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.
2021
Authors
Ingerd Skow Hofgaard Morten Lillemo Heidi Udnes Aamot Marit Almvik Espen Sannes Sørensen Trond Buraas Bernd Rodemann Simon G. Edwards Guro BrodalAbstract
Occasionally, high mycotoxin levels are observed in Norwegian oat grain lots. The development of oat varieties with improved resistance to Fusarium and mycotoxins is therefore highly valued in order to increase the share of high quality grain into the food and feed industry. The Norwegian project “SafeOats” (2016-2020) aimed to develop resistance-screening methods to facilitate the phase-out of Fusarium-susceptible oat germplasm, as well as to give new insight into the biology of Fusarium langsethiae and HT2+T2 accumulation in oats. In naturally infested as well as in inoculated field trials, the relative ranking of oat varieties according to Fusarium graminearum/DON content did not resemble the ranking according to F. langsethiae/HT2+T2 content. One variety regarded as moderate resistant to Fusarium according to studies of DON content, was susceptible to F. langsethiae and thus at high risk for HT2+T2 contamination. Screening of resistance to F. langsethiae/HT2-T2 should therefore be routinely applied in breeding programs in addition to the already established screening of resistance to F. graminearum/DON. The incidence of F. langsethiae in a selection of oat seed lots used for commercial sowing showed a similar ranking of varieties as in the field trials. On average, the fungus was observed on 5% of the kernels in 168 seed lots tested during 2016-2018. No indication of transmission of F. langsethiae from germinating seed to seedling was found in a study with germination of naturally infected seeds. We investigated whether removing of small kernels by size sorting could be a method to reduce the content of mycotoxins in oat grain. For several of the mycotoxins including HT2+T2, the concentrations were considerably higher in the small kernel fraction compared to unsorted grain. Our results demonstrate that the level of mycotoxins in unprocessed oat grain can be reduced by removing small kernels. The results from SafeOats will benefit consumers nationally and internationally by providing tools to increase the share of high quality grain into the food and feed industry. The project was financed by The Agriculture and Food Industry Research Funds /Research Council of Norway with support from the industry partners Graminor, Lantmännen, Felleskjøpet Agri, Felleskjøpet Rogaland & Agder, Fiskå Mølle Moss, Norgesmøllene, Strand Unikorn/Norgesfôr and Kimen Seed Laboratory.
Abstract
Aquaculture has undergone rapid development in the past decades. It provides a large part of high-quality protein food for humans, and thus, a sustainable aquaculture industry is of great importance for the worldwide food supply and economy. Along with the quick expansion of aquaculture, the high fish densities employed in fish farming increase the risks of outbreaks of a variety of aquatic diseases. Such diseases not only cause huge economic losses, but also lead to ecological hazards in terms of pathogen spread to marine ecosystems causing infection of wild fish and polluting the environment. Thus, fish health is essential for the aquaculture industry to be environmentally sustainable and a prerequisite for intensive aquaculture production globally. The wide use of antibiotics and drug residues has caused intensive pollution along with risks for food safety and increasing antimicrobial resistance. Vaccination is the most effective and environmentally friendly approach to battle infectious diseases in aquaculture with minimal ecological impact and is applicable to most species of farmed fish. However, there are only 34 fish vaccines commercially available globally to date, showing the urgent need for further development of fish vaccines to manage fish health and ensure food safety. Plant genetic engineering has been utilized to produce genetically modified crops with desirable characteristics and has also been used for vaccine production, with several advantages including cost-effectiveness, safety when compared with live virus vaccines, and plants being capable of carrying out posttranslational modifications that are similar to naturally occurring systems. So far, plant-derived vaccines, antibodies, and therapeutic proteins have been produced for human and animal health. However, the development of plant-made vaccines for animals, especially fish, is still lagging behind the development of human vaccines. The present review summarizes the development of fish vaccines currently utilized and the suitability of the plant-production platform for fish vaccine and then addresses considerations regarding fish vaccine production in plants. Developing fish vaccines by way of plant biotechnology are significant for the aquaculture industry, fish health management, food safety, and human health.
