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.
2024
Abstract
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Authors
C. Morgan-Davies G. Tesnière J.M. Gautier Grete H. M. Jørgensen E. González-García S.I. Patsios E.N. Sossidou T.W.J. Keady B. McClearn F. Kenyon G. Caja Lise Grøva M. Decandia L. Cziszter I. Halachmi C.M. DwyerAbstract
Small ruminant (sheep and goat) production of meat and milk is undertaken in diverse topographical and climatic environments and the systems range from extensive to intensive. This could lead to different types of welfare compromise, which need to be managed. Implementing Precision Livestock Farming (PLF) and other new or innovative technologies could help to manage or monitor animal welfare. This paper explores such opportunities, seeking to identify promising aspects of PLF that may allow improved management of welfare for small ruminants using literature search (two reviews), workshops in nine countries (France, Greece, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Norway, Romania, Spain, and the United Kingdom) with 254 stakeholders, and panels with 52 experts. An investigation of the main welfare challenges that may affect sheep and goats across the different management systems in Europe was undertaken, followed by a prioritisation of animal welfare issues obtained in the nine countries. This suggested that disease and health issues, feed access and undernutrition/malnutrition, maternal behaviour/offspring losses, environmental stressors and issues with agonistic behavioural interactions were important welfare concerns. These welfare issues and their indicators (37 for sheep, 25 for goats) were categorised into four broad welfare indicator categories: weight loss or change in body state (BWC), behavioural change (BC), milk yield and quality (MY), and environmental indicators (Evt). In parallel, 24 potential PLF and innovative technologies (8 for BWC; 10 for BC; 4 for MY; 6 for Evt) that could be relevant to monitor these broad welfare indicator categories and provide novel approaches to manage and monitor welfare have been identified. Some technologies had the capacity to monitor more than one broad indicator. Out of the 24 technologies, only 12 were animal-based sensors, or that could monitor the animal individually. One alternative could be to incorporate a risk management approach to welfare, using aspects of environmental stress. This could provide an early warning system for the potential risks of animal welfare compromise and alert farmers to the need to implement mitigation actions.
Authors
Trygve S. Aamlid Sigridur Dalmannsdottir Marit Jørgensen Kristoffer Herland Hellton Akhil Reddy Pashapu Ievina Sturite Mallikarjuna Rao Kovi Helga Amdahl Carl Gunnar Fossdal Odd Arne RognliAbstract
Timothy ( Phleum pratense L.) is the predominant forage grass species in the northern parts of the Nordic region. Because of the long andharsh winters and a short growing season, most of it with continuous light, the need for locally adapted timothy seed has been recognizedfor more than a century. However, the seed production of timothy in these marginal environments is unpredictable with acceptable seedyield and quality on average only every third year. Thus, a multiplication scheme for the northern cultivars was established with only pre-basic seed produced in the north, and basic and certified seed produced further south to secure enough seed of good quality. In recentdecades this scheme has been more or less abandoned with continous generations produced in the south. Farmers are complaining andare questioning whether the cultivars has changed and lost winter hardiness. We studied freezing and ice-encasement tolerance of generations of the the northern timothy cultivars ‘Engmo’ (old landrace) and ‘Noreng’(synthetic) multiplied for one, two or three generations in Central, Southern and Northern Norway. The trials introduce very largedifferences in mean temperature, growing degree days and photoperiod between place of parental origin and sites of multiplication so theeffects on fitness observed could arise from both selection and and induced epigenetic changes. Large changes (loss) in freezing and ice-encasement tolerance were observed, especially at the southern location in the first generation.The cultivars behaved differently and there were significant interactions. The extreme phenotypic changes observed might be explained bygenetic selection or epigenetic memory of the environmental conditions experienced during seed production, or a combination of the two.We are currently analysing GBS data of all generations and this will be used to test whether genetic shifts has occured during themultiplication in the different environments.
