Plant Parasitic Nematodes Are Important Factors Affecting Crop Yield

The diversity of soil invertebrates is very important to our ecosystem, because most soil invertebrates are responsible for key soil processes such as nutrient recycling, nutrient retention, formation of soil structure, and decomposition rates. Invertebrates are one of the most dominant groups of animals in the world. Recent studies show that animals may constitute as much as 23% of the total diversity of living organisms (Lavelle et al., 2006).

The worm crop-gizzard allows for pharmacological testing of multiple drugs in an in vitro preparation, which exhibits rhythmic contractions after it has been isolated from the worm. Serotonin (5-HT) decreases the amplitude of contractions while acetylcholine (ACh) increases them. We hypothesize that if serotonin directly effects muscle cells, then if acetylcholine and serotonin are added to the preparation at the same time, then the amplitude of the recorded contractions will decrease. The crop-gizzard was submerged in a saline solution and was pinned to a force transducer which recorded the intensity of the contractions. The average amplitude of contraction was compared to a baseline for three different trials in which exogenous (1) ACh, (2)

The purpose of this assignment is to learn, observe and experience the biology of the Tobacco Hornworm through the different stages of its lifecycle, along with describing the processes which occur through each development stage. When I picked up my hornworm, I received three eggs in the tubular container. During my examination, the hornworms lived in two environments. They first lived in the small, tubular container they arrived in until they outgrew it. I then placed them in a large plastic container for the remainder of their lifecycle.

In a first of its kind experiment, Scientists have set out to determine whether hairworms voluntarily change the behavior of their terrestrial hosts so that they are more likely to seek and remain close to water. Over two consecutive summers, scientists gathered a list of insects which visited the swimming pool and monitored their actions and behavior to see whether their hypothesis was correct. In previous accounts of this theory, people have found that insects who have been infected by hairworms will unwillingly jump into an area with an abundance of water, not knowing that they are in danger. Once the host has entered water, hairworms have a more

Here are some techniques that they could use, so if we used the method of crop rotation, which is the practice of growing a series of different types of crops in the same area in sequenced seasons. It is done so that the soil of farms is not used for only one set of nutrients. It helps in reducing soil erosion and increases soil fertility and crop yield. Next using GMO’s which will help reduce harm because it is directly injected into the crop planted before. The GMO is sort of creating its own Pesticides, but can't get out. Don't have as much yield, but with technology they can fix that. Last there is a process called Fostering Beneficial Organisms it is the reduction or elimination of various organisms as a side effect of agrichemical-based farming, some argue that critical damage is being done to the ecosystem, to the point where conventional agriculture is unsustainable. As you can see there are many other ways to erase the bugs on crops and not harm the environment or

Biopesticides – Several microbes (viruses, bacteria and fungi) are being developed as suitable biopestecides for management of insect and nematodal pests. Some fungi have good potential of their use as bionematicides to control nema-todal pests of vegetables, fruit and cereal crops. Some bacterial and fungal products are also use to control disease of roots and shoots of plants.

3. Is water quantity or quality the biggest issue in your local village/town/city? Why? Explain.

oligospora) is one of the best researched nematophagous fungi, with strains found in diverse soils including decaying wood and metal-polluted soils, and thus lived as saprophytes (Yang, et al., 2011). Over the years, chemical control of nematode parasite species is very expensive and does risk affecting the agricultural ecosystem, by having detriments on beneficial predators and microbes. This has raised the concern in seeking biological control methods such as using A. oligospora. Hyphal trap formation is dependent on environmental conditions; parasitic nematodes generally attack the roots of plants hence, A. oligospora tends to colonize the roots and is advantageous for biological control. (Singh, et al., 2012) The fungi's broad range of adaptability and development make them ideal candidates for regulating parasitic nematodes of plants and animals in agriculture since the trapping encompasses adhesion, penetration, and immobilization of nematodes (Zhao, et al.,

The first animal in the world who could search and destroy was an ancient ancestor of the flatworm, which probably appeared about 560 million years ago. A slender, cylinder-shaped animal that was devoid of appendages and bilaterally symmetrical, with a defined head and tail, centralized nervous system (i.e., brain, nerve cords), stereo sense organs (i.e., eyes, nose ears), a mouth and cilia (for locomotion).

