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
Hilde Karine WamAbstract
Even in the most pristine of northern Europe, we have lost almost all the long stretches of intact natural lands. We build and travel all over the place. The environmental problems it creates are unsustainable. In this tool kit, the students learn about the good and the bad of our consumption of nature, and are challenged to be conscious about both.
Authors
Hilde Karine WamAbstract
The Green Shift is like Jekyll & Hyde. Will it save the planet, or is it just greenwashing? In this tool kit, we try to get a practical grasp on this vague buzz-word. You will learn why 2+2 is never 4 in the green shift. The shadow side of it is still the same environmental issues as before. We reflect upon how the green shift indeed can be used to make changes, and not just greenwash our dirt.
Authors
Hilde Karine WamAbstract
When humans decided to conquer the world, we took on the responsibility to manage most wildlife. This is not an easy task. Ecosystems are so complex. People have so differing opinions. In this tool kit, you'll learn about wildlife management! About the easy theory and the struggling practice. And, what may happen if we give wildlife “back to nature”.
Authors
Hilde Karine WamAbstract
Technology has given humans a major upper-hand on other animal species. Here you will learn about ways in which humans use technology to monitor and manage wildlife, and we explore ethical dilemmas. For example, is it okay to catch and operate on wild animals? Do we want to know all the secrets of nature?
Authors
Hilde Karine WamAbstract
Will the toughness of tundra animals be their benefit or their bane in a changing climate? The tundra is a harsh and brutally cold place in winter, with almost no plants to eat. Only the toughest of creatures survive here. In this tool kit, we explore how climate change affects the tundra and its animals. We advice that pupils first do part 1 (animal adaptability).
Abstract
The large surface area of bunker silos imposes challenges with heating caused by plant respiration during initial ensiling. This study aimed to explore if application of a formic- and propionic acid-based additive would improve grass silage quality, reduce losses, and increase aerobic stability in bunker silos. At each of three harvests, every second tractor load was filled with either untreated or acid treated precision chopped crop, and ensiled in each of two identical bunker silos, 6 m × 27 m with three 3.5 m high walls, without roof. Each load in both bunker silos was compacted by two packing machines. Initially, an 8.3 t farm tractor worked for 10 min. followed by a 14.5 t wheel loader for 10 min. Silos were filled to approximately half of their capacity. Due to showers during all three harvests, crop dry matter (DM) concentrations were only 195, 186 and 213 g/kg, respectively. During unloading for feeding, silage DM density and DM concentrations were respectively 7% and 5% higher (P < 0.01) in acid treated (A) than in control (C) silage. This was presumably due to early cell rupture caused by the applied acid, and thereby higher effluent release from A than C silage. Additive treatment did not influence the amount of wasted silage. Invisible losses, that included crop respiration, effluent runoff, anaerobic fermentation, aerobic deterioration from the silo face, and gaseous losses were numerically higher in A than C silos on fresh weight basis, but slightly lower on DM basis. The proportion of harvested crop DM that was offered to animals was 837 and 829 g/kg for A and C silage, respectively (NS). Additive treatment reduced the proportion of non-protein N in total N, restricted silage fermentation to lactic and acetic acid, reduced NH3-N-values, and increased ethanol fermentation (P < 0.01). Silage DM intake index was higher for A than C silage (P < 0.001). Aerobic stability was not significantly influenced by additive treatment. The concentration of spores of Clostridium tyrobutyricum in spot silage samples from bunker silo faces was low or moderate, and did not differ according to additive treatment. Silo shoulder and side samples contained, however, significantly higher spore concentrations than mid and top samples.
