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.
2025
Authors
Paulina Jedynak Mariona Bustamante Matthieu Rolland Vicente Mustieles Cathrine Thomsen Amrit Kaur Sakhi Azemira Sabaredzovic Maria Foraster Mireia Gascon Maria Dolores Gómez-Roig Elisa Llurba Ioar Rivas Isabelle Ouellet-Morin Sam Bayat Sarah Lyon-Caen Oscar J. Pozo Martine Vrijheid Jordi Sunyer Rémy Slama Payam Dadvand Claire PhilippatAbstract
No abstract has been registered
Abstract
Methyl jasmonate (MeJA) is known to effectively protect Norway spruce (Picea abies) against pests and pathogens. However, MeJA application to spruce saplings can significantly reduce growth and is not feasible to use in protecting older trees due to cost. Seed treatment with MeJA or other priming stimulants with fewer negatives could be a practical solution to enhance Norway spruce resistance. Therefore, we assessed the potential of Norway spruce seed treatment with MeJA, pipecolic acid (PipA), lignan (Li), and chitosan (Chi) in enhancing the resistance of the emerged seedlings against Botrytis cinerea. For the first time, MeJA seed treatment was shown to reduce the mortality of the seedlings effectively after B. cinerea infection, with a growth reduction as a side effect. To understand the mechanisms underlying this phenomenon, we quantified phenolics, defense hormones, and differential transcript expressions. MeJA seed treatment increased the concentration of the flavan-3-ols catechin and proanthocyanidin B1. Transcriptomic data suggested an increase in oxidative stress protection, cell wall reinforcement, and pathogenesis-related protein production. Our data also suggested an antagonistic relationship in hormonal signaling between abscisic acid (ABA) and jasmonic acid (JA)/ethylene (ET). Overall, our findings indicated MeJA seed treatment enhanced resistance of young seedlings against B. cinerea via a multitude of defense responses, modulated by complex regulatory systems.
Abstract
Abstract Turfgrass winter kill due to freeze/thaw cycles and ice encasement (IE) is a problem on putting greens the Nordic countries. Our objectives were (1) to investigate how green coverage with impermeable plastic before IE affects soil temperature, O 2 and CO 2 concentrations, winter survival and spring recovery of creeping bentgrass (CRB), red fescue (RF), and annual bluegrass (AB) and (2) to explore how these turfgrasses are affected by snow and ice removal during the entire winter or parts of it. Six treatments were imposed on 5‐month‐old turf of the three species during the winters 2020/2021 and 2021/2022 at NIBIO Apelsvoll, Norway (60°42′ N). With an average soil temperature at 2‐cm depth of −0.9°C and the lowest O 2 concentrations around 5%, conditions under IE or plastic + IE treatments never became anoxic. On average for six treatments and 2 years, CRB and RF had significantly better winter survival (both 52%) than AB (25%). Turfgrass winter survival, spring color, and spring growth were significantly better (62% survival on average for species) with plastic between the grass and 10‐cm IE than with 10‐cm IE directly on the grass (23% survival). Snow and ice removal throughout the winter or before IE in early January improved turfgrass freezing tolerance in January but did not improve winter survival, green color, or spring growth compared with the control treatment with natural winter conditions. We conclude that putting greens in areas with unstable winters and risk for prolonged IE ought to be protected by impermeable plastic. Ventilation under the plastic may be necessary on old greens with more organic matter than in this experiment. On frozen uncovered greens, it is better to avoid prolonged IE by snow removal before rain or warm spell in December/early January than by mechanical ice removal in March.
Authors
Robert Jankowiak Halvor Solheim Piotr Bilański Filip KawaAbstract
The order Ophiostomatales includes many species important for forestry, causing plant diseases. They are common associates of bark- and wood-dwelling beetles. Two new ophiostomatalean fungi viz. Ophiostoma babimostense sp. nov. and Sporothrix europaea sp. nov. are proposed, based on morphological characters and multigene phylogenies. Ophiostoma babimostense belongs to the Ophiostoma ulmi species complex and was isolated from fallen shoots of Scots pine pruned by Tomicus species in Poland. The fungus is characterised by the production of a typical pesotum-like and sporothrix-like asexual morphs. Sporothrix europaea belongs to the Sporothrix gossypina complex and was isolated from hardwood-infested by ambrosia and bark beetles in Poland and Norway. It is characterised by the occurrence of both a sexual and asexual morphs, with long necked ascomata bearing ostiolar hyphae and a sporothrix-like asexual morph.
