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NIBIOs ansatte publiserer flere hundre vitenskapelige artikler og forskningsrapporter hvert år. Her finner du referanser og lenker til publikasjoner og andre forsknings- og formidlingsaktiviteter. Samlingen oppdateres løpende med både nytt og historisk materiale. For mer informasjon om NIBIOs publikasjoner, besøk NIBIOs bibliotek.

2020

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Biological control of pests is a growing market in the world. It is expected that the use entomopathogenic fungi to control pests will take an important share of this market. Most fungal products in the world are based on aerial conidia produced by solid fermentation using cereal grains. An alternative for aerial conidia is the use of blastospores, yeast-like hydrophilic cells that can be produced in large amounts by liquid fermentation in a short time (<4 days), in a small space and with low hand labor compared to the solid fermentation method. Therefore, the main objectives of the present studies were first to optimize a liquid culture medium for low cost production of Metarhizium blastopores; second: to assess the bioactivity of air-dried blastospores against the cattle-tick Rhipicephalus microplus and the corn-leafhopper Dalbulus maidis; third: to develop an air-dried and spray-dried Metarhizium blastospore formulation with bioactivity against the corn-leafhopper D. maidis; fourth: to improve the shelf-life of the best air-dried and spray-dried formulations stored in refrigerated (± 4°C) and in ambient conditions (28°C) using oxygen and moistures absorbrs or vacuum and fifth: to use comparative genome-wide transcriptome analyses to determine changes in gene expression between the filamentous and blastospore growth phases in vitro to characterize physiological changes and metabolic signatures associated with M. anisopliae and M. rileyi dimorphism. We showed that blastospore production of Metarhizium is isolate- and species-dependent.Glucose-enriched cultures inoculated with pre-cultures improved yields reaching optimal growth for Metarhizium robertsii ESALQ1426 (5.9 × 108 blastospores/mL) within 2 d. We argue that both osmotic pressure, induced by high glucose titers, and isolate selection are critical to produce high yields of blastospores. [...]

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Although it is well known that insects are sensitive to temperature, how they will be affected by ongoing global warming remains uncertain because these responses are multifaceted and ecologically complex. We reviewed the effects of climate warming on 31 globally important phytophagous (plant‐eating) insect pests to determine whether general trends in their responses to warming were detectable. We included four response categories (range expansion, life history, population dynamics, and trophic interactions) in this assessment. For the majority of these species, we identified at least one response to warming that affects the severity of the threat they pose as pests. Among these insect species, 41% showed responses expected to lead to increased pest damage, whereas only 4% exhibited responses consistent with reduced effects; notably, most of these species (55%) demonstrated mixed responses. This means that the severity of a given insect pest may both increase and decrease with ongoing climate warming. Overall, our analysis indicated that anticipating the effects of climate warming on phytophagous insect pests is far from straightforward. Rather, efforts to mitigate the undesirable effects of warming on insect pests must include a better understanding of how individual species will respond, and the complex ecological mechanisms underlying their responses.

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Global economic value of agriculture production resulting from animal pollination services has been estimated to be $235–$577 billion. This estimate is based on quantification of crops that are available at the global markets, and mainly originates from countries with precise information about quantities of agriculture production, exports, and imports. In contrast, knowledge about the contribution of pollinators to household food and income in small-scale farming at local and regional scales is still lacking, especially for developing countries where the availability of agricultural statistics is limited. Although the global decline in pollinator diversity and abundance has received much attention, relatively little effort has been directed towards understanding the role of pollinators in small-scale farming systems, which feed a substantial part of the world’s population. Here, we have assessed how local farmers in northern Tanzania depend on insect-pollinated crops for household food and income, and to what extent farmers are aware of the importance of insect pollinators and how they can conserve them. Our results show that local farmers in northern Tanzania derived their food and income from a wide range of crop plants, and that 67% of these crops depend on animal pollination to a moderate to essential degree. We also found that watermelon—for which pollination by insects is essential for yield—on average contributed nearly 25% of household income, and that watermelons were grown by 63% of the farmers. Our findings indicate that local farmers can increase their yields from animal pollinated crops by adopting more pollinator-friendly farming practices. Yet, we found that local farmers’ awareness of pollinators, and the ecosystem service they provide, was extremely low, and intentional actions to conserve or manage them were generally lacking. We therefore urge agriculture authorities in Tanzania to act to ensure that local farmers become aware of insect pollinators and their important role in agriculture production.

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Many Norwegian consumers eat more red meat than is recommended by the Government. Of the protein currently consumed, 75% is of animal origin. Natural conditions in Norway favour the production of meat, dairy and seafood but high-protein plants can also be grown in the country. This study analysed the environmental impact of growing turnip rapeseed (Brassica rapa) and rapeseed (Brassica napus) and the processing of rapeseed into dietary oil and press cake. The results were then compared with some common animal protein food sources. Impacts were calculated for 24 impact indicators. The climate impact of dried seeds was 1.19 kg CO2-eq/kg, for rape oil—3.0 kg CO2-eq/kg and for rapeseed press cake—0.72 kg CO2-eq/kg. The environmental impact of rapeseed production is higher than in most other countries, predominantly due to lower yields. Press cake from rapeseed could be a valuable source of protein in foods. In Norway, the environmental impacts of this material (climate impact—2.5 kg CO2-eq/kg protein) are at the same level as other plant protein sources, but far lower than some of the most common animal protein sources (climate impact—16–35 kg CO2-eq/kg protein). When comparing the impacts while taking nutrient content into account, these differences remained the same. Improvements in the environmental performance of oilseed and its products can be achieved both by improving yields through better agronomic practices and increasing the proportion of winter rapeseed.

