Litter bugs may protect chocolate supply
Friday, July 7, 2017 - 16:23
in Biology & Nature
Those who crave brownies or hot cocoa may be happy to hear that heroes too small to be seen may help to protect the world's chocolate supply. Scientists at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) in Panama found that exposing baby cacao plants to microbes from healthy adult cacao plants reduced the plant's chance of becoming infected with the serious cacao pathogen, Phytopthora palmivora, by half. The researchers' study was published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B on July 5.