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Publications

NIBIOs employees contribute to several hundred scientific articles and research reports every year. You can browse or search in our collection which contains references and links to these publications as well as other research and dissemination activities. The collection is continously updated with new and historical material.

2022

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Abstract

Aquaponic systems are engineered ecosystems combining aquaculture and plant production. Nutrient rich water is continuously circulating through the system from aquaculture tanks. A biofilter with nitrifying bacteria breaks down fish metabolism ammonia into nitrite and nitrate, which plants and makes the aquaculture wastewater into valued organic fertiliser for the plants, containing essential macro and micro elements. At the same time, the plants are cleaning the water by absorbing ammonia from the fish tanks before it reaches dangerous levels for the aquatic animals. In principle, the only external input is energy, mainly in the form of light and heat, but fish food is also commonly provided. Growing fish food is potentially feasible in a closed loop system, hence aquaponic systems can possibly be an important source of proteins and other important nutrition when, for example, colonising other planets in the future. Fully autonomous aquaponic systems are currently not available. This work aims at minimising manual labour related to cleaning pipes for water transport. The cleaning process must be friendly to both plants and aquatic animals. Hence, in this work, pure mechanical cleaning is adopted. A novel belt-driven continuum robot capable of travelling through small/medium diameter pipes and manoeuvring branches and bends, is designed and tested. The robot is modular and can be extended with different cleaning modules through an interface providing CAN-bus network and electric power. The flexible continuum modules of the robot are characterised. Experimental results demonstrate that the robot is able to travel through pipes with diameters varying from 50 mm to 75 mm, and also capable of handling T-branches of up to 90∘.

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Abstract

Legumes are important in sustainable agriculture and particularly so when they are intercropped with other species. In breeding programs, little attention is paid to their agronomic performance in species mixtures. In red clover, improved persistence is an important breeding goal. We identified traits associated with survival of red clover cultivated in pure stands (PS 3) or in mixtures with grasses (MS 3) and managed under a 3-cut system (two locations), as well as in pure stands in a 5-cut system (PS 5, one location). Survivors from replicate plots were collected and a new generation made from each plot. The new generations were characterized in a growth experiment with light or simulated shade, and in a freezing experiment. We show that the traits related to red clover persistence depend on both plant community composition and cutting frequency. MS 3 had more leaves with larger leaf blades and longer petioles during the vegetative stage, followed by earlier stem elongation, higher number of elongating stems, higher biomass (also when accounting for earlier stem elongation) and more leaves in the regrowth after cutting than PS 3. MS 3 also had better freezing tolerance. PS 5 was similar to MS 3 and different from PS 3 in the number of leaves, leaf blade size, petiole length and number of elongating stems. These results show that breeding and cultivar evaluation, which is currently almost exclusively considering performance in pure stands, may miss some variation which provides persistence of red clover in mixtures with grasses.

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Abstract

The Prinzessinnengarten community garden uses Cultural and Culinary Action Days to invite diverse participants to come together to grow food, learn about sustainable urban agriculture and participate in other cultural and culinary activities. The desire to shape one’s own environment is a major motivation for participating, along with a thirst for knowledge and social exchange.