Pestilential high tech

Breeding insects to eat crop pests

Bytes

Bt's soil chemistry

Bollworm ignores high doses of insecticide

Rajasthan Locust Attack: Both state, Centre need to shed complacency

Between 1993 and 2020, the governments hardly invested in locust control departments

A pest overrides Bt

Judicious mix of Bt and non-Bt crops can prevent this

Punjab crop loss spurs debate on pesticide use

Plant-based pesticide pious resolve, little action

Back biting is locusts' natural behaviour

Wake-up call

A fungus could wipe out American bats

To protect India’s bees, we need to understand their impact on agricultural practices

 Farmers worry about effect of genetically modified crops on honey bees

Warming temperatures increasing pest attacks, reducing yield, claim Rajasthan farmers

New and wider infestations by pests causing mass destruction of harvest

Pest control

Buzz of distress

Thousands of bees are dying in France due to Bayer pesticide

Malaria manipulation

Parasite controls biting behaviour of mosquitoes

Amon crops survive pest threat

Protein against peach potato aphid discovered

Syngenta fined for GM pesticide in corn

Cotton Curse: Tired of losses, farmers giving up cotton on a large scale

The production of cotton in Punjab has almost halved in the past decade

Seeds of doubt

Bollworm insecticide now more effective

Plant pests biofuelled

Cotton Curse: No buyers for salvaged produce after pink bollworm wreaks havoc

Labourers refuse to pick leftover crop as yield too low and traders refuse to buy citing poor quality

Bioinvaders

Biocontrol practices can result in ecological imbalances