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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.

2016

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Abstract

Key priorities in biochar research for future guidance of sustainable policy development have been identified by expert assessment within the COST Action TD1107. The current level of scientific understanding (LOSU) regarding the consequences of biochar application to soil were explored. Five broad thematic areas of biochar research were addressed: soil biodiversity and ecotoxicology, soil organic matter and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, soil physical properties, nutrient cycles and crop production, and soil remediation. The highest future research priorities regarding biochar’s effects in soils were: functional redundancy within soil microbial communities, bioavailability of biochar’s contaminants to soil biota, soil organic matter stability, GHG emissions, soil formation, soil hydrology, nutrient cycling due to microbial priming as well as altered rhizosphere ecology, and soil pH buffering capacity. Methodological and other constraints to achieve the required LOSU are discussed and options for efficient progress of biochar research and sustainable application to soil are presented.

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Abstract

The water management system of cultivated paddy rice soils is one of the most important factors affecting the respective magnitudes of CH4 and N2O emissions. We hypothesized an effect of past management on soil microbial communities and greenhouse gas (GHG) production potential. The ob- jectives of this study were to i) assess the influence of water management history on GHG production and microbial community structure, ii) relate GHG production to the microbial communities involved in CH4 and N2O production inhabiting the different soils. Moreover, the influence of different soil condi- tioning procedures on GHG production was determined. To reach these aims, we compared four soils with different water management history, using dried and sieved, pre-incubated and fresh soils. Soil conditioning procedures strongly affected GHG production: drying and sieving induced the highest production rates and the largest differences among soil types, probably through the release of labile substrates. Conversely, soil pre-incubation tended to homogenize and level out the differences among soils. The water management history strongly affected microbial community structure, which was itself tightly linked to CH4 and N2O production. N2O production was the highest in aerobic soil, which also exhibited the strongest evidence for active nitrifying communities (NirK). Drying and rewetting aerobic soil enhanced the production of nitrate, which was further reduced to N2O through denitrification. As expected, CH4 production was the lowest in aerobic soil, which showed a less abundant archaeal com- munity. This work supports the hypothesis that microbial communities in paddy soils progressively adapt to water management practices, thereby reinforcing potential differences in GHGs production.

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Abstract

Cereal cyst nematodes are sedentary biotrophic endoparasites that maintain a complex interaction with their host plants. Nematode effector proteins are synthesized in the oesophageal glands and are secreted into plant tissues through the stylet. To understand the function of nematode effectors in parasitic plants, we cloned predicted effectors genes from Heterodera avenae and transiently expressed them in Nicotiana benthamiana. Infiltration assays showed that HaEXPB2, a predicted expansin-like protein, caused cell death in N. benthamiana. In situ hybridization showed that HaEXPB2 transcripts were localised within the subventral gland cells of the pre-parasitic second-stage nematode. HaEXPB2 had the highest expression levels in parasitic second-stage juveniles. Subcellular localization assays revealed that HaEXPB2 could be localized in the plant cell wall after H. avenae infection.This The cell wall localization was likely affected by its N-terminal and C-terminal regions. In addition, we found that HaEXPB2 bound to cellulose and its carbohydrate-binding domain was required for this binding. The infectivity of H. avenae was significantly reduced when HaEXPB2 was knocked down by RNA interference in vitro. This study indicates that HaEXPB2 may play an important role in the parasitism of H. avenae through targeting the host cell wall.