious infectious disease throughout the world, and a major reservoir for Salmonella is chicken. Chicken infected with Salmonella do not develop clinical disease, this may be the result of important host interactions with key virulence proteins. To study this, we inoculated chicken with mutant Salmonella Typhimurium that lacked the virulence protein AvrA (AvrA(-)).

The geochemical transformation of soils by agriculture and its dependence on soil erosion: An application of the geochemical mass balance approach.

Agricultural activities alter elemental budgets of soils and thus their long-term geochemical development and suitability for food production. This study examined the utility of a geochemical mass balance approach that has been frequently used for understanding geochemical aspect of soil formation, but has not previously been applied to agricultural settings. Protected forest served as a reference to quantify the cumulative fluxes of Ca, P, K, and Pb at a nearby tilled crop land.

The planthopper genus Spartidelphax, a new segregate of Nearctic Delphacodes (Hemiptera, Delphacidae).

The new genus Spartidelphax is described to house three species removed from the polyphyletic genus Delphacodes. The members of Spartidelphax are coastal species native to eastern North America, and probably feed exclusively on cordgrass (Poaceae, Spartina Schreb.).

Frequency of hybridization between Ostrinia nubilalis E-and Z-pheromone races in regions of sympatry within the United States.

Female European corn borer, Ostrinia nubilalis, produce and males respond to sex pheromone blends with either E- or Z-Δ11-tetradecenyl acetate as the major component. E- and Z-race populations are sympatric in the Eastern United States, Southeastern Canada, and the Mediterranean region of Europe. The E- and Z-pheromone races of O.

Preferential edge habitat colonization by a specialist weevil, Rhinoncomimus latipes (Coleoptera: Curculionidae).

Understanding the behavioral basis of dispersal and colonization is critical in biological control systems, where success of a natural enemy depends in part on its ability to find and move to new host patches. We studied behavior of the specialist weevil Rhinoncomimus latipes Korotyaev, a biological control agent of mile-a-minute weed, Persicaria perfoliata (L.) H.

Reductions of Salmonella enterica on chicken breast by thymol, acetic acid, sodium dodecyl sulfate or hydrogen peroxide combinations as compared to chlorine wash.

Poultry products are important vehicles for Salmonella transmission to humans and have been incriminated in several Salmonella outbreaks. Thymol (THY) from thyme oil has wide inhibitory effects against foodborne pathogens including Salmonella, and has shown great potential as a natural alternative to chlorine. In order to improve the cost-effectiveness of thymol-based washing solutions, formulas of THY with combination of organic acid or surfactant were developed and their efficacies to reduce Salmonella on chicken breast were investigated in the current study.