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Knowledge about population genetic structure and dispersal capabilities is important for the development of targeted management strategies for agricultural pest species. The apple fruit moth, Argyresthia conjugella (Lepidoptera, Yponomeutidae), is a pre-dispersal seed predator. Larvae feed on rowanberries (Sorbus aucuparia), and when rowanberry seed production is low (i.e., inter-masting), the moth switches from laying eggs in rowanberries to apples (Malus domestica), resulting in devastating losses in apple crops. Using genetic methods, we investigated if this small moth expresses any local genetic structure, or alternatively if gene flow may be high within the Scandinavian Peninsula (~850.000 km2, 55o - 69o N). Genetic diversity was found to be high (n = 669, mean He = 0.71). For three out of ten tetranucleotide STRs, we detected heterozygote deficiency caused by null alleles, but tests showed little impact on the overall results. Genetic differentiation between the 28 sampling locations was very low (average FST = 0.016, P < 0.000). Surprisingly, we found that all individuals could be assigned to one of two non-geographic genetic clusters, and that a third, geographic cluster was found to be associated with 30% of the sampling locations, with weak but significant signals of isolation-by-distance. Conclusively, our findings suggest wind-aided dispersal and spatial synchrony of both sexes of the apple fruit moth over large areas and across very different climatic zones. We speculate that the species may recently have had two separate genetic origins caused by a genetic bottleneck after inter-masting, followed by rapid dispersal and homogenization of the gene pool across the landscape. We suggest further investigations of spatial genetic similarities and differences of the apple fruit moth at larger geographical scales, through life-stages, across inter-masting, and during attacks by the parasitoid wasp (Microgaster politus).

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I 2019 års kartlegging av furuvednematoden Bursaphelenchus xylophilus i Norge ble 400 prøver tatt fra hogstavfall og vindfall av Pinus sylvestris L. med angrep av furubukk Monochamus spp. Prøvene ble tatt ut i Akershus, Buskerud, Østfold, Telemark, Aust-Agder og Vest-Agder. Prøvene som besto av flis ble inkubert ved +25oC i to uker før de ble ekstrahert med Baermanntrakt og undersøkt i mikroskop. Furuvednematoden B. xylophilus ble ikke påvist i prøvene, men den naturlig forekommende arten Bursaphelenchus mucronatus kolymensis ble oppdaget i fire prøver fra Agderfylkene. Feller med feromoner for fangst av furubukk ble satt opp i Hedmark (Elverum, Romedal, Stange og ved Geitholmsjøen), Møre og Romsdal (Kvanne) og Østfold (Fredrikstad og Vestby). I laboratoriet ble billene kuttet i biter og ekstrahert med en modifisert Baermanntrakt. Suspensjonen fra ekstraksjonene ble undersøkt i stereomikroskop for forekomst av infektive stadier av Bursaphelenchus spp.. Ingen nematoder kunne påvises i de 106 undersøkte billene. I perioden 2000 – 2019 er totalt 8123 vedprøver analysert. Flest prøver er tatt i Østfold, fulgt av Hedmark, Telemark, Buskerud og Aust-Agder. I kartleggingen 2019 ble B. mucronatus kolymensis påvist i fire av de 400 vedprøvene, tilsvarende en frekvens på 0,01 (1 %). For hele perioden 2000 - 2019 ble Bursaphelenchus mucronatus kolymensis + B. macromucronatus, oppdaget i 73 av 8123 vedprøver som gir en eteksjonsfrekvens på 0,009 (ca. 1 %). I perioden 2014-2019 har Bursaphelenchus mucronatus kolymensis blitt påvist fem av totalt 581 biller, som gir den samme frekvensen som for vedprøver. B. mucronatus kolymensis og B. macromucronatus likner på B. xylophilus i generell biologi og habitatvalg. Hvis vi antar en hypotetisk frekvens i forekomsten til B. xylophilus som er 100 ganger lavere enn for disse naturlig forekommende nematodene, dvs. 0,00009, kan det antall prøver som trengs for en påvisning av B. xylophilus med 95 % konfidensintervall estimeres til 30 801. Dette indikerer at vi i dag hypotetisk sett har nådd bare 26 % av det antall prøver som trengs for å kunne erklære Norge fri for furuvednematoden B. xylophilus.

