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.
2026
Abstract
The four main apple cultivars in Norway, ‘Discovery’, ‘Summerred’, ‘Red Gravenstein’, and ‘Red Aroma’, account for approximately 80% of the market volume. These cultivars provide good yields in a Nordic climate with a short growing season but have relatively limited storage and shelf life. The main challenges are the rapid loss of firmness and senescence-related disorders, both of which are connected to ripening and ethylene. Several projects investigated possible ways to secure fruit quality at the consumer level by improving conditions at the packinghouse. One of the factors to evaluate was ethylene levels in fruit storage rooms. Ethylene concentrations were measured in cold storage rooms with varying volumes of fruit using a portable instrument equipped with an electrocatalytic sensor for continuous, in-situ measurement of ethylene in the air. Ethylene concentrations between 10 and 35 ppm were measured in 18% of the rooms, whereas 82% had concentrations between 0 and 10 ppm. Fruit samples were assessed for ethylene production rates in their expected cold storage period. The values obtained were used to evaluate the risk of high ethylene levels in certain rooms before packaging, to recommend which cultivars could be kept in the same rooms, and for how long. Treatment with 1-methylcyclopropene (1-MCP) was also tested to improve fruit quality during storage further. The 1-MCP treatment revealed considerable potential for maintaining the postharvest quality of the tested Norwegian apples.
Authors
Geir Wæhler Gustavsen Philip Bester Van Niekerk Jonas Niklewski Christian Brischke Gry AlfredsenAbstract
This cross-country study examineed perceptions of maintenance for coated wooden cladding in residential buildings across Norway, Sweden, and Germany. As timber cladding gains popularity in European homes, understanding expectations around cleaning, recoating, and replacement intervals becomes increasingly important. An online survey gathered responses from over 3,000 participants aged 18–89, randomly selected from representative regional panels in each country. The survey focused on the perception of maintenance practices and intervals, while also collecting data on personality traits, risk aversion, and socioeconomic background. Perceived maintenance practices for coated timber cladding differed across countries, but individual characteristics were generally more influential than national context. Most respondents accepted longer cleaning intervals than recommended, while their preferences more closely aligned with guidelines for recoating. Acceptance of replacement intervals varied markedly by country. Longer acceptable maintenance intervals were associated with a higher preference for uncoated cladding, particularly in Germany and Sweden. Younger age, urban residence, limited experience, and selected demographic and personality traits were linked to more intensive maintenance preferences.
Authors
Binbin Xiang Maciej Wielgosz Stefano Puliti Kamil Král Martin Krůček Azim Missarov Rasmus AstrupAbstract
The segmentation of forest LiDAR 3D point clouds, including both individual tree and semantic segmentation, is fundamental for advancing forest management and ecological research. However, current approaches often struggle with the complexity and variability of natural forest environments. We present ForestFormer3D, a new unified and end-to-end framework designed for precise individual tree and semantic segmentation. ForestFormer3D incorporates ISA-guided query point selection, a score-based block merging strategy during inference, and a one-to-many association mechanism for effective training. By combining these new components, our model achieves state-of-the-art performance for individual tree segmentation on the newly introduced FOR-instanceV2 dataset, which spans diverse forest types and regions. Additionally, ForestFormer3D generalizes well to unseen test sets (Wytham woods and LAUTx), showcasing its robustness across different forest conditions and sensor modalities. The FOR-instanceV2 dataset and the ForestFormer3D code are publicly available at https://bxiang233.github.io/FF3D/.
Authors
Theresa Weigl Jorunn Børve Emily Follett Ingunn Øvsthus Carl Gunnar Fossdal Hanne Larsen Siv Fagertun RembergAbstract
The mid-early-ripening cultivar ‘Summerred’ is popular among consumers and widely grown in Norway. However, ‘Summerred’ fruit is prone to rapid softening and development of senescence-related disorders, especially senescent breakdown. Calcium can have a significant role in maintaining firmness and delaying senescence of fruits. In a two-year study, foliar application of calcium chloride (CaCl2) was conducted six times, with varying weather conditions between the growing seasons. Fruit was harvested at optimal commercial maturity and stored at 4°C for either 6 or 9 weeks, followed by simulated shelf-life conditions at 20°C. Ethylene levels were monitored during storage to detect ripening discrepancies. At harvest, CaCl2-treated fruit exhibited significantly lower ethylene production compared to untreated fruit, although no differences were observed at the end of the storage period. Senescent breakdown showed significant variability between the two seasons, with an incidence of up to 15% in the first season and nearly no incidence in the second. Senescent breakdown increased with storage duration but was unaffected by foliar CaCl2 application. Real-time PCR analysis of fruit flesh samples revealed increased expression of polygalacturonase and β-galactosidases genes after storage, indicating their involvement in apple softening. Notably, there were no differences in gene expression between CaCl2-treated and untreated fruit after storage. Expression patterns of genes involved in ethylene biosynthesis at harvest were different between the two seasons. Higher expression was observed in the year with greater disorder development, indicating greater maturity at harvest. There were no significant differences in the Streif index between the two years.