Authors
Fride Høistad ScheiAbstract
No abstract has been registered
Abstract
The poor persistence and late flowering of red clover in northern Swedish leys presents challenges for ley longevity and floral resource availability. The inclusion of wild, native legume species with longer persistence, rhizomatous growth, and early flowering in leys could help to resolve these challenges. The nutritive value of four native legume species was evaluated when sown in mixed stands subjected to varying harvest frequencies. Across the first two years of data collection, Vicia sepium and Vicia cracca demonstrated promising nutritive value, while the poor digestibility of Lathyrus pratensis may inhibit its use as a forage for ruminant feed. This study demonstrates promising potential for wild legume species to increase ley diversity while maintaining the quality of the harvested forage.
Authors
Martina Paponov Pembi Sherpa Lama Jörg Ziegler Cathrine Lillo Ivan PaponovAbstract
Efficient production of artemisinin, a valuable secondary metabolite from Artemisia annua, remains a challenge for pharmaceutical applications. This study investigated the use of ex vitro composite plants—generated by inoculation with Agrobacterium rhizogenes strains 2659 and 1523—under hydroponic and aeroponic conditions to enhance artemisinin and phenolic compound accumulation. In leaves, artemisinin content increased in a cultivationspecific, strain-dependent manner: strain 2659 was effective under aeroponics (+36%), while strain 1523 enhanced accumulation under hydroponics (+32%). In roots, strain 2659 led to higher artemisinin accumulation than strain 1523 under both systems, with increases of up to 145% in hydroponics and 75% in aeroponics. Strain 1523 strongly promoted artemisinin exudation, especially in hydroponics, suggesting active regulation of artemisinin export. Aeroponic cultivation increased total phenolic content (TPC) in roots, while strain 1523 reduced TPC in leaves. Although total biomass was unaffected, A. rhizogenes altered assimilate partitioning, decreasing the shoot-to-root ratio and enhancing root metabolism. These findings demonstrate that ex vitro composite plants, combined with optimized soilless cultivation, represent a flexible tool to boost accumulation and secretion of high-value compounds in A. annua. The strain and environment-specific responses emphasize the importance of selecting appropriate bacterial strain–cultivation combinations for scalable production systems.
Abstract
Diverse pedoclimatic zones lead to large variations in soil organic carbon (SOC). Key questions involve how much carbon the soil contains, what is its potential for more storage and whether levels are sufficient to maintain soil structure stability (SSS). We evaluate current SOC levels using ratios of clay/silt fractions to SOC, to identify potential SOC storage areas and to gauge likely SSS status. SOC retention is affected by clay and silt, which protect it from microbial activity. Hassink (1997) used the ratio of clay plus silt <20 µm (fines20) to SOC to indicate this relationship, whilst Dexter et al. (2008) used the ratio of clay to SOC. Jensen et al. (2019) found critical ratios for SSS to be ~10 for clay/SOC and ~20 for fines20/SOC, above which SSS is impaired and below which SOC is less likely to be retained. These ratios appear valid under Norwegian conditions, where greatest declines in SOC have been found in soils with high initial SOC levels and lowest declines in clay soils (Riley & Bakkegard 2008). After 28 years of a cropping system trial in eastern Norway (Riley et al. 2022), equilibrium between SOC gains and losses was at a fines20/SOC ratio of ~18, whilst in the same trial SSS declined sharply in an arable cropping system with a clay/SOC ratio >10, compared to systems with ratios of 6- 8. In western Norway, on grassland soils with generally low fines20/SOC ratios, SOC appears to be declining despite manure inputs, especially in cases with high initial SOC levels (Rittl et al. 2023). To obtain insight into the potential for SOC across Norway, data was used from a study in which SOC and soil texture was analysed on 600 fields in agricultural districts throughout the country. Results are grouped into 13 regions with relatively uniform climate and cropping within each. Greatest proportions of fields with high ratio levels were found in regions around Oslo and east of Oslofjord, with predominantly clay and silty clay loams, where 65% of fields had clay/SOC >10 and 80% had fines20/SOC >20. Proportions of fields with fines20/SOC >20 were somewhat lower west of Oslofjord (65%) and in central Norway (44%), where many soil textures are found, and in an inland region with predominantly silty soils (55%). Proportions of fields with high ratio levels were low in inland regions with loam soil, where 15-20% had clay/SOC >10 and 24% had fines20/SOC >20. All these regions are mainly arable, with some livestock, and mean SOC levels are <3,0%. In the predominantly grassland/livestock regions of southern, western and northern Norway, and in upland areas, the soils are mostly sandy and silty loams, and mean SOC levels are mostly >3,5%. In these regions, the proportion of fields with clay/SOC >10 was below 5% whilst that of fines20/SOC >20 was below 10%. Mean clay/SOC ratios were 1-3 and mean fines20/SOC ratios were 4-10. Arable land has thus greater potential for carbon storage than grassland, whilst at the same time increasing SSS and reducing erosion risk.