Abstract
No abstract has been registered
Authors
Alice Budai Daniel Rasse Thomas Cottis Erik J. Joner Vegard Martinsen Adam O'Toole Hugh Riley Synnøve Rivedal Ievina Sturite Gunnhild Søgaard Simon Weldon Samson ØpstadAbstract
Carbon content is a key property of soils with importance for all ecosystem functions. Measures to increase soil carbon storage are suggested with the aim to compensate for agricultural emissions. In Norway, where soils have relatively high carbon content because of the cold climate, adapting management practices that prevent the loss of carbon to the atmosphere in response to climate change is also important. This work presents an overview of the potential for carbon sequestration in Norway from a wide range of agricultural management practices and provides recommendations based on certainty in the reported potential, availability of the technology, and likelihood for implementation by farmers. In light of the high priority assigned to increased food production and degree of self-sufficiency in Norway, the following measures were considered: (1) utilization of organic resources, (2) use of biochar, (3) crop diversification and the use of cover crops, (4) use of plants with larger and deeper root systems, (5) improved management of meadows, (6) adaptive grazing of productive grasslands (7) managing grazing in extensive grasslands, (8) altered tillage practices, and (9) inversion of cultivated peat with mineral soil. From the options assessed, the use of cover crops scored well on all criteria evaluated, with a higher sequestration potential than previously estimated (0.2 Mt CO2-equivalents annually). Biochar has the largest potential in Norway (0.9 Mt CO2-equivalents annually, corresponding to 20% of Norwegian agricultural emissions and 2% of total national emissions), but its readiness level is not yet achieved despite interest from industry to apply this technology at large scale. Extensive grazing and the use of deep-rooted plants also have the potential for increasing carbon storage, but there is uncertainty regarding their implementation and the quantification of effects from adapting these measures. Based on the complexities of implementation and the expected impacts within a Norwegian context, promising options with substantial payoff are few. This work sheds light on the knowledge gaps remaining before the presented measures can be implemented.
Abstract
To facilitate nutrient management and the use of manure as a feedstock for biogas production, manure is often separated into a solid and a liquid fraction. The former fraction is usually high in P and low in N, so when incorporated in the soil as fertilizer, it needs to be supplemented by N from, e.g., mineral fertilizers or nitrogen-fixing species. To explore strategies to manage N with solid-separated manure, we examined how the amount of digestate and the N:P ratio of pig digestate, i.e., manure that had partially undergone anaerobic digestion, affected the productivity of Westerwolds ryegrass and red clover in a pot experiment with one soil which was rich and another which was poor in plant nutrients. The soil and plant species treatments were combined with four doses of digestate, which gave plant available phosphorus (P) concentrations of 2, 4, 8, or 16 mg P100 g−1 soil. Ammonium nitrate was dosed to obtain factorial combinations of digestate amount and N:P ratios of 1.8, 4, 8, and 16. Clover was harvested once at the beginning of flowering (15 weeks after seeding), while Westerwolds ryegrass was allowed to regrow three times after being cut at the shooting stage (in total, 4 cuts, 6, 9, 12, and 15 weeks after seeding). Ryegrass yield increased by up to 2.9 times with digestate dosage. Interactions with the N:P ratio and soil type were weak. Hence, the effect of increasing the N:P ratio was additive across digestate dosages. Red clover biomass also increased by up to 39% with digestate dosage. Residual nutrients in the soil after red clover cultivation were affected by the initial differences in soil characteristics but not by digestate treatment or biomass of harvested red clover. A targeted N management is required to benefit from the P-rich digestate in grass cultivation, while the long-term effects of red clover culture on N input need further investigation.
Authors
Kalkidan Mulatu Ayele An Notenbaert Shimelis Gizachew Raji Bimrew Asmare Niklas Wickander Solomon Mwendia Peter Dörsch Caroline Brophy Karl Thunes Marit JørgensenAbstract
No abstract has been registered
Authors
Kalkidan Mulatu Ayele Shimelis Gizachew Raji Bimrew Asmare Niklas Wickander Solomon Mwendia Peter Dörsch W. A. Worku Caroline Brophy Karl Thunes Marit JørgensenAbstract
EthiopiaGrass Fact sheet. 1 p.
Abstract
No abstract has been registered