Abstract
Timothy is the primary forage grass seed crop in Norway, where effective control of dicot weeds and lodging management are critical to maximizing seed yield and meeting seed purity standards. Optimal timing of gibberellic acid–inhibiting plant growth regulators (PGRs), such as chlormequat chloride (CCC) and trinexapac-ethyl (TE), often coincides with spring herbicide applications, raising concerns about crop safety and herbicide efficacy when products are tank-mixed. Field experiments were conducted in 2022 and 2023 at two locations in Norway to evaluate the effect of tank-mixing PGRs with commonly used herbicides on seed yield and quality, weed control, and lodging in timothy. Plant growth regulators (CCC (1500 g ai ha⁻¹) and TE (150 g ai ha⁻¹) were applied either as split applications (herbicide at BBCH 25; PGR at BBCH 35) or tank-mixed (BBCH 30–35) with one of three herbicide combinations: fluroxypyr + florasulam, florasulam + diflufenican, or aminopyralid + 2,4-D + florasulam. Seed yield was affected by PGR (P ≤ 0.05) but not by herbicide treatments. TE reduced plant height and lodging more than CCC; however, relative yield responses varied with stand age. Tank-mixing did not reduce seed yield and herbicide efficacy. Crop injury from tank-mixtures was minimal and temporary, and no reductions in final seed germination were observed. Tank-mixing CCC and TE PGRs with herbicides provided effective weed control and maintained optimal seed yield and quality, offering operational flexibility for timothy seed producers.
Authors
Pia BorgAbstract
We compared written guidance on date marking on the websites of Norwegian Food Safety Authority, Swedish Food Agency, and the Danish Agriculture and Fisheries Agency. We also compared what the three authorities write about guidance as a tool .
Authors
Junbin ZhaoAbstract
No abstract has been registered
Authors
Edward H. Cabezas-Garcia Yang Li Daniel Korir Jesse K. Gakige Stefan Muetzel César S. Pinares-Patiño Vibeke Lind Mutian Niu Claudia ArndtAbstract
No abstract has been registered
Authors
Anaïs Zimmer Adrienne Grêt-Regamey Ignacio Palomo Carolina Adler Meryem Aakairi Marie Anière Fabien Anthelme Chloe Baruffa Bolette Bele Vincent Ralph Clark Aida Cuni-Sanchez Sebastian Eiter Richard Field WariNkwi Flores Katherine Hanly Jan Hartmann Amina Maharjan Sara Manuelli Dominic Andreas Martin Nelly Nambande Masayi Paula Mayer Graham McDowell Holly Moulton Anne Nolin Lydia Olaka Binaya Pasakhala Jorge Recharte Neema Robert Kinabo Luciana Rojas Hanne Sickel Lobzang Stanzen Peter John Taylor Irene Teixidor-Toneu Catherine Tucker Sabarnee Tuladhar Robert MarchantAbstract
No abstract has been registered
Abstract
Abstract This study assesses the economic feasibility and environmental profile of producing Irvingia-based wood adhesives on a small scale (30 ton/year) in South Africa. A detailed techno-economic analysis was conducted including operating cost estimation and sensitivity analysis of key input variables. The estimated production costs for three adhesive formulations ranged from R157.1/kg – R318.14/kg. The average production cost was R214.62/kg and was below the typical market price of R379/kg for synthetic wood adhesives. Raw materials especially kernels and modifiers were identified as the dominant cost drivers, whereas labour and electricity had minimal impact on unit cost. A carbon footprint assessment (CFA) was performed with cradle-to-gate boundaries to estimate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Two raw material sourcing scenarios were considered. They included adhesive production from kernels and adhesive production directly from whole fruits (including on-site fruit dehulling). The cradle-to-gate CFA indicates that both scenarios have similar GHG emission profiles given equivalent process conditions, with most emissions arising from energy use and chemical additives rather than feedstock transport. A review of mechanical performance from prior studies showed that these bio-based adhesives met industry standard requirements. The results demonstrate that small-scale production of Irvingia adhesives is economically viable and environmentally sustainable, making it a promising alternative to synthetic adhesives for wood composite manufacturing in South Africa.