CABI trains provincial agriculture departments on biocontrol agents of fall armyworm and parthenium in Pakistan
Under its Action on Invasives (AoI) programme CABI in Pakistan organized two training sessions for rearing biocontrol agents to manage fall armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda) and parthenium (Parthenium hysterophorus) in December, 2020.
Invasives Blog Most Read 2020
As 2020 draws to a close, we have crunched the numbers and pulled together the most read articles on the Invasives Blog this year. Plus some firm favourites. Invasive species like Himalayan balsam, fall armyworm, and Tuta absoluta proved to be popular topics for our readers this year. CABI’s work in biological control around the…
A life in science born of investigations into natural enemy for noxious ragweed
A former PhD student co-supervised by CABI’s Dr Urs Schaffner is forging a career as a qualified scientist working at the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL) after investigating a natural enemy for common ragweed.
Two-way SMS platform offers farmers timely management advice for fall armyworm in Kenya
This article was originally published on the PRISE website During the 2019 short rains season in Kenya, PRISE partnered with Precision Agriculture for Development (PAD) to provide maize farmers with timely pest management information on Fall armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda). By building on PAD’s existing messaging service, which is run in partnership with the Ministry of Agriculture, the two-way…
The whimsical world of weeds: what’s in a name?
Invasive plants are everywhere – not just in our domestic gardens but on a grander scale on the grasslands of Kenya and Ethiopia as well as the Great Plains in the United States and Canada, including the world-famous Rocky Mountains.
Spotlight turned on crop pest biocontrol in Latin America
The spotlight has been turned on the use of biocontrol for crop pest management, as part of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) programmes in Latin America, during a key note address to the II Congress of Applied Biological Control in Ecuador given by CABI’s Dr Yelitza Colmenarez.
Fall Armyworm Research Champion opportunity
CABI are offering an exciting opportunity for enthusiastic fall armyworm (FAW) researchers to take on the role of Research Champion for the FAW research collaboration portal.
CABI ‘chips in’ with expertise on potato pests
Potatoes are one of the most versatile and widely consumed vegetables on the planet – being third in line for the ‘top vegetable crown’ after rice and wheat in terms of human consumption. In fact, ‘chips aside’, more than a billion people worldwide eat potato, and global total crop production exceeds 300 million metric tons.…
Busy in biocontrol: spotlight on weed researcher Jennifer Andreas
Meet Jennifer Andreas, who has collaborated with CABI on a number of biological control projects since 2000, in this profile originally published by the North American Invasive Species Management Association (NAISMA).
Establishing parthenium leaf beetle (Zygogramma bicolorata) at new sites in Pakistan
Parthenium weed (Parthenium hysterophorus) is an aggressive herbaceous plant native to north-east Mexico and is endemic in America, with no economic importance reported. This invasive weed has spread to over 50 countries, including Pakistan. Parthenium is prolific, yielding thousands of small white flowers each forming five seeds and on reaching maturity results in a huge number of…