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Understanding the detailed timing of crop phenology and their variability enhances grain yield and quality by providing precise scheduling of irrigation, fertilization, and crop protection mechanisms. Advances in information and communication technology (ICT) provide a unique opportunity to develop agriculture-related tools that enhance wall-to-wall upscaling of data outputs from point-location data to wide-area spatial scales. Because of the heterogeneity of the worldwide agro-ecological zones where crops are cultivated, it is unproductive to perform plant phenology research without providing means to upscale results to landscape-level while safeguarding field-scale relevance. This paper presents an advanced, reproducible, and open-source software for plant phenology prediction and mapping (PPMaP) that inputs data obtained from multi-location field experiments to derive models for any crop variety. This information can then be applied consecutively at a localized grid within a spatial framework to produce plant phenology predictions at the landscape level. This software runs on the ‘Windows’ platform and supports the development of process-oriented and temperature-driven plant phenology models by intuitively and interactively leading the user through a step-by-step progression to the production of spatial maps for any region of interest in sub-Saharan Africa. Maize (Zea mays L.) was used to demonstrate the robustness, versatility, and high computing efficiency of the resulting modeling outputs of the PPMaP. The framework was implemented in R, providing a flexible and easy-to-use GUI interface. Since this allows for appropriate scaling to the larger spatial domain, the software can effectively be used to determine the spatially explicit length of growing period (LGP) of any variety.

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* In forests, ectomycorrhizal mycelium is pivotal for driving soil carbon and nutrient cycles, but how ectomycorrhizal mycelial dynamics vary in ecosystems with drought periods is unknown. We quantified the production and turnover of mycorrhizal mycelium in Mediterranean Pinus pinaster, Pinus sylvestris and Quercus ilex forests and related the estimates to standardised precipitation index (SPI), to study how mycelial dynamics relates to tree species and drought‐moisture conditions. * Production and turnover of mycelium was estimated between July and February, by quantifying the fungal biomass (ergosterol) in ingrowth mesh bags and using statistical modelling. SPI for time scales of 1–3 months was calculated from precipitation records and precipitation data over the study period. * Forests dominated by Pinus trees displayed higher biomass but were seasonally more variable, as opposed to Q. ilex forests where the mycelial biomass remained lower and stable over the season. Production and turnover, respectively, varied between 1.4–5.9 kg ha−1 d−1 and 7.2–9.9 times yr−1 over the different forest types and were positively correlated with 2‐month and 3‐month SPI over the study period. * Our results demonstrated that mycorrhizal mycelial biomass varied with season and tree species and we speculate that production and turnover are related to physiology and plant host performance during drought.

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Blueberries are distinguished by their purple-blue fruit color, which develops during ripening and is derived from a characteristic composition of flavonoid-derived anthocyanin pigments. The production of anthocyanins is confined to fruit skin, leaving the colorless fruit flesh devoid of these compounds. By linking accumulation patterns of phenolic metabolites with gene transcription in Northern Highbush (Vaccinium corymbosum) and Rabbiteye (Vaccinium virgatum) blueberry, we investigated factors limiting anthocyanin production in berry flesh. We find that flavonoid production was generally lower in fruit flesh compared with skin and concentrations further declined during maturation. A common set of structural genes was identified across both species, indicating that tissue-specific flavonoid biosynthesis was dependent on co-expression of multiple pathway genes and limited by the phenylpropanoid pathway in combination with CHS, F3H, and ANS as potential pathway bottlenecks. While metabolite concentrations were comparable between the blueberry genotypes when fully ripe, the anthocyanin composition was distinct and depended on the degree of hydroxylation/methoxylation of the anthocyanidin moiety in combination with genotype-specific glycosylation patterns. Co-correlation analysis of phenolic metabolites with pathway structural genes revealed characteristic isoforms of O-methyltransferases and UDP-glucose:flavonoid-3-O-glycosyltransferase that were likely to modulate anthocyanin composition. Finally, we identified candidate transcriptional regulators that were co-expressed with structural genes, including the activators MYBA, MYBPA1, and bHLH2 together with the repressor MYBC2, which suggested an interdependent role in anthocyanin regulation.

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Sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam.) is an important root crop for poor farmers in developing countries. Since the late 1980s, viral diseases have increasingly become a threat to sweet potato production in Ethiopia. This review paper presents the role of sweet potato production for ensuring food security, the level of sweet potato virus research, including the types of viral species identified and their current level of incidences in Ethiopia. Sweet potato feathery mottle virus (SPFMV), Sweet potato chlorotic stunt virus (SPCSV), Sweet potato virus 2 (SPV2), Sweet potato virus G (SPVG), and Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV) were reported in Ethiopia, where the first two are the most common and exist at high incidences. In addition, this paper discusses the virus vectors, virus transmission methods to new farms, factors exacerbating the rate of viral incidence and the methods used to reduce the incidences. Moreover, it highlights methods of sweet potato viruses’ detection and cleaning of infected materials in use and the challenges encountered towards the efficient utilization of the methods. Finally, we suggest major intervention techniques that will integrate all key players in managing the impact of the virus on sweet potato production to improve productivity and ensuring food security in Ethiopia. The findings obtained from this review could be an input for the current research on sweet potato improvement (both planting materials and routines) in Ethiopia.