Rapid diagnosis to help fight against pig disease epidemic
2014 has seen a devastating epidemic of porcine epidemic diarrhoea (PED) in the USA, affecting more than 30 states and driving up the price of pork products. Later today, Professor Wim van der Poel will tell delegates at the Society for Applied Microbiology annual Summer Conference how veterinary laboratories in Europe are working together to […]
Importance of disease resistance ratings on show at open day
Visitors to HGCA’s open day at Duchy College, Cornwall, got a vivid reminder about the value of varietal resistance when dealing with crop diseases. As is typical of Cornwall, the trial site faces particularly strong disease pressure, with this season’s warm, wet winter and heavy spring showers driving development of septoria tritici in wheat and […]
Better understanding of disease resistance genes in crops to secure future food production
A new understanding as to how plants defend themselves against some pathogens that cause crop diseases is proposed by researchers from the University of Hertfordshire to help scientists breed new, more successful disease-resistant agricultural crops. The new concept is called effector-triggered defence or ETD. Breeding agricultural crops for resistance against disease pathogens is essential in […]
England pulling together to tackle key dairy diseases
DairyCo is leading a new RDPE-funded campaign to promote better control of four major dairy diseases or conditions affecting the profitability of dairy farming – BVD, Johne’s Disease, lameness and mastitis. The initiative is the result of AHDB being awarded a number of tenders under the Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE) Skills Framework. This […]
First case of Cattle Scab found in Scotland
The first case of Cattle Scab to be confirmed in Scotland since the early 1980’s has been diagnosed by vets from Scotland’s Rural College working at SAC Consulting’s St Boswells Veterinary Investigation Centre. The disease was found on a Borders farm in a calf recently imported, with its suckler cow mother, from outwith Great Britain. […]
Foot-and-mouth anniversary highlights the risks of feeding swill to pigs
The reminder comes in the same week that African swine fever, another serious notifiable disease, is reported in Poland, carried across the border from Belarus by a wild boar, and putting the European Union commercial pig industry at increased risk of infection. Foot-and-mouth was confirmed on February 20 at an Essex abattoir, in swill-fed pigs […]
Researchers identify new way to control stone fruit disease
Researchers at the University of Kent and East Malling Research have identified a new way of controlling a fungal disease that can have a devastating impact on the UK’s valuable cherry and plum crops. Brown rot disease – caused by the agent Monilinia laxa – attacks stone fruit as well as causing blossom wilt and […]
Secrets of potato blight evolution could help farmers fight back
Researchers at Oxford University and The Sainsbury Laboratory, Norwich, looked in unprecedented detail at how Phytophthora infestans, a pathogen that continues to blight potatoes and tomatoes today, evolved to target other plants. The study, published today in the journal Science, is the first to show how pathogens switch from targeting one species to another through […]
New research to shed light on Light Leaf Spot
Light leaf spot is the number one disease threat to oilseed rape crops and can cut yields by up to a tonne per hectare. SRUC researchers will also look to pin down the best timings and treatments to manage this perennially tricky problem. The £114,000 project is funded by industry body HGCA. It will be […]
