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
Abstract
No abstract has been registered
Abstract
Chipping of bulky biomass assortments at roadside landings is a common and costly step in the biomass-to-energy supply chain. This operation normally involves one chipping unit and one or several transport trucks working together for simultaneous chipping and chip transport to a terminal or end user. Reducing the delay factors in these operations is a relevant ambition for lowering supply costs. A method to estimate organizational delay based on: (1) the capacity ratio between the transport and the chipper, (2) the use of buffer storage, and (3) the number of transport units involved is suggested here. Other delays will also be present, and some of these may relate to the working conditions at the landing. A method to set a landing functionality index based on characteristics of the forest landing is also suggested. A total of 14 roadside chipping operations were assessed and the operators were interviewed to address the impact of machinery configuration and landing characteristics on machine utilization. At most sites, the chipper was the more productive part, and the chipper utilization was to a large extent limited by organizational delay. Still the utilization of the transport units varied between 37 and 97%, of which some 36% of the variation was explained by the landing functionality index. Knowledge from the work presented here should be a good starting point for improving biomass supply planning and supply chain configuration.
Authors
Ryan Bright Stephanie Eisner Titta Majasalmi Marianne Tronstad Lund Gunnar Myhre Rasmus AstrupAbstract
No abstract has been registered
Authors
Thiago Castro Rafael de Andrade Moral Clarice Garcia Borges Demétrio Italo Jr. Delalibera Ingeborg KlingenAbstract
Neozygites floridana is a pathogenic fungus and natural enemy of the two-spotted spider mite, Tetranychus urticae (Acari: Tetranychidae), which is an important polyphagous plant pest. The aim of this study was to reveal and predict what combination of temperature, relative humidity (RH), and time that enables and promotes primary conidia production and capilliconidia formation in N. floridana (Brazilian isolate ESALQ 1420), in both a detached leaf assay mimicking climatic conditions in the leaf boundary layer and in a semi-field experiment. In the detached leaf assay, a significant number of conidia were produced at 90% RH but the highest total number of primary conidia and proportion of capilliconidia was found at 95 and 100% RH at 25 °C. Positive temperature and RH effects were observed and conidia production was highest in the 8 to 12 h interval. The semi-field experiment showed that for a >90% probability of N. floridana sporulation, a minimum of 6 h with RH >90% and 10 h with temperatures >21 °C, or 6 h with temperatures >21 °C and 15 h with RH >90% was needed. Our study identified suitable conditions for primary- and capilliconidia production in this Brazilian N. floridana isolate. This information provides an important base for building models of a Decision Support System (DSS) where this natural enemy may be used as a tool in Integrated Pest Management (IPM) and a base for developing in vivo production systems of N. floridana.
Authors
Nina Elisabeth NagyAbstract
No abstract has been registered
Abstract
When ground level photography is to be used in landscape monitoring, it is important to record when, where, how and possibly even why the photographs are taken. Standardisation enables better repeat photography in the future and maximises comparability of photos over time. We used a Cultural Environment protected by law on the peninsula of Bygdøy,Oslo municipality, as a study area to document advantages and disadvantages of different approaches to the first round of landscape photography for long-term monitoring.
Abstract
Phytophthora cryptogea, P. gonapodyides, P. lacustris, P. megasperma, P. plurivora, P. taxon paludosa and an unknown Phytophthora species were isolated from waterways and soil samples in Christmas tree fields in southern Sweden. In addition, P. megasperma was isolated from a diseased Norway spruce (Picea abies) plant from one of the fields in Svalöv. Inoculation tests were sequentially carried out with one isolate from each of the three species P. cryptogea, P. megasperma, and P. plurivora, all known pathogens on conifers. The same three isolates were used to study a few morphological features to confirm the identification, and temperature-growth relationships were carried out to see how well the organisms fit into Swedish climatic conditions. Seedlings of Norway spruce and Nordmann fir (Abies nordmanniana) were inoculated in the roots and the stems. None of the isolates caused extensive root rot under the experimental conditions, but all three species could be re-isolated from both Norway spruce and Nordmann fir. Phytophthora root rot is currently of minor concern for Christmas tree growers in Sweden. However, the Phytophthora isolations from soil and water indicate the presence of this damaging agent, which may lead to future problems.
Authors
Raghuram Badmi Torstein Tengs May Bente Brurberg Carl Gunnar Fossdal Paal Krokene Tage ThorstensenAbstract
No abstract has been registered
Abstract
No abstract has been registered
Abstract
Plants are exposed to various pathogens in their environment and have developed immune systems with multiple layers of defence to fight-back. However, often pathogens overcome the resistance barriers, infect the plants to cause the disease. Pathogens that cause diseases on economically important crop plants like strawberry incur huge losses to the agriculture industry. For example, The 2016 outbreak of strawberry grey mould (Botrytis cinerea) in Norway caused up to 95% crop losses. Outbreaks like this underline the importance of developing novel and sustainable tools to combat plant diseases, for example by increasing the plants’ natural disease resistance. Priming plant defences using chemical elicitors may be effective in providing the enhanced resistance against multiple pathogens. We have used β-aminobutyric acid (BABA) as a chemical priming agent to induce resistance in Fragaria vesca against Botrytis cinerea. Effects of BABA on disease progression and defence responses of Fragaria are being characterized using molecular tools like RNAseq, RT-PCR and ChIP. As priming chemicals may induce an epigenetic memory in treated plants, we also plan to study the histone methylation patterns in primed plants and the genes that are regulated. Our long-term aim is to understand the duration of the epigenetic memory and its cross-generational transmission to the progeny in Fragaria. Our results will help guide various crop protection strategies in addition to providing new insights to develop novel tools for plant disease management.