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.
2018
Authors
Lillian ØygardenAbstract
No abstract has been registered
Authors
Jan Emblemsvåg Nina Pereira Kvadsheim Matthias Koesling Jon Halfdanarson Celine Rebours Annik Magerholm FetAbstract
Research is being poured into developing both potential products and the processes required to convert seaweed, or macroalgae, into products. So far, the results are products for high-end markets, such as restaurants, but in very modest volumes. To understand what it will take to create a large-scale seaweed industry, research is conducted into the strategic-, environmental- and economic realities such an industry would have to deal with as suppliers of fish-feed. The idea is that unless the industry has something to offer that competing products do not, in terms of cost, performance or environmental- and economic footprint, the seaweed industry will be delegated to small volumes for special needs and high value products. These topics are discussed below.
Authors
Arne Verstraeten Elena Gottardini Elena Vanguelova Peter Waldner Nicolas Bruffaerts Anita Nussbaumer Mathias Neumann Nicholas Clarke Karin Hansen Pasi Rautio Liisa UkonmaanahoAbstract
No abstract has been registered
Authors
Matthias KoeslingAbstract
No abstract has been registered
Abstract
We investigated the ability of the fungal entomopathogen Beauveria bassiana strain GHA to endophytically colonize sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum) and its impact on plant growth. We used foliar spray, stem injection, and soil drench inoculation methods. All three inoculation methods resulted in B. bassiana colonizing sugarcane tissues. Extent of fungal colonization differed significantly with inoculation method (χ2 = 20.112, d. f. = 2, p < 0.001), and stem injection showed the highest colonization level followed by foliar spray and root drench. Extent of fungal colonization differed significantly with plant part (χ2 = 33.072, d. f. = 5, p < 0.001); stem injection resulted in B. bassiana colonization of the stem and to some extent leaves; foliar spray resulted in colonization of leaves and to some extent, the stem; and soil drench resulted in colonization of roots and to some extent the stem. Irrespective of inoculation method, B. bassiana colonization was 2.8 times lower at 14–16 d post inoculation (DPI) than at 7–10 DPI (p = 0.020). Spraying leaves and drenching the soil with B. bassiana significantly (p = 0.01) enhanced numbers of sett roots. This study demonstrates for the first time that B. bassiana can endophytically colonize sugarcane plants and enhance the root sett and it provides a starting point for exploring the use of this fungus as an endophyte in management of sugarcane pests.
Authors
John Koestel Annette Dathe Todd H. Skaggs Ove Mindor Klakegg Muhammad Arslan Ahmad Maryia Babko Daniel Giménez Csilla Farkas Attila Nemes Nicholas JarvisAbstract
The saturated hydraulic conductivity of soil, Ks, is a critical parameter in hydrological models that remains notoriously difficult to predict. In this study, we test the capability of a model based on percolation theory and critical path analysis to estimate Ks measured on 95 undisturbed soil cores collected from contrasting soil types. One parameter (the pore geometry factor) was derived by model fitting, while the remaining two parameters (the critical pore diameter, dc, and the effective porosity) were derived from X‐ray computed tomography measurements. The model gave a highly significant fit to the Ks measurements (p < 0.0001) although only ~47% of the variation was explained and the fitted pore geometry factor was approximately 1 to 2 orders of magnitude larger than various theoretical values obtained for idealized porous media and pore network models. Apart from assumptions in the model that might not hold in reality, this could also be attributed to experimental error induced by, for example, air entrapment and changes in the soil pore structure occurring during sample presaturation and the measurement of Ks. Variation in the critical pore diameter, dc, was the dominant source of variation in Ks, which suggests that dc is a suitable length scale for predicting soil permeability. Thus, from the point of view of pedotransfer functions, it could be worthwhile to direct future research toward exploring the correlations of dc with basic soil properties and site attributes.
Abstract
It is recognised that flame retardant chemicals degrade and leach out of flame-protected wood claddings when exposed to natural weathering. However, the ability to survey the current state of a flame retardant treatment applied to a wood cladding, an arbitrary length of time after the initial application, is limited today. In this study, hyperspectral imaging in the near infrared to short-wavelength infrared region is used to quantify the amount of flame retardant present on wooden surfaces. Several sets of samples were treated with various concentrations of a flame retardant chemical and scanned with a push broom hyperspectral camera. An inductively coupled plasma (ICP) spectroscopy analysis of the outermost layer of the treated samples was then carried out in order to determine each sample’s phosphorus content, the active ingredient in the flame retardant. Spectra from the hyperspectral images were pre-processed with extended multiplicative scatter correction, and the phosphorus content was modelled using a partial least squares (PLS) regression model. The PLS regression yielded robust predictions of surface phosphorus content with a coefficient of determination, R2, between 0.8 and 0.9 on validation data regardless of whether the flame retardant chemical had been applied to the surface of the wood or pressure-impregnated into it. The result from the study indicates that spectral imaging around the 2400–2531nm wavelength region is favourable for quantifying the amount of phosphorus-based flame retardant contained in the outermost layer of non-coated wooden claddings. The results also reveal that the uptake of phosphorus-based flame retardant does not occur uniformly throughout the wood surface, but is to a larger extent concentrated in the earlywood regions than in the latewood.
Abstract
No abstract has been registered
Authors
Trygve S. Aamlid Oiva Niemelainen Klaus Paaske David Widmark Pentti Ruuttunen Auli KedonperaAbstract
Greenkeepers are looking for alternatives to fungicides for control of turfgrass diseases. Our objective was to evaluate a petroleum- derived spray oil with a blue-green pigment for control of Microdochium patch/pink snow mold (Microdochium nivale) on golf course putting greens with various durations of snow cover. The spray oil was applied at rates 27 or 54 L ha–1 every third week from late August or September to December, either alone, in tank mixture with potassium phosphite (3 kg PO3 ha–1) or in tank mixture with half rate of fungicides approved for turf, in five 1-yr trials in the Nordic countries. The oil was as effective or more effective than fungicides and gave, on average, 94 and 98% disease control at rates 27 and 54 L ha–1, respectively. Tank mixtures with half rate of prochloraz + propioconazole and fludioxonil did not increase disease suppression in a trial with 79 d snow cover. Phosphite reduced disease severity in one trial only and did not improve disease control or turfgrass quality when tank-mixed with the oil. The pigment in the spray oil was highly persistent and improved turfgrass greenness except in a trial where the combination of oil and ice cover gave a transitory black color at ice melt. Another trial with long snow cover showed a drop in turfgrass quality in spring as the spray oil prevented normal green-up. In conclusion, this research shows that a spray oil has the potential to reduce fungicide use on Nordic golf courses.
Abstract
No abstract has been registered