Ingerd Skow Hofgaard
Research Scientist
Biography
Authors
Anne-Grete Roer Hjelkrem Heidi Udnes Aamot Guro Brodal Einar Strand Torfinn Torp Simon G. Edwards Ruth Dill-Macky Ingerd Skow HofgaardAbstract
No abstract has been registered
Authors
Anne-Grete Roer Hjelkrem Torfinn Torp Guro Brodal Heidi Udnes Aamot Einar Strand Berit Nordskog Ruth Dill-Macky Simon G. Edwards Ingerd Skow HofgaardAbstract
No abstract has been registered
Authors
Matias Pasquali Marco Beyer Antonio Logrieco Kris Audenaert Virgilio Balmas Ryan Basler Anne-Laure Boutigny Jana Chrpova Elzbieta Czembor Tatiana Gagkaeva María T. González-Jaén Ingerd Skow Hofgaard Nagehan D. Köycü Lucien Hoffmann Jelena Lević Patricia Marin Thomas Miedaner Quirico Migheli Antonio Moretti Marina E. H. Müller Françoise Munaut Päivi Parikka Marine Pallez-Barthel Jonathan Piec Jonathan Scauflaire Barbara Scherm Slavica Stanković Ulf Thrane Silvio Uhlig Adriaan Vanheule Tapani Yli-Mattila Susanne VogelgsangAbstract
No abstract has been registered
Authors
Ingerd Skow Hofgaard Heidi Udnes Aamot Torfinn Torp M. Jestoi V.M.T. Lattanzio Sonja Klemsdal C. Waalwijk T. van der Lee Guro BrodalAbstract
During the last ten years, Norwegian cereal grain industry has experienced large challenges due to Fusarium spp. and Fusarium mycotoxin contamination of small-grained cereals. To prevent severely contaminated grain lots from entering the grain supply chain, it is important to establish surveys for the most prevalent Fusarium spp. and mycotoxins. The objective of our study was to quantify and calculate the associations between Fusarium spp. and mycotoxins prevalent in oats and spring wheat. In a 6-year period from 2004-2009, 178 grain samples of spring wheat and 289 samples of oats were collected from farmers’ fields in South East Norway. The grains were analysed for 18 different Fusarium-mycotoxins by liquid chromatography – mass spectrometry. Generally, the median mycotoxin levels were higher than reported in Norwegian studies covering previous years. The DNA content of Fusarium graminearum, Fusarium culmorum, Fusarium langsethiae, Fusarium poae and Fusarium avenaceum were determined by quantitative PCR. We identified F. graminearum as the main deoxynivalenol (DON) producer in oats and spring wheat, and F. langsethiae as the main HT-2 and T-2-toxins producer in oats. No association was observed between quantity of F. graminearum DNA and quantity of F. langsethiae DNA nor for their respective mycotoxins, in oats. F. avenaceum was one of the most prevalent Fusarium species in both oats and spring wheat. The following ranking of Fusarium species was made based on the DNA concentrations of the Fusarium spp. analysed in this survey (from high to low): F. graminearum = F. langsethiae = F. avenaceum > F. poae > F. culmorum (oats); F. graminearum = F. avenaceum > F. culmorum > F. poae = F. langsethiae (spring wheat). Our results are in agreement with recently published data indicating a shift in the relative prevalence of Fusarium species towards more F. graminearum versus F. culmorum in Norwegian oats and spring wheat.
Authors
Ingerd Skow Hofgaard Till Seehusen Heidi Udnes Aamot Hugh Riley Jafar Razzaghian Vinh Hong Le Anne-Grete Roer Hjelkrem Ruth Dill-Macky Guro BrodalAbstract
No abstract has been registered
Abstract
Web-based decision support systems (DSSs) are essential tools for precision crop protection, guiding farmers and advisors in implementing need-based control measures against pests, diseases, and weeds. These systems rely heavily on weather-driven models, where data accuracy and availability are critical. Leaf wetness is a key factor for infection and reproduction of many fungal plant pathogens, making it an important input in DSSs. However, the availability of leaf wetness data from weather services is variable, leading to the development of numerous estimation models without a universally accepted standard model. This study aimed to develop a robust mathematical model for estimating leaf wetness across diverse European climate zones and to integrate the model for enabling real-time leaf wetness estimates as inputs to web based DSSs. Hourly weather data, including leaf wetness, temperature, precipitation, relative humidity and wind speed were collected from automatic weather stations. Training data came from five Norwegian sites, while testing data covered 17 locations across Europe. Five machine learning based models (decision tree (DT), random forest, K-Nearest neighbour, multi-layer perception, long short-term memory (LSTM)) were trained and their performance compared with five existing empirical models (RH87, RH90, extRH, DPD, CART/SLD) from the literature. LSTM and DT achieved best performance, demonstrating strong robustness across climate zones. The LSTM model, required fewer data inputs and well suited for time-series data, was integrated into a Flask-based service for automatic use in forecasting models within the web-based IPM Decisions DSS platform, thereby enhancing the precision of this DSS.
