A serendipitous discovery in pig research at the University of Missouri may just have made human in vitro fertilization (IVF) more affordable. It is estimated that parents seeking to have children through in vitro fertilization (IVF) spend between $12,000 and $15,000 each session plus the cost of medications, which could average between $3,000 and $5,000. […]

With a $20 million NSF grant to study climate change and how corn maintains plant growth during drought conditions, University of Missouri engineers have developed a robot that is changing the way scientists study climate variability, crops, and plant composition. “I’ve been working with CAFNR assisting them in experiments where we helped to create 3-D […]

Many corn and soybean growers have found it challenging to establish fall-seeded cover crops. A team of University of Missouri researchers may have discovered why. The researchers conducted field studies over three consecutive years to evaluate the impact of more than two dozen residual herbicides on eight cover crops, including Austrian winter pea, cereal rye, […]

How are cyst nematodes intruding soybean plants? University of Missouri researchers recently found that the parasites are secreting “mimicked” peptides they create that act like the soybean plant’s signaling systems. Soybeans are a major component for two-thirds of the world’s animal feed and more than half the edible oil consumed in the United States, according […]

The most notorious weed, Palmer amaranth, will be the number one threat to growers this year, according to Syngenta agronomists.  Not only has the weed continued to spread northward to new states, it also is now showing resistance to multiple herbicide modes of action. Palmer amaranth has earned its title as one of the most […]

Researchers at the University of Missouri have discovered the mechanisms corn plants use to combat the western corn rootworm. How did they find it? By using advanced nuclear methods, of course. “The western corn rootworm is a voracious pest,” said Richard Ferrieri, a research professor in the MU Interdisciplinary Plant Group, and an investigator at […]

Growers may want to consider planting some switchgrass. A recent study from the University of Missouri College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources has found that switchgrass, a perennial plant used commonly for biofuel, can improve soil quality and can be grown on farms that have lost fertile topsoil. When runoff water washes topsoil from […]