URBANA, Ill. – Edamame may be a niche crop in the United States, but growers and processors still need the best possible information to make sound management decisions. That’s why USDA Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS) and University of Illinois researchers are making new plant density recommendations for machine-harvested edamame, at less than half the rate suggested by seed companies.

URBANA, Ill. – Like most invasive species, when the soybean aphid arrived in the Midwest in 2000, it brought none of its natural enemies along for the ride. So, naturally, finding itself in the soybean capital of the world, the tiny insect went bonkers. Taking advantage of a nifty ability to reproduce without mating, populations exploded and the soybean aphid quickly became the number one insect pest affecting the crop.

URBANA, Ill. — A diet including daily avocado consumption improves the ability to focus attention in adults whose measurements of height and weight are categorized as overweight or obese, a new randomized control trial found. Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign conducted the 12-week study, published in the International Journal of Psychophysiology. Read more.

URBANA, Ill. – Cattle feeders choose distillers grains in feedlot diets as an inexpensive alternative to corn and soybean meal. But until now, no one had studied the effects of the common feed ingredient on bull development and fertility. With bull fertility to blame for a significant portion of reproductive failures in cow-calf operations, University of Illinois researchers decided it was worth a look.

The College of ACES recently hosted a delegation from its longtime partner, India’s G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology (GBPUAT). The visit was motivated by GBPUAT’s interest in using funding from India’s National Agricultural Higher Education Program (NAHEP) to revitalize its relationship with the University of Illinois.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. —  Rice is a direct source of calories for more people than any other crop and serves as the main staple for 560 million chronically hungry people in Asia. With over 120,000 varieties of cultivated rice (Oryza sativa) across the globe, there is a wealth of natural diversity to be mined by plant scientists to increase yields.

URBANA, Ill. — Being distracted by technology during mealtime may decrease the amount of food a person eats, nutrition scientists suggest in a new study.

When 119 young adults consumed a meal while playing a simple computer game for 15 minutes, they ate significantly less than when they ate the same meal without distractions, said lead author Carli A. Liguori.

URBANA, Ill. – Dried distiller’s grains with solubles (DDGS), a co-product from corn ethanol processing, is commonly used as feed for cattle, swine and poultry. However, DDGS contains more phosphorus than the animals need. The excess ends up in manure and drains into the watershed, promoting algae production and eventually contributing to large dead zones in the Gulf of Mexico.

URBANA, Ill. – University of Illinois scientists, with help from members of the Illinois Corn Growers Association, have developed a new, scalable method for estimating crop productivity in real time. The research, published in Remote Sensing of Environment, combines field measurements, a unique in-field camera network, and high-resolution, high-frequency satellite data, providing highly accurate productivity estimates for crops across Illinois and beyond.  

An upcoming symposium hosted by the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences (ACES) will further the University of Illinois’ interdisciplinary work towards food security.