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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.

2020

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Abstract

Bartonella spp. are fastidious, Gram‐negative, aerobic, facultative intracellular bacteria that infect humans, domestic and wild animals. In Norway, Bartonella spp. have been detected in cervids, mainly within the distribution area of the arthropod vector deer ked (Lipoptena cervi ). We used PCR to survey the prevalence of Bartonella spp. in blood samples from 141 cervids living outside the deer ked distribution area (moose [Alces alces , n = 65], red deer [Cervus elaphus , n = 41], and reindeer [Rangifer tarandus , n = 35]), in 44 pool samples of sheep tick (Ixodes ricinus , 27 pools collected from 74 red deer and 17 from 45 moose) and in biting midges of the genus Culicoides (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae, 120 pools of 6710 specimens). Bartonella DNA was amplified in moose (75.4 %, 49/65) and in red deer (4.9 %, 2/41) blood samples. All reindeer were negative. There were significant differences in Bartonella prevalence among the cervid species. Additionally, Bartonella was amplified in two of 17 tick pools collected from moose and in 3 of 120 biting midge pool samples. The Bartonella sequences amplified in moose, red deer and ticks were highly similar to B. bovis , previously identified in cervids. The sequence obtained from biting midges was only 81.7 % similar to the closest Bartonella spp. We demonstrate that Bartonella is present in moose across Norway and present the first data on northern Norway specimens. The high prevalence of Bartonella infection suggests that moose could be the reservoir for this bacterium. This is the first report of bacteria from the Bartonella genus in ticks from Fennoscandia, and in Culicoides biting midges worldwide.

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Abstract

In order to identify successful pollinizers of plum cultivars ‘Edda’ and ‘Opal’, 60 mature open pollinated fruit were collected from these two cultivars in autumn 2017. The fruits were harvested in three different orchards located in Ullensvang, the main fruit production area in Norway. After the harvest, kernels were separated from the fruit and used for the extraction of single embryos located within each kernel. At the same time, leaves were collected from the plum cultivars ‘Edda’ and ‘Opal’, as well as from all other plum cultivars present at the location and nearby orchards (‘Mallard’, ‘Jubileum’, ‘Reeves’, ‘Avalon’, ‘Valor’, ‘Cacanska Lepotica’ and ‘Herman’). DNA extraction was carried out for the embryos and leaves, and were used for genotyping using seven microsatellite markers. The microsatellite data were used for conducting paternity analyses based on a log likelihood ratio, where the fingerprint information from the leaves were the possible pollen donors available at the location. The results revealed within all examined orchards that the most successful pollinizer of ‘Edda’, a self-sterile cultivar, was ‘Opal’. The most successful foreign pollinizer of ‘Opal’ was ‘Mallard’. However, more than two thirds of embryos extracted from ‘Opal’ fruits did not present any alleles not already identified in ‘Opal’, which was expected considering that this plum cultivar was known to be self-fertile. European plums are hexaploid making its allele callings and paternity tests rather complicated. However, the approach used in this study gave clear answers regarding the most successful pollinizers.

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Abstract

The triploid pear cultivar ‘Ingeborg’ is currently the main commercial pear cultivar grown in Norway. However, fruit set and subsequent yields of this cultivar have proven to be variable and overall rather low. In order to promote the fruit set, different bioregulators were applied during and after bloom and compared with an untreated control. Investigations were done during the period 2017-2018, at NIBIO Ullensvang, western Norway. Different dosages of both gibberellins (GA3, trade name GIBB 3, 10% active ingredient (a.i.) and GA4/7, trade name Novagib®, 1% a.i.) were applied at full bloom and at petal fall. Additional applications of the growth retardant prohexadioneCa (trade name Regalis®, 10% a.i.) were applied twice, when bourse shoots had 3-5 leaves and after one month later. Ethephon (Cerone (480 g a.i. L-1)) was applied three times starting about 7 days after petal fall with ca. 7- to 10-day intervals. All gibberellin applications significantly increased fruit set compared to the untreated control. One single application with GA3 (3 g ha-1) almost tripled the fruit number per 100 flower clusters when compared with the control (136 and 46, respectively). The yield response was similar (16.8 to 9.6 kg tree-1, respectively). Similar results occurred with one application of GA4/7 (12 g ha-1) with the same crop load level, and the fruit weights were similar to the control (130 g). Prohexadione-Ca treatments significantly reduced shoot growth of the pear trees. Two treatments with 125 g ha-1 or one treatment of 250 g ha-1 reduced the growth by ~35% but had no significant effect on fruit set and yield. The multiple ethephon applications (275 mL ha-1 in total) had no effect on both set and shoot growth, and return bloom compared to the untreated or gibberellin treated trees.

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Abstract

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

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Abstract

During surveys of insect-associated mycobiomes in Norway, Poland, and Russia, isolates with affinity to Graphilbum (Ophiostomatales, Ascomycota) were recovered. In this study, eight known Graphilbum species as well as the newly collected isolates were compared based on morphology and DNA sequence data for four gene regions. The results revealed seven new species, described here as G. acuminatum, G. carpaticum, G. curvidentis, G. furuicola, G. gorcense, G. interstitiale, and G. sexdentatum. In addition to these species, G. crescericum and G. sparsum were commonly found in Norway. All new species were recovered from conifers in association with bark beetles, cerambycid beetles, and weevils and were morphologically similar, predominantly with pesotum-like asexual morphs. Where sexual morphs were present, these were small ascomata with short necks and rodshaped ascospores having hyaline sheaths. The results suggest that Graphilbum species are common members of the Ophiostomatales in conifer ecosystems.

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Abstract

Bark beetles belonging to the genus Dryocoetes (Coleoptera, Curculionidae, Scolytinae) are known vectors of fungi, such as the pathogenic species Grosmannia dryocoetidis involved in alpine fir (Abies lasiocarpa) mortality. Associations between hardwood-infesting Dryocoetes species and fungi in Europe have received very little research attention. Ectosymbiotic fungi residing in Ceratocystiopsis and Leptographium (Ophiostomatales, Sordariomycetes, Ascomycota) were commonly detected in previous surveys of the Dryocoetes alni-associated mycobiome in Poland. The aim of this study was to accurately identify these isolates and to provide descriptions of the new species. The identification was conducted based on morphology and DNA sequence data for six loci (ITS1-5.8S, ITS2-28S, ACT, CAL, TUB2, and TEF1-α). This revealed two new species, described here as Ceratocystiopsis synnemata sp. nov. and Leptographium alneum sp. nov. The host trees for the new species included Alnus incana and Populus tremula. Ceratocystiopsis synnemata can be distinguished from its closely related species, C. pallidobrunnea, based on conidia morphology and conidiophores that aggregate in loosely arranged synnemata. Leptographium alneum is closely related to Grosmannia crassivaginata and differs from this species in having a larger ascomatal neck, and the presence of larger club-shaped cells.