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.
2003
Authors
J. Brian Hardaker Gudbrand LienAbstract
No abstract has been registered
Abstract
Wintering ability in the field and resistance to different winter-stress factors under controlled environmental conditions were studied in a full-sib family of perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.). Significant variation in tolerance to freezing and ice encasement, resistance to pink snow mould (Microdochium nivale) and also in winter survival and spring growth were found between the different genotypes. No strong correlations were found between the resistances to the different stress factors. These results indicate that resistance to different winter-stress factors is controlled by separate genes in perennial ryegrass. A low but significant positive correlation was found between spring growth of plants in the field after the first winter and both freezing tolerance and M. nivale resistance measured in controlled environments. Cold hardening seemed to influence freezing tolerance and M. nivale resistance differently in the different genotypes, since no distinct correlation in tolerance to freezing or resistance to M. nivale was found between unhardened and hardened plants. Tolerance or resistance to most of the winter stress factors measured was positively correlated with plant size.
Abstract
No abstract has been registered
Authors
Gudbrand LienAbstract
Stochastic budgeting is used to simulate the business and financial risk and the performance over a 6-year planning horizon on a Norwegian dairy farm. A major difficulty with stochastic whole-farm budgeting lies in identifying and measuring dependency relationships between stochastic variables. Some methods to account for these stochastic dependencies are illustrated. The financial feasibility of different investment and management strategies is evaluated. In contrast with earlier studies with stochastic farm budgeting, the option aspect is included in the analysis.
Abstract
A model is presented to investigate the optimal economic life cycle of grass leys with winter damage problems in northern Norway and to determine the threshold of winter damage before it is profitable to reseed. A two‐level hierarchic Markov process has been constructed using the MLHMP software (the MLHMP software and the plug‐in constructed for this model are available for download at http://www.prodstyr.ihh.kvl.dk/software/mlhmp.html). The model takes uncertainty concerning yield potential, damage estimation and weather‐dependent random fluctuations into account. A Kalman filter technique is used for updating the knowledge of yield potential and damage level. The application of the model is demonstrated using data from two commercial Norwegian farms. As parameter estimates vary considerably among farms, it is concluded that decision support concerning optimal economic life cycle of grass leys should be done at farm level. The results also show the importance of using a flexible dynamic replacement strategy. Use of the model for specific farm situations is illustrated.
Abstract
No abstract has been registered
Abstract
The rationale for stand growth modelling is often either grounded in a search for improved scientific understanding or in support for management decisions. The ultimate goal under the first task is seen in mechanistic models, i.e. models that represent the stand structure realistically and predict future growth as a function of the current status of the stand. Such mechanistic models tend to be over-parameterized with respect to the data actually available for a given stand. Calibration of these models may lead to non-unique representations and unreliable predictions. Empirical models, the second major line of growth modelling, typically match available data sets as well as do process-based models. They have less degrees of freedom, hence mitigate the problem of non-unique calibration results, but they employ often parameters without physiological or physical meaning. That is why empirical models cannot be extrapolated beyond the existing conditions of observations. Here we argue that this widespread dilemma can be overcome by using interactive models as an alternative approach to mechanistic (algorithmic) models. Interactive models can be used at two levels: a) the interactions among trees of a species or ecosystem and b) the interactions between forest management and a stand structure, e.g. in thinning trials. In such a model data from a range of sources (scientific, administrative, empirical) can be incorporated into consistent growth reconstructions. Interactive selection among such growth reconstructions may be theoretically more powerful than algorithmic automatic selection. We suggest a modelling approach in which this theoretical conjecture can be put to a practical test. To this end growth models need to be equipped with interactive visualization interfaces in order to be utilized as input devices for silvicultural expertise. Interactive models will not affect the difficulties of predicting forest growth, but may be at their best in documenting and disseminating silvicultural competence in forestry.
Authors
Peder Gjerdrum Olav Albert HøibøAbstract
Pine heart- and sapwood can in several respects be considered two different timber products, demonstrating separate wood properties. The efficiency of automated heart- and sapwood separation by analysing temperature images of pine crosscuts has been investigated. A digital, infrared (IR) ThermoVisionfocal plane array camera with 320*240 pixels was employed. IR exposures of the front-end crosscut of 180 pine sawlogs were taken during longitudinal transport on a conveyor, arbitrary crosscut being in front. In each image, one arbitrary diameter was chosen for estimating the heart-wood. The temperature gradient between heart- and sapwood was in the range up to 4oC. An algorithm was established to calculate front-end heartwood diameter as a fraction of log diameter. The correlation between estimated and observed heartwood fraction was r = 0.85. Finally, top end heartwood diameter in mm could be calculated by multiplying top-end diameter, as measured in an ordinary log scanner, with heartwood fraction in front (arbitrary) end. For fresh logs RMSE amounted to 11 mm (front: top end) and 15 mm (front: arbitrary end), respectively. It was concluded that the method might be applicable for an industrial log sorting system and might have a potential to indicate even other wood characteristics. The temperature gradient between heart- and sapwood showed to be a reliable criterion for the accuracy of the model. The temperature gradient might even be used to indicate log freshness.
Authors
Peder GjerdrumAbstract
Knowledge about the transformation of sapwood into heartwood contributes to the understanding of the nature of pine trees and should be considered prior to the conversion of sawlogs to produce timber of prescribed properties and optimal revenue. In this study, heartwood formation was ascribed to the joint effect of ageing and growth rate. Observations of heart- and sapwood in 1656 trees and sawlogs of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.), sampled throughout Scandinavia, were analysed using mixed models. The most important finding was expressed in the pine heartwood age rule: heartwood age equals the square root of cambial age less three, to the second power. This global formula was valid irrespective of environmental factors and location within the tree, and described 93 per cent of the variance in the sample. Transition rate increases from 0.6 rings a−1 at 50 years to 0.8 rings a−1 at 200 years. The spatial amount of heartwood might be influenced by the silviculture through the annual ring width pattern. For samples missing sapwood, e.g. archaeological wood, the results might be combined with dendrochronology in specimen dating. When the diameter and the heartwood diameter of sawlogs were known, the mean annual ring width could be estimated with a standard deviation of 0.5 mm a−1. The simplicity, consistency and high correlation of the pine heartwood age rule confirms the importance of age as the main factor in heartwood formation.
Abstract
Areas near the Norwegian-Russian border are being strongly contaminated by heavy metal emissions from copper-nickel smelters in the Kola peninsula. The present report presents data for the four elements arsenic, chromium, cobalt, and selenium in vegetation sampled in eastern Finmark, obtained by neutron activation analysis. It is no doubt that the smelters in Nikel and Zapolyarny, constitute the main source of these elements in this area. Some chromium comes from local domestic sources. Still, however, the concentration of these elements in soil and vegetation are probably too low as such to represent any harm to the ecosystem.