Spring is the perfect time to prepare your growing space. Greenhouse Covers and Sheets allow sunlight to pass through while helping block wind and rain, creating a warmer microclimate that supports plant growth during early spring conditions. Learn more: https://zurl.co/iZU3R
#GreenhouseCovers #SpringGardening #GreenhouseGrowing #PlantProtection #TarpsNow
#WEASEL helps our industry partners solve real world challenges efficiently using quantum chemistry, bridging the gap between computation and experiment.
Check out this paper, where Michael Edmund Beck, Silke Wagner, and colleagues from Bayer Crop Science investigate the isomerization potential of plant protection products on leaf surfaces.
https://doi.org/10.1021/acsagscitech.5c00699
#CompChem #QuantumChem #Agrochemistry #PlantProtection #Workflows #ORCAqc
🌼🌷🏵️ Q&A: Recruiting flowers to combat weeds and promote biodiversity
https://phys.org/news/2025-11-qa-combat-weeds-biodiversity.html
#agriculture #farming #weeds #flowers #environment #conservation #plantprotection
Rebecca Stup '23, MS '26, is a master's student in the lab of Antonio DiTommaso, a weed ecologist and associate dean and director of the Cornell University Agricultural Experiment Station (Cornell AES). DiTommaso's lab has been exploring planting wildflower strips along farmland as a strategy to increase biodiversity, attract pollinators and combat weeds.
🐛 Using nanotechnology to target crop-munching pests and spare beneficial bugs
https://phys.org/news/2025-09-nanotechnology-crop-munching-pests-beneficial.html
#agriculture #farming #insects #plantprotection #bugs #nanotechnology #pesticides
A bane of farmers' existence, it's estimated that plant-eating pests are responsible for the loss of up to 40% of pre-harvest yields globally. But a new generation of crop treatments that target only "bad" bugs could mean big gains for the Canadian agriculture sector, improving pest management tools in an industry that in 2024 generated over $142 billion.
Our first step towards a semi-automated approach for finding relevant VOC profiles of plant pests and pathogens has recently been published in Scientific Reports. 🥼🦠🔬
It's the first publication of our PhD-student Sarah! 🎉🥳
She developed a multivariate evaluation method of GC-MS data and found a few more possible VOC markers for ALB infestation in maple trees compared to a manual evaluation.
Read more: https://rdcu.be/exF4r
#science #publication #research #volatiles #PlantProtection #ALB #AsianLonghornedBeetle #QuarantinePests #chemometrics
🌱 International Day of Plant Health🌱
Today, we highlight an often-overlooked topic: plant health – vital for food security, biodiversity, and sustainable agriculture.
In our current research at Hochschule Bonn-Rhein-Sieg and Julius Kühn-Institute, we’re tackling a key question:
How can we detect plant diseases and pests before visible symptoms appear?
🔬 The answer: With the nose of chemistry!
We analyze volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that plants emit when under stress or attacked by
🦠 bacteria,
🍄 fungi, and
🪲 insect pests.
Using advanced GC-MS technology (gas chromatography-mass spectrometry), we aim to identify these unique molecular “scent signatures” and use them as an early-warning system to detect harmful organisms before they cause damage.
🧪 Our goal: to “sniff out” plant diseases and pests.
#PlantHealth #InternationalPlantHealthDay #VOCs #GCMS #EarlyDetection #Pathogens #InvasiveSpecies #AnalyticalChemistry #ScienceForSustainability #PlantPathogens #PlantProtection #VOCAnalysis
Field trip to gather some first VOC samples of the invasive Asian hornet (Vespa velutina).
Really productive day, thrilled to get the data in the lab later.
#VOCs #chemistry #InvasiveSpecies #PlantProtection #Hornet #AnalyticalChemistry #science #FieldTrip #ScienceAtWork
Had a really nice and informative visit at Julius-Kühn Institute at Dossenheim, Germany.
Talked a lot about common research strategies and got a great tour of their impressive laboratories.
We are looking forward to having you at our Institute in Rheinbach and to future collaboration.
On my way to Braunschweig, for the annual #meeting of the phythosanitary service, subdivision bacteriology at Julius-Kühn Institute.
Let's hear and discuss news and status updates for various bacterial EU quarantine pests.
#science #PlantProtection #PlantHealth #Agriculture #bacteria
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FACCTs
Towfiqul Islam Towfiq
Paul Houle
Markus Witzler