Authors
Heidi Udnes Aamot Shiori Koga Katherine Ann Gredvig Nielsen Ulrike Böcker Guro Brodal Ruth Dill-Macky Anne Kjersti Uhlen Ingerd Skow HofgaardAbstract
The breadmaking quality of wheat depends on the viscoelastic properties of the dough, largely determined by gluten quality. The latter is influenced by wheat genetics and environmental factors. To identify whether fungal infection can compromise gluten quality, greenhouse-grown spring wheat was inoculated with Fusarium graminearum or Fusarium avenaceum at flowering. Grain harvested at maturity was analysed for fungal infection (concentration of fungal DNA), thousand-grain weight (TGW), size distribution of glutenin polymers (proportion of un-extractable polymeric proteins, %UPP), gluten-degrading protease activity, and viscoelastic properties of gluten (maximum resistance towards stretching [RMAX] and extensibility). Fusarium graminearum caused severe infections, and strong negative correlations were observed between F. graminearum-DNA and TGW, %UPP and RMAX. Significant reductions in %UPP and RMAX were observed even when only 10% of the flour-blend originated from infected grain. The degradation of gluten proteins was attributed to both enzymatic activity and disrupted grain maturation. In contrast, F. avenaceum infections were less severe, with only slight reductions in TGW, %UPP, and RMAX, though signs of gluten-degrading enzyme activities were observed in the most infected samples. In summary, F. graminearum significantly compromised gluten quality through protein degradation and reduction in the proportion of large glutenin polymers. While F. avenaceum had a lesser impact on gluten quality, the risk of compromised grain entering the food chain may be greater than with F. graminearum, as neither F. avenaceum nor its associated mycotoxins are regulated. These findings highlight the importance of further research on how fungal infection influences the breadmaking quality of wheat.
Authors
Ingerd Skow HofgaardAbstract
Prosjektet Gene2Bread skal utvikle kunnskap som kan bidra til å øke selvforsyningsgraden av mathvete i Norge. Stabil og tilfredsstillende kvalitet av norsk hvete er avgjørende for industrien for å bruke mer norsk mathvete. Glutenproteiner er en av de viktigste komponentene som påvirker bakekvaliteten. Et foregående prosjekt antydet at sopparten Microdochium nivale kan skille ut proteaser. Hvete som er angrepet av denne soppen kan derfor ha redusert glutenkvalitet. Arbeidspakke 3 i Gene2Bread-prosjektet skal kartlegge resistens mot M. nivale og videre eventuelle forskjeller i toleranse mot proteaser i ulike mathvetesorter. Det er gjennomført veksthusforsøk hvor fire mathvetesorter smittes med M. nivale i vinter-vår 2024/25 og 2026/27.
Division of Biotechnology and Plant Health
Diversity Oats - A more sustainable Norwegian oat industry by increased genetic diversity and diversified food products
Division of Biotechnology and Plant Health
REKORN: Can regenerative cultivation methods contribute to reduce the risk of fungal diseases in cereals?
Regenerative agriculture is referred to as a bridge between organic and conventional agriculture and has received increased attention in recent years. Regenerative agriculture focuses on soil health and cultivation measures that can stimulate soil life and plant growth. An improvement in soil health is visualized, among other things, in increased carbon storage in the soil, limited soil compaction and increased microbiological diversity. The methods used to improve soil health within cereal cultivation may include crop rotation, reduced tillage, intercropping, use of catch crops and surface composting where plant residues are mixed into the top-soil layer.
Division of Food Production and Society
Gene2Bread: Building knowledge and exploiting technology to achieve high wheat self-sufficiency in Norway
The project aims to increase Norway’s self-sufficiency in milling wheat by gaining knowledge to improve wheat quality and increase its utilisation. Adequate protein content and a stable quality between seasons and within a season are prerequisites to increasing the share of Norwegian wheat in the flour blend.