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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.

2023

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Seed is a critically important basic input of agriculture, because sowing healthy seeds is essential to food production. Using high quality seed enables less use of synthetic pesticides in the field. Seedborne pathogens can reduce yield quantity and quality of the crops produced. Seed treatments protect plant seedlings from pathogen attacks at emergence and at the early growth stages, contributing to healthy crop plants and good yield. However, there is increased concern about the application of synthetic pesticides to seeds, while alternatives are becoming increasingly addressed in seedborne pathogen research. A series of strategies based on synthetic fungicides, natural compounds, biocontrol agents (BCAs), and physical means has been developed to reduce seed contamination by pathogens. The volume of research on seed treatment has increased considerably in the past decade, along with the search for green technologies to control seedborne diseases. This review focuses on recent research results dealing with protocols that are effective in the management of seedborne pathogens. Moreover, the review illustrated an innovative system for routine seed health testing and need-based cereal seed treatment implemented in Norway.

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BACKGROUND Integrated pest management (IPM) has a long history in fruit production and has become even more important with the implementation of the EU directive 2009/128/EC making IPM mandatory. In this study, we surveyed 30 apple orchards in Norway for 3 years (2016–2018) monitoring pest- and beneficial arthropods as well as evaluating fruit damage. We obtained growers’ diaries of pest management and used these data to study positive and negative correlations of pesticides with the different arthropod groups and damage due to pests. RESULTS IPM level had no significant effects on damage of harvested apples by arthropod pests. Furthermore, damage by arthropods was mainly caused by lepidopteran larvae, tortricids being especially important. The number of insecticide applications varied between 0 and 3 per year (mean 0.8), while acaricide applications varied between 0 and 1 per year (mean 0.06). Applications were often based on forecasts of important pest species such as the apple fruit moth (Argyresthia conjugella). Narrow-spectrum insecticides were commonly used against aphids and lepidopteran larvae, although broad-spectrum neonicotinoid (thiacloprid) insecticides were also applied. Anthocorid bugs and phytoseiid mites were the most abundant natural enemies in the studied orchards. However, we found large differences in abundance of various “beneficials” (e.g., lacewings, anthocorids, parasitic wasps) between eastern and western Norway. A low level of IPM negatively affected the abundance of spiders. CONCLUSION Lepidoptera was found to be the most important pest group in apple orchards. Insecticide use was overall low, but number of spray applications and use of broad-spectrum insecticides varied between growers and regions. IPM level did not predict the level of fruit damage by insects nor the abundance of important pests or most beneficial groups in an apple orchard. © 2023 The Authors. Pest Management Science published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Chemical Industry.

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Potato Cyst Nematodes (PCN) (Globodera rostochiensis and G. pallida Woll.) are quarantine pests of potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) worldwide capable of causing significant yield loss and difficult to manage with conventional methods. The study explored the diversity of antagonistic fungi associated with PCN obtained from soil samples collected in Nyandarua and Nakuru Counties in Kenya and their effect on PCN egg viability and hatching was also evaluated. Twelve fungal isolates from five genera were isolated and characterized using morphological and molecular techniques. The twelve isolates were Trichoderma asperellum (4), T. hamatum, T. breve, T. atrobruneum, Amanita basiorubra, Setophoma terrestris (2), Penicillium chrysogenum and Clonostachys rosea. The most abundant isolate was Trichoderma spp. with 58 % occurrence. The effect of seven of the isolates on PCN eggs showed that T. breve and P. chrysogenum reduced egg viability by 41 % and 34 %, respectively while T. asperellum and T. breve reduced their hatching by 50 % on average. Trichoderma atrobrunneum, T. hamatum, and A. basiorubra also reduced the PCN egg viability by 27 % on average. These fungal isolates could provide a potential tool for PCN management in potato production systems for improved yields. However, further studies are warranted to validate these findings under greenhouse and field conditions. A more comprehensive bioprospecting survey for PCN associated antagonistic fungi needs to be extended to other potato growing regions to explore further cyst pathogens.

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Powdery mildew, caused by the ascomycete Podosphaera aphanis, is an important disease of strawberry. A slightly modified version of a method using steam thermotherapy to rid diseases and pests from strawberry transplants was tested against strawberry powdery mildew. Experiments took place in Norway and Florida, with potted strawberry plants heavily infected with the fungus. Aerated steam treatments of the plants were carried out as follows: a pre-treatment with steaming at 37 °C for 1 h was followed by 1 h at ambient temperature before plants were exposed to steaming at 40, 42, or 44 °C for 2 or 4 h in Norway and 44 °C for 4 h in Florida. Following steaming, plants from the different treatments and the untreated control were kept apart and protected from outside contamination of powdery mildew by growing them in closed containers with over-pressure. On steamed plants, hyphae of P. aphanis were dead and without any new spore formation after treatments, independent of temperature or exposure time; however, up to 99% of the area infected with powdery mildew prior to treatments contained actively sporulating lesions on non-steamed plants. None of the new leaves formed after steaming had powdery mildew, whereas more than half of the new leaves on non-treated plants were infected by P. aphanis. This investigation clearly indicates that steam thermotherapy can eradicate powdery mildew from strawberry transplants, and this can be achieved at lower temperatures and exposure times than previously reported for other pathogens.

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Non-native pests, climate change, and their interactions are likely to alter relationships between trees and tree-associated organisms with consequences for forest health. To understand and predict such changes, factors structuring tree-associated communities need to be determined. Here, we analysed the data consisting of records of insects and fungi collected from dormant twigs from 155 tree species at 51 botanical gardens or arboreta in 32 countries. Generalized dissimilarity models revealed similar relative importance of studied climatic, host-related and geographic factors on differences in tree-associated communities. Mean annual temperature, phylogenetic distance between hosts and geographic distance between locations were the major drivers of dissimilarities. The increasing importance of high temperatures on differences in studied communities indicate that climate change could affect tree-associated organisms directly and indirectly through host range shifts. Insect and fungal communities were more similar between closely related vs. distant hosts suggesting that host range shifts may facilitate the emergence of new pests. Moreover, dissimilarities among tree-associated communities increased with geographic distance indicating that human-mediated transport may serve as a pathway of the introductions of new pests. The results of this study highlight the need to limit the establishment of tree pests and increase the resilience of forest ecosystems to changes in climate.