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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.

2020

Abstract

To mitigate the risk of erosion and nutrient runoff, reduced tillage has become more prevalent in Norway. Within within recent decades, there have been some years with relatively high occurrence of Fusarium head blight and mycotoxins in Norwegian cereal grain. This is thought to have been caused by an increased inoculum potential (IP) of Fusarium spp. due to larger amount of crop residues remaining on the soil surface, in combination with weather conditions promoting fungal growth and infection of cereal plants. The objective of this work was to elucidate the influence of different tillage practices on the IP of Fusarium spp. and the subsequent Fusarium-infection and mycotoxin contamination of spring wheat grain at harvest. Tillage trials were conducted at two locations in southeast Norway (Solør and Toten) over three years, 2010-2012. Residues of wheat from the previous year were collected in spring. Fusarium avenaceum and Fusarium graminearum were the most common Fusarium species recorded on wheat straw residues. IP was calculated as the percentage of the residues infested with Fusarium spp. multiplied by the proportion of the soil surface covered with residues. The IP of Fusarium spp. was lower in ploughed plots compared to those tilled with harrowing only. Ploughing in spring resulted in a similarly low IP as autumn ploughing. In contrast, harrowing in autumn generally reduced IP more than did spring harrowing. The mycotoxin levels in the harvested wheat were generally low, except for deoxynivalenol at high levels in Solør 2011. Despite a lower IP of ploughed versus harrowed plots, this was not reflected in the content of Fusarium and mycotoxins in harvested grain. The Fusarium species that dominated in the residues examined in this study were the same as those detected in the harvested grain, supporting the finding that residues are an important source of inoculum.

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Abstract

Effective evidence-based nature conservation and habitat management relies on developing and refining our methodological toolbox for detecting critical ecological changes at an early stage. This requires not only optimizing the use and integration of evidence from available data, but also optimizing methods for dealing with imperfect knowledge and data deficiencies. For policy and management relevance, ecological data are often synthesized into indicators, which are assessed against reference levels and limit values. Here we explore challenges and opportunities in defining ecological condition in relation to a reference condition reflecting intact ecosystems, as well as setting limit values for good ecological condition, linked to critical ecological thresholds in dose–response relationships between pressures and condition variables. These two concepts have been widely studied and implemented in aquatic sciences, but rarely in terrestrial systems. In this paper, we address practical considerations, theoretical challenges and possible solutions using different approaches to determine reference and limit values for good ecological condition in terrestrial ecosystems, based on empirical experiences from a case study in central Norway. We present five approaches for setting indicator reference values for intact ecosystems: absolute biophysical boundaries, reference areas, reference communities, ecosystem dynamics based models, and habitat availability based models. We further present four approaches for identifying indicator limit values for good ecological condition: empirically estimated values, statistical distributions, assumed linear relationships, and expert judgement-based limits. This exercise highlights the versatile and robust nature of ecological condition assessments based on reference and limit values for different management purposes, for situations where knowledge of the underlying relationships is lacking, and for situations limited by data availability. Ecological condition Index Management Reference condition Terrestrial

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Abstract

The major part of Norwegian apples is marketed within 3-4 months after harvest. ‘Summerred’ is a popular medium early cultivar in Norway, however, it is known to soften quickly during storage and marketing. Storing apples in low temperature and low oxygen atmosphere will slow down the ripening and the fruit will keep green and firm. Delayed cooling has been reported to reduce susceptibility to develop physiological disorders like scald. The experiment included different strategies in delaying cooling (5 days at 7°C) and allowing the apples to reach 1 kPa oxygen storage after an intermediate period (5 days) at 3 kPa oxygen. The main focus was on changes in firmness, degreening, scald and fruit rots. The apples were stored for 3, 6 or 9 weeks in 1 or 4°C and analyzed for standard fruit quality factors (color, firmness, IAD-index, starch, soluble solids content and titratable acidity) as the samples were removed from low temperature and low oxygen storage and after a week at 20°C in regular atmosphere (shelf life). Physiological disorders and fruit rots were registered. In these experiments the fruit quality changes were greater (poorer quality) in apples kept at 7°C for 5 days before storage at 1 or 4°C compared to apples stored immediately at low temperature. The intermediate storage in 3 kPa oxygen tended to make the apples keep firmer during storage. The stepwise reduction in oxygen content reduced the negative effect of delayed cooling. Delayed cooling slowed the starch degradation. The incidences of soft scald and fruit rots were low, and the effects of delayed cooling and/or delayed low oxygen storage were weak.

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Abstract

In a number of pathosystems involving the powdery mildews (Erysiphales), plant stress is associated with decreased disease susceptibility and is detrimental to pathogen growth and reproduction. However, in strawberry, anecdotal observations associate severe powdery mildew (Podosphaera aphanis) with water stress. In a 2017 survey of 42 strawberry growers in Norway and California, 40 growers agreed with a statement that water-stressed strawberry plants were more susceptible to powdery mildew compared with nonstressed plants. In repeated in vitro and in vivo experiments, we found that water stress was consistently and significantly unfavorable to conidial germination, infection, and increases in disease severity. Deleterious effects on the pathogen were observed from both preinoculation and postinoculation water stress in the host. Soil moisture content in the range from 0 to 50% was correlated (R2 = 0.897) with germinability of conidia harvested from extant colonies that developed on plants growing at different levels of water stress. These studies confirm that P. aphanis fits the norm for biotrophic powdery mildews and hosts under stress. Mild water stress, compared with a state of optimal hydration, is likely to decrease rather than increase susceptibility of strawberry to P. aphanis. We believe it is possible that foliar symptoms of leaf curling due to diffuse and inconspicuous infection of the lower leaf surfaces by P. aphanis could easily be mistakenly attributed to water stress, which we observed as having a nearly identical leaf curling symptom in strawberry.