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
Authors
Gunda ThömingAbstract
Conservation biological control (CBC) is a sustainable measure for ecological intensification in agriculture to establish and maintain robust natural enemy populations. CBC is contributing to integrated pest management with reduced use of pesticides and support of native biodiversity in agroecosystems. Despite rapidly expanding research on CBC during the last decades, its application in pest management at the farm level is very limited. Here, we tested a CBC strategy in a 5-year on-farm study at three locations in East Norway. This CBC strategy combined two tools to increase biological control of aphids in spring barley; 1-ATTRACT, the application of a volatile organic compound (VOC) attractant that increases lacewing egg laying, and 2-HABITAT, the maintenance of natural border vegetation. We found that the VOC attractants recruited natural enemies and guided them to the right place at the right time from the border vegetation into the cropping area to control the aphid population efficiently and reliably. The results also showed that the VOC attractants combined with periodical maintained natural border vegetation provided a higher lacewing activity and aphid suppression than with annual sown floral buffer strips. We found that maintained natural border vegetation supported by VOC attractants provided lacewing populations that controlled aphids up to 100 m into the cropping area. Without VOC attractants we recorded lacewing activity up to 50 m from the border into the cropping area if natural border vegetation was available, and up to 25 m if no border vegetation existed. The overall results demonstrated the feasibility of this CBC approach under Norwegian farming conditions leading to the successful adoption of this CBC-strategy by the farming community.
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Authors
Melissa MagerøyAbstract
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Authors
Stephen Amiandamhen Synne Strømmen Ingeborg Olsdatter Ohren Nordraak Andreas Treu Erik LarnøyAbstract
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Authors
Surendra Bhattarai Nityananda Khanal Nicole P. Anderson Calvin L. YoderAbstract
Strong creeping red fescue (Festuca rubra L. spp. rubra Gaudin) is a cool-season perennial turfgrass widely used in temperate and subalpine regions around the globe. Although creeping red fescue turf is tolerant of shade, low fertility acidic soils, and drought conditions, creeping red fescue seed crops grown in optimal growing environments can lodge, ultimately reducing yield in regions where this important turfgrass is grown for seed. To address this issue, we investigated the effects of two plant growth regulators (PGRs), chlormequat chloride (CCC) and trinexapac-ethyl (TE), on plant height, lodging, and seed yield of strong creeping red fescue over 9 site-years in the Peace River region of western Canada. The study encompassed 6 site-years with first-year stands and 3 site-years with second-year stands. The PGRs were applied alone and in a TE + CCC mixture at the two-node (BBCH 32–33, where BBCH is Biologische Bundesanstalt, Bundessortenamt and Chemische Industrie) and early head emergence (BBCH 51–52) growth stages in first- and second-year stands, respectively. The application of TE, CCC, and their mixture resulted in a differential decrease in lodging and an increase in seed yield in first-year stands. However, PGRs applied at BBCH 51–52 on second-year stands had no effect on seed yield but reduced plant height and lodging. This study found a negative correlation between seed yield and lodging. Among the PGR treatments, the CCC + TE mixture was the most effective in reducing lodging and increasing seed yield of strong creeping red fescue.
Authors
Habtamu AlemAbstract
No abstract has been registered