Authors
Liping Wei Emiel De Lombaerde Thomas Vanneste Pieter Sanczuk Lander Baeten Jonathan Lenoir Karen De Pauw Kris Verheyen Markus Bernhardt-Römermann Antoine Becker-Scarpitta Jörg Brunet Markéta Chudomelová Guillaume Decocq Martin Diekmann Tomasz Durak Radim Hédl Thilo Heinken Peter J. Horchler Bogdan Jaroszewicz Martin Kopecký Martin Macek František Máliš Tobias Naaf Thomas A. Nagel Anna Orczewska Petr Petřík Kamila Reczyńska Fride Høistad Schei Wolfgang Schmidt Jan Šebesta Alina Stachurska-Swakoń Tibor Standovár Krzysztof Świerkosz Balázs Teleki Hans Van Calster Ondřej Vild Donald M. Waller Monika Wulf Pieter De FrenneAbstract
We face increasing concerns about how the local diversity of native plant communities responds to various drivers of global change, yet often lack comprehensive studies that integrate several components of diversity and the effects of both local and regional drivers of change. We analyzed changes in taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic diversity across 2681 (semi-)permanent temperate forest understory plots surveyed and resurveyed for all vascular plants over intervals of 15–78 yr, spanning 72 regions distributed across Europe. We quantified temporal changes in these diversity indices and assessed their responses to changes in both local drivers (plot-level overstory cover, indicator values for soil nutrients) and regional shifts in macroclimate and nitrogen deposition. Overall, local changes in taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic diversity were centered around zero, reflecting – on average – little net change in forest diversity. Observed diversity changes mostly reflected local conditions such as overstory cover change and baseline soil nutrients rather than regional drivers of large-scale change. Changes in phylogenetic diversity correlated positively with changes in taxonomic diversity but negatively with changes in functional diversity. Our findings underscore the importance of local habitat management and multifaceted diversity monitoring for effective biodiversity conservation in temperate forests.
Authors
Martin Nopens Imke Greving Silja Flenner Linnea Hesse Jan Lüdtke Michael Altgen Gerald Koch Johannes Beruda Sabrina Heldner Hannes Köhm Sergej Kaschuro Andrea Olbrich Jakob Benedikt Mietner Fabian Scheckenbach Jördis Sieburg-Rockel Andreas KrauseAbstract
Deep understanding of the structural composition and growth of biological specimens is becoming increasingly important for the development of bio-based and sustainable material systems. Full-field nano-computed tomography is particularly suitable for this purpose as it allows for non-destructive 3D imaging at high spatial resolution. However, most biological samples are functionalized by water and respond sensitively to any changes in climate conditions, specifically relative humidity, by adjusting their material moisture content. To date, only a limited number of tomography instruments offer an in situ climate control option to users. These, however, are limited either by the range of relative humidity states, the long times required to change the climate state, or obstruction or attenuation of the beam. Here, the first fully automatized climate cell for in situ full-field nanotomography is presented. It has been designed, built and integrated at the nanotomography station at the P05 imaging beamline, operated by Hereon at the DESY storage ring PETRA III, Germany. The highly flexible and windowless design allows the humidity dependent swelling and shrinking of lignified plant cell walls to be studied in situ, using phase contrast nanotomography. The concept of this climate chamber can easily be integrated into other setups. It operates in the relative humidity range of 0–90% and can be controlled in a temperature range of 10–50°C. Climate conditions can be adjusted at any time, remotely from the control hutch by using a humidity generator. Results show that the developed setup maintains a stable climate during the entire duration of a tomographic scan at different humidities and does not obstruct the sample or hinder the imaging conditions. During the tomographic investigation the sample remains stable in the flow of the air stream and shows typical cell wall swelling and shrinking behaviour depending on the equilibrium moisture content. This new climate cell is now available to all users of the P05 nanotomography instrument for conditioning samples, serving a wide range of scientific applications.