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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.

2023

To document

Abstract

Several actors have an impact on the quality of drinking water, but ultimately drinking water treatment plants (DWTPs) play a decisive role in ensuring that water quality complies with public regulations. Several developing technologies are combined in water treatment processes. In this paper, we are analysing the technological development of DWTPs in the South Bohemian region of the Czech Republic. The empirical basis is five DWTPs of varying size, and data are gathered through semi-structured interviews with relevant staff inside and outside of the five DWTPs. This study identifies the interplay of factors driving technological development: public regulations, the economic capacity of local DWTP owners together with subsidies from the European Union and national authorities, political priorities by local authorities, and the knowledge network. The paper addressess learning–knowledge–change processes of DWTPs, thereby contributing to our understanding of developing competence in producing drinking water. Generally, large DWTPs are front-runners in introducing new technologies while the smaller ones are lagging. Still, private companies operating small plants on behalf of municipal owners ensure that those DWTPs are part of a wider knowledge network, aiding to introduce a necessary and cost-effective upgrade to treatment steps.

To document

Abstract

The management of infectious wildlife diseases often involves tackling pathogens that infect multiple host species. Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is aprion disease that can infect most cervid species. CWD was detected in reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) in Norway in 2016. Sympatric populations of red deer(Cervus elaphus) and moose (Alces alces) are at immediate risk. However, the estimation of spillover risk across species and implementation of multispecies management policies are rarely addressed for wildlife. Here, we estimated the broad risk of CWD spillover from reindeer to red deer and moose by quantifying the probability of co-occurrence based on both (1) population density and(2) habitat niche overlap from GPS data of all three species in Nordfjella,Norway. We describe the practical challenges faced when aiming to reduce the risk of spillover through a marked reduction in the population densities of moose and red deer using recreational hunters. This involves setting the popu-lation and harvest aims with uncertain information and how to achieve them.The niche overlap between reindeer and both moose and red deer was low overall but occurred seasonally. Migratory red deer had a moderate niche over-lap with the CWD-infected reindeer population during the calving period, whereas moose had a moderate niche overlap during both calving and winter. Incorporating both habitat overlap and the population densities of the respective species into the quantification of co-occurrence allowed for more spatially targeted risk maps. An initial aim of a 50% reduction in abundance for the Nordfjella region was set, but only a moderate population decrease of less than 20% from 2016 to 2021 was achieved. Proactive management in the form of marked population reduction is invasive and unpopular when involving species of high societal value, and targeting efforts to zones with a high risk ofspillover to limit adverse impacts and achieve wider societal acceptance is important. disease management, host range, moose, multihost pathogens, niche overlap, Norway,population estimation, red deer, reindeer

Abstract

Increasing the protein value in grass silages for dairy cows is of interest to increase use of homegrown protein sources and reduce nitrogen (N) losses to the environment. Studies have shown that wilting of grass silage can improve the metabolizable protein (MP) value by increasing the rumen microbial protein yield (MCP) and rumen escaped feed protein. We hypothesised that feeding wilted grass silage can improve milk and milk protein production in dairy cows and reduce the need for MP, estimated as amino acids absorbed in the small intestine (AAT), in concentrate. To test this, a continuous feeding experiment with 48 early to mid-lactation Norwegian Red dairy cows, kept in a loose housing system was conducted. Treatments were first cut grass silages from round bales, harvested at early booting from a sward of timothy (Phleum pratense), perennial rye grass (Lolium perenne) and meadow fescue (Festuca pratensis), wilted to 260 and 417 g dry matter (DM)/kg fresh matter. The grass silage was fed ad libitum and supplied with 8.3 kg/d of concentrate, either low (108 g AAT/kg DM) or high (125 g AAT/kg DM) in MP concentration, in a 2×2 factorial arrangement. The experiment lasted for 11 weeks, with the 2 first weeks, where cows received same feeding, used as covariate, and the last 4 weeks were used as data collection period. Wilting reduced fermentation products, ammonia and soluble N in the grass silage, while increased residual water-soluble carbohydrates, like expected. However, there was no difference between treatments in daily silage DM intake (13.1 kg) and milk yield (30.2 kg) or milk content, but feeding high MP concentrate increased urea and uric acid in urine. No major differences were found for rumen pH, amino acids in blood plasma or purine derivatives over creatinine index, as indirect estimate for MCP. In conclusion, high silage DM and high MP in concentrate did not increase the milk production in this study.