Christer Magnusson
Research Professor (OAP Agreement)
Authors
Paal Krokene Beatrix Alsanius Jorunn Børve Daniel Flø Christer Magnusson Mogens Nicolaisen Line Nybakken Johan A. Stenberg Selamawit Tekle Iben M. Thomsen Sandra A. I. Wright May SæthreAbstract
EPPO-listed plant pests were assessed and ranked according to the overall risk they pose to Norwegian plant health. Based on probability of entry, probability of establishment (including spread), and potential impact on plant health, pests were classified into five risk classes: very high, high, moderate, low, and very low risk. In this second progress report VKM has assessed 69 pests: 53 insects and mites, eight bacteria, four viruses, three fungi, and one chromista. No pests were assessed to pose very high or high risk. Six pests were assessed to pose moderate risk: Choristoneura fumiferana, Dendrolimus superans, Grapholita packardi, Potexvirus pepini, Tobamovirus fructirugosum, and Xylella fastidiosa. The remaining 63 pests were assessed to pose low risk (20 pests) or very low risk (43 pests) to Norwegian plant health.
Authors
Daniel Flø Johan A. Stenberg Kjetil Klaveness Melby Selamawit Tekle Gobena Beatrix Alsanius Jorunn Børve Paal Krokene Christer Magnusson Mogens Nicolaisen Line Nybakken May-Guri Sæthre Iben M. Thomsen Sandra WrightAbstract
VKM has assessed possible health hazards associated with the use of frozen eggs of Sitotroga cerealella as feed. Background The plant protection products CHRYSObio and CHRYSOcontrol contain Chrysoperla carnea and frozen eggs of Sitotroga cerealella. The eggs are used as feed for the larvae of C. carnea, the beneficial organism in the products. VKM has previously assessed environmental and health risks associated with C. carnea. Since the eggs of S. cerealella are frozen (dead), VKM has now assessed only human health hazard associated with the eggs in the products CHRYSObio and CHRYSOcontrol. Conclusion Insect eggs, frozen or not, can carry pathogens that may be harmful to humans. Freezing can kill some of these pathogens, but some hardy pathogens can survive low temperatures. Some people are allergic to insect proteins, and freezing does not eliminate such proteins. However, VKM found no reports identifying eggs of S. cerealella neither as carriers of pathogens nor as a cause of allergies in humans. The risk assessment is approved by VKM's Panel on Plant Health.
Authors
Marte Persdatter Tangvik May Bente Brurberg Christer Magnusson Arne Stensvand Simeon RossmannAbstract
Metabarcoding targeting nematodes, bacteria, fungi and oomycetes was used in combination with multispectral drone imagery and traditional soil extraction of nematodes to diagnose poor growth in patches of a potato field in Norway. Areas of good and poor growth as identified by the normalised difference vegetation index (NDVI) based on aerial photography were compared, and nematodes were identified as the likely drivers of poor growth. This was based on the presence of known plant-parasitic nematodes in the field and the significant association between low alpha diversity (total genus richness and abundance) for nematodes with areas of poor growth, while alpha diversity for other organism groups did not vary between patches with good and poor growth. Metabarcoding represented nematodes well compared to traditional soil extraction. The combination of aerial photography and metabarcoding used in this work offers a promising possibility to identify biological drivers of growth differences across organism groups at field scale.