It is already known that although, fertilizers increase the growth of plants, they are not considered good for the environment. Earthworms, which are environment friendly added to proportional amounts of organic fertilizer, would help the environmental issue; while having a positive effect on growth. The idea is to use the best of both so that the environment can also be saved and quantitative growth can also be achieved. Our question proposed is what will be the effect of the combination of earthworms and organic fertilizers on the growth of radish plants. It is expected that the average growth of radish plants that contain earthworms and organic fertilizer will have the greatest growth compared to radish plants grown with organic fertilizer, only soil or only earthworms. This study may provide strong support for organic farming where worms can play an essential role in plant growth rate where farming can be done by using less chemical fertilizers and compensating it with biological processes such as

The main reason this project was chosen is to learn more about plant life, and learn more about agriculture. One of the biggest epidemics involved with agriculture would be world hunger, around 795 million people around the world are starving and out of these 795 million people, 3.1 million of them are children. There are 2 main reasons why world hunger exists, why there is about 1/9 of the entire world’s population going to sleep hunger. One of these reasons is money to purchase food, many people within this world live in poverty and make around 2 dollars a day which is not enough to make a living. Another would be the land, the land is not sufficient enough to be used to sustain plant life. But if there is a way to make the soil acceptable

Believe it or not, there are parasites that “brainwash” grasshoppers to commit suicide. These parasites, called hairworms or Nematomorphas, are born in the water and go on to find a host insect, in this case, grasshoppers. While these parasites are in the hosting grasshopper, the hairworm’s growing process continues until the hairworms are ready to mate. The grasshopper is then manipulated to commit suicide by jumping into water and drowning. Some scientists believe that the hairworms deliberately drive the grasshopper to drown, while other scientists believe that these actions are only the side effects from an accidental infection. In a way, the actions of the parasite are, in fact, deliberate.

List of nematode strains. Strain N2 Bristol was used as wildtype for all experiments (originally developed by Brenner, S., 1974; provided for present use by the Caenorhabditis Genetics Center (CGC). The following strains were also provided by CGC: CX51[dyn-1(ky51)], AM141[rmIs133[Punc-54::Q40::yfp]], and SJ4005[zcIs4[hsp-4::gfp]]. The following strains were generated in the Caldwell Laboratory at The University of Alabama: AM141[rmIs133[Punc-54::Q40::yfp]];CX51[dyn-1(ky51)] and SJ4005[zcIs4[hsp-4::gfp]]; CX51[dyn-1(ky51)]. The methods used to generate novel strains are detailed in below sections of this report.

To insure timely and precise completion of assays and experiments voluntarily worked outside normal duty hours. Maintained a sizable output of high-quality plant-parasitic nematodes and nematode samples for biochemical assays; efficiently prepared nematode liquid cultures of necessary purity. Instructed a UMD Student on biochemical assays and in unison conducted protein estimation assays to ensure reliability.

Parasitic nematodes cause diseases of major economic importance in sheep .The lungworm , Dictyocaulus filaria , represents one of these nematodes inhabits bronchi and bronchioles and cause parasitic bronchitis (commonly known as ‘husk) particularly in young sheep ( Holzhauer et al., 2011). Dictyocaulus filaria has direct life cycle, embryonated eggs are coughed up or swallowed and hatch in the small intestine then first-stage larvae are passed in faeces. Under favorable environmental conditions, first-stage larvae moult to second-stage larvae and then infective en-sheathed third-stage larvae that actively move from faeces to herbage and are ingested by the grazing sheep. Following ingestion, third-stage larvae ex-sheath in