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Authors
Venche Talgø Martin Pettersson Magnhild Sekse Erdal May Bente Brurberg Sigrid Mogan Arne StensvandAbstract
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Eradication of alien invasive species in the soil with steam as an alternative to chemical fumigation may allow contaminated soil to be reused. We have investigated steam disinfestation of soil to combat invasive plant species in three experiments including different temperatures and exposure durations using a prototype stationary soil-steaming device. The experiments included effects on seed germination of bigleaf lupine (Lupinus polyphyllus Lindl.), ornamental jewelweed (Impatiens glandulifera Royle), and wild oat (Avena fatua L.; one population from Poland and one from Norway), as well as effects on sprouting rhizome fragments of Canada goldenrod (Solidago canadensis L.) and Bohemian knotweed (Reynoutria x bohemica Chrtek & Chrtková). In Experiment 1, we tested four different soil temperatures of 64, 75, 79, and 98 C with an exposure duration of 90 s. In Experiments 2 and 3, we tested exposure durations of 30, 90, and 180 s and 90, 180, and 540 s, respectively, at 98 C. Seed pretreatment of 14 d cooling for L. polyphyllus and I. glandulifera, no seed pretreatment and 12-h moistening for A. fatua populations, and 5- and 10-cm cutting size for R. x bohemica were applied. Our results showed germination/sprouting was inhibited at 75 C for I. glandulifera (for 90 s) and 98 C for the other species; however, longer exposure duration was needed for L. polyphyllus. While 30 s at 98 C was enough to kill A. fatua seeds and S. canadensis and R. x bohemica rhizome fragments, 180-s exposure duration was needed to kill L. polyphyllus seeds. The results showed promising control levels of invasive plant propagules in contaminated soil by steaming, supporting the steam treatment method as a potential way of disinfecting soil to prevent dispersal of invasive species.
Authors
Mihaela-Olivia Dobrica Andre van Eerde Catalin Tucureanu Adrian Onu Lisa Paruch Iuliana Caras Ene Vlase Hege Særvold Steen Sissel Haugslien Dominic Alonzi Nicole Zitzmann Ralph Bock Jean Dubuisson Costin-Ioan Popescu Crina Stavaru Jihong Liu Clarke Norica Branza-NichitaAbstract
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Authors
Natasha Sant'Anna Iwanicki Ana Beatriz Riguetti Zanardo Botelho Ingeborg Klingen Italo Delalibera Júnior Simeon Rossmann Erik LysøeAbstract
The genus Metarhizium is composed of species used in biological control programs of agricultural pests worldwide. This genus includes common fungal pathogen of many insects and mites and endophytes that can increase plant growth. Metarhizium humberi was recently described as a new species. This species is highly virulent against some insect pests and promotes growth in sugarcane, strawberry, and soybean crops. In this study, we sequenced the genome of M. humberi, isolate ESALQ1638, and performed a functional analysis to determine its genomic signatures and highlight the genes and biological processes associated with its lifestyle. The genome annotation predicted 10633 genes in M. humberi, of which 92.0% are assigned putative functions, and ∼17% of the genome was annotated as repetitive sequences. We found that 18.5% of the M. humberi genome is similar to experimentally validated proteins associated with pathogen–host interaction. Compared to the genomes of eight Metarhizium species, the M. humberi ESALQ1638 genome revealed some unique traits that stood out, e.g., more genes functionally annotated as polyketide synthases (PKSs), overrepresended GO-terms associated to transport of ions, organic and amino acid, a higher percentage of repetitive elements, and higher levels of RIP-induced point mutations. The M. humberi genome will serve as a resource for promoting studies on genome structure and evolution that can contribute to research on biological control and plant biostimulation. Thus, the genomic data supported the broad host range of this species within the generalist PARB clade and suggested that M. humberi ESALQ1638 might be particularly good at producing secondary metabolites and might be more efficient in transporting amino acids and organic compounds.