Authors
Bente Føreid Julia Maria Szocs Regina J. Patinvoh Ilona Sárvári HorváthAbstract
Purpose Anaerobic digestion produces renewable energy, biogas, from organic residues, but also digestate, a valuable organic fertiliser. Previous studies have indicated that digestate contains ample plant available nitrogen (N), but there are also concerns about greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions after application of digestates to soil. The aim of this study was to compare digestate and undigested feedstock for fertiliser effect as well as greenhouse gas emissions during the next season. Methods Digestate and its feedstock, manure, were compared as N fertilisers for wheat. Mixing digestate with biochar before application was also tested. After harvest, soil samples were frozen and dried. Then GHG emissions immediately after a re-wetting of dry soil and after thawing of frozen soil were measured to determine emissions after a non-growing season (dry or cold). Results All N in digestate was plant available, while there was no significant N fertiliser effect of the undigested manure. N2O emissions were higher after a dry season than after freezing, but the undigested manure showed higher emissions during thawing than those detected during thawing of soils from any of the other treatments. Conclusion Anaerobic digestion makes N available to plants, and when residues with much N that is not plant available the first season are used, the risk of N2O emission next spring is high.
Authors
Anna Avetisyan M. Hokhanyan Kristina Herdt leidulf Lund Anne Linn Hykkerud Laura Jaakola Inger MartinussenAbstract
Organic agriculture is acquiring increased attention in Armenia with numerous projects and initiatives prioritizing production of ecologically clean agricultural products. Application of organic fertilizers is one of the key factors supporting sustainable organic production of fruits and vegetables, which requires knowledge of fertilization regimes adapted to crop types for achieving optimum productivity. The present study evaluates the effect of the organic fertilizer “Bioklad” (Bioklad Ltd.) on growth and development of strawberry plantlets. Three concentrations of the organic fertilizer, 1:400, 1:200 and 1:100 dilutions of the concentrate were tested. Plantlets of the cultivar ‘Sonata’ were grown for nine weeks in pots under controlled conditions in a phytotron. Yield, biomass and total phenolic content were not significantly different between Bioklad application treatments. Nevertheless, the Bioklad at the intermediate dilution 1:200 was most optimal for strawberry growth. The analysis of chemical composition of leaves indicated that nitrogen content was higher in plants grown at the lowest dilution (1:100) of Bioklad. In addition, plantlets had the lowest phenolic content at this treatment. Based on the presented results of Bioklad’s effect on strawberry plantlets growth, cost/value insight of this organic fertilizer has been estimated.
Abstract
The separate and synergistic effects of land use and climate change on water quality variables in Old Woman Creek (OWC) watershed were evaluated using a hydrological model set up in Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) for the OWC watershed. Model calibration was done using a multi-objective evolutionary algorithm and pareto optimization. The Parameter-Elevation Regressions on Independent Slopes Model (PRISM) climate data and the 20 different Global Circulation Models (GCMs) developed by the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase five (CMIP5) were used. Validation was done using the streamflow data from USGS gaging station and water quality data from the water quality lab, Heidelberg University. The simulation was divided into two land use scenarios: Scenario 1 for constant land use and Scenario 2 where land use was varied. Both land use simulations were run in four time periods to account for climate change: historical (1985–2014), current to near future (2018–2045), mid-century (2046–2075), and late-century (2076–2100) climate windows. For the historical period, the average of all the simulations made from the 20 different CMIP5 GCMs shows good agreement with the PRISM results for flow and the water quality variables of interest with smaller inter-model variability compared to PRISM results. For the other three climate windows, the results of Scenario 1 show an increase in flow and eight water quality variables (sediment (total suspended sediment), organic nitrogen, organic phosphorus (particulate p), mineral phosphorus (soluble reactive p), chlorophyll a, carbonaceous biochemical oxygen demand (CBOD), dissolved oxygen, total nitrogen) across the climate windows but a slight decrease in one water quality variable, mineral phosphorus in the mid-century. The results of Scenario 2 show a greater increase in flow, and the eight water quality variables across the climate windows show a relatively larger decrease in one water quality variable (mineral phosphorus). The projected land use change has little impact compared to the projected climate change on OWC watershed in the 21st century.
Abstract
No abstract has been registered