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
Because of generally small log piles, loading forwarders during thinning is time consuming. The Assortment Grapple, an innovative grapple with an extra pair of claws which facilitates the handling of two assortments during one loading crane cycle, has been designed to decrease forwarders’ loading time consumption. A standardized experiment was performed in a virtual thinning stand using a machine simulator with the objectives to form guidelines for working with the Assortment Grapple and to analyse its development potential. Four experienced operators participated in the study. According to the results, the Assortment Grapple’s accumulating function is beneficial only when there are no remaining trees between piles loaded during the same crane cycle. In such cases, none of participating operators lost time, and 3 of 4 operators saved time notably. The problem with the remaining trees is the extra time required to steer the crane tip around them. Therefore, a harvester should place those log piles that are later to be forwarded together in the same space with no remaining trees between the piles. Furthermore, we recommend that the Assortment Grapple’s usability will be improved by adding an own rocker switch on the forwarder’s controls to command the extra claws.
Authors
Tatsiana Espevig Karin Juul Hesselsøe Erik Lysøe Trygve Serck-Hanssen Christian Spring Martin Nilsson Wolfgang Prämaßing Axel Städler Karin Normann Marina Usoltseva Kate Entwistle Carlos Guerrero Tatiana Gagkaeva Yuri Lebedin Ingeborg Menzler Hokkanen,Abstract
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Within the last decade, implementing eight key principles of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) has become mandatory for all professional users of pesticides in the European Union (EU) and European Economic Area (EEA). Meanwhile, evidence of the level of implementation is lacking. In this study, the adoption of IPM principles among Norwegian grain farmers was measured using a novel IPM index based on self-reported levels of performing IPM practices. Three IPM experts weighted the principles and practices included in the index. They found prevention and suppression to be the most important principle, followed by monitoring and decisionmaking, while pesticide selection and evaluation were deemed least important. A survey of 1250 farmers showed that the principles with the highest adoption rates were evaluation and anti-resistance strategies, while non-chemical methods and reduced pesticide use had the lowest adoption rates. The results support previous suggestions that more complex principles, requiring a larger set of practices, are less readily adopted than those that are less complex. Nevertheless, the index scores showed that most Norwegian grain farmers are extensively practicing IPM; 75% of the respondents obtained scores between 60 and 80 on a 100-point scale, with an average score of 68. In the Norwegian context, it is more relevant to discuss the varying use of IPM rather than how to increase adoption in general.
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Authors
Lorène Julia Marchand Inge Dox Jožica Gričar Peter Prislan Sebastien Leys Jan Van den Bulcke Patrick Fonti Holger Lange Erik Matthysen Josep Peñuelas Paolo Zuccarini Matteo CampioliAbstract
We explored the inter-individual variability in bud-burst and its potential drivers, in homogeneous mature stands of temperate deciduous trees. Phenological observations of leaves and wood formation were performed weekly from summer 2017 to summer 2018 for pedunculate oak, European beech and silver birch in Belgium. The variability of bud-burst was correlated to previous’ year autumn phenology (i.e. the onset of leaf senescence and the cessation of wood formation) and tree size but with important differences among species. In fact, variability of bud-burst was primarily related to onset of leaf senescence, cessation of wood formation and tree height for oak, beech and birch, respectively. The inter-individual variability of onset of leaf senescence was not related to the tree characteristics considered and was much larger than the inter-individual variability in bud-burst. Multi-species multivariate models could explain up to 66% of the bud-burst variability. These findings represent an important advance in our fundamental understanding and modelling of phenology and tree functioning of deciduous tree species.