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.
2017
Abstract
Pre-sprouting of potato seed tubers (Solanum tuberosum L.) in light (greensprouting) is an established practice in short growing seasons to speed up plant development. Light exposure secures short and robust sprouts for mechanical planting. In 2014–2015, different pre-sprouting treatments were investigated, including different daily durations of light exposure during 6 to 12 weeks at 10 °C in controlled environments. The effects on sprout growth, early growth vigour and field performance in four cultivars were assessed in the greenhouse and in the field. Results indicated that the light treatments involving 8, 16 and 24 h light exposure per day all strongly inhibited sprout growth, with only minor differences between treatments. Compared to untreated tubers, within all cultivars, emergence and early plant growth was clearly and similarly accelerated by all light treatments. At harvest, cultivars were differently affected by the pre-sprouting treatments with regard to haulm senescence (greenness), tuber DM and total yield, and the latest cultivars seemed to benefit more from green-sprouting than the earliest. Different daily durations of light exposure during green-sprouting had a largely similar impact on seed tuber performance in all cultivars. Dark-sprouted tubers (de-sprouted before planting) performed largely similar to control tubers from 4 °C storage. Results demonstrate a potential for shorter daily light exposure during greensprouting with less energy use and heating problems.
Abstract
No abstract has been registered
Abstract
Growing substrates, fertilizer inputs, and irrigation are important factors for grow-in of sand-based putting greens. The research reported here was triggered by grow-in problems encountered in 2015 after replacing garden compost with Sphagnum peat in the rootzone on a sand-based green at the NIBIO Turfgrass Research Center, Norway. A pot trial was conducted with the same type of sand amended with: (i) 20% (v/v) garden compost, (ii) 10% (v/v) Sphagnum peat, (iii) equal volumes of (i) and (ii), (iv) 10% (v/v) Sphagnum peat plus lime (200 g CaCO3 m−2), and (v) 10% (v/v) Sphagnum peat plus phosphoric acid, 5 g P m−2. The amendments were tested with or without preplant application of chicken manure (5 g N and 2.5 g P m−2) and at the two irrigation rates: 3 and 12 mm d−1. The pots were seeded with creeping bentgrass (Agrostis stolonifera L.), and turfgrass coverage and clipping yields were recorded for 5 wk after seeding. Turfgrass coverage developed significantly faster and clipping yields were significantly higher after amendment with compost than after amendment with peat or peat plus lime. Incorporation of chicken manure did not enhance grow-in on substrates containing full or half rates of compost but improved grow-in on peat, especially when combined with phosphoric acid. Excessive irrigation had no impact on turfgrass coverage but reduced clipping yields on substrates containing compost, compost plus peat, or peat plus phosphoric acid. We conclude that the grow-in problems encountered in 2015 were most likely due to inadequate quality of the Sphagnum peat.
Abstract
No abstract has been registered
Abstract
Perennial fruit crops phenology such as cherry is an ideal bio-indicator of climate change due to their long-lasting features, in particular, dates of flower opening and full bloom. This implies i) the use of several generations of cherry trees/orchards and ii) the use of the same original cherry cultivars, which existed as bearing trees and were replanted after the orchard had been grubbed. A comparison of available definitions of phenological stages in cherry previously used independently throughout Europe showed overlaps and shortcomings; hence, harmonisation was reached in this respect in the COST Cherry FA 1104 working group 2 (cherry phenology and climate change) based largely on the acceptance of the BBCH scale. This contribution presents the agreed phenology stages in both visual and wording evidence. Similarly, this contribution presents the agreed cultivars to be monitored in future for phenology and climate change effects for harmonisation. For sweet cherry, this EU-wide harmonisation includes ‘Burlat’, ‘Cristobalina’ and ‘Rita’ as early, ‘Stella’ and ‘Van’ as medium flowering and ‘Sweetheart’, ‘Regina’ and ‘Bigarreau Noire de Meched/Germersdorfer’ for late flowering cultivars for climate change effects. For sour cherry, this harmonisation resulted in ‘Meteor korai’ and ‘Anglaise Hative’ for early flowering, ‘Chrisana Pandy’ and ‘Erdibotermo’ for medium flowering and ‘Schattemorelle’, ‘Iiva, Ujfehrtoifurtos (Balaton)’ for late flowering.
Abstract
No abstract has been registered
Abstract
Removal of logging residues causes significant nutrient losses from the harvesting site. Furthermore,collection of residues into piles could lead to small-scale differences in establishment conditions for seedlings. We studied the effects of stem-only (SOH) and aboveground whole-tree harvesting (WTH) on Norway spruce (Picea abies) seedling growth and pine weevil (Hylobius abietis) damage at two sites (SE and W Norway). We also compared two planting environments within the WTH plots (WTH-0: areas with no residues, WTH-1: areas where residue piles had been placed and removed before planting). In practice, one-third of the residues were left on site after WTH. After three growing seasons there were no differences for height or diameter increment between SOH and WTH (WTH-1 and WTH-0 combined) treatments. However, relative diameter increment was largest for WTH-1 seedlings and lowest for WTH-0 seedlings. Few seedlings sustained pine weevil attacks at the W Norway site, with no differences among treatments. At the SE Norway site, the percent of seedlings damaged by pine weevils and average debarked area were significantly higher after WTH (82% and 3.3 cm2) compared to SOH (62% and 1.7 cm2). We conclude that WTH may lead to spatial differences in establishment conditions.
Authors
Sebastian Sippel Jakob Zscheischler Martin Heimann Holger Lange Miguel D. Mahecha Geert Jan van Oldenborgh Friederike E.L. Otto Markus ReichsteinAbstract
Daily precipitation extremes and annual totals have increased in large parts of the global land area over the past decades. These observations are consistent with theoretical considerations of a warming climate. However, until recently these trends have not been shown to consistently affect dry regions over land. A recent study, published by Donat et al. (2016), now identified significant increases in annual-maximum daily extreme precipitation (Rx1d) and annual precipitation totals (PRCPTOT) in dry regions. Here, we revisit the applied methods and explore the sensitivity of changes in precipitation extremes and annual totals to alternative choices of defining a dry region (i.e. in terms of aridity as opposed to precipitation characteristics alone). We find that (a) statistical artifacts introduced by data pre-processing based on a time-invariant reference period lead to an overestimation of the reported trends by up to 40 %, and that (b) the reported trends of globally aggregated extremes and annual totals are highly sensitive to the definition of a "dry region of the globe". For example, using the same observational dataset, accounting for the statistical artifacts, and based on different aridity-based dryness definitions, we find a reduction in the positive trend of Rx1d from the originally reported +1.6 % decade−1 to +0.2 to +0.9 % decade−1 (period changes for 1981–2010 averages relative to 1951–1980 are reduced to −1.32 to +0.97 % as opposed to +4.85 % in the original study). If we include additional but less homogenized data to cover larger regions, the global trend increases slightly (Rx1d: +0.4 to +1.1 % decade−1), and in this case we can indeed confirm (partly) significant increases in Rx1d. However, these globally aggregated estimates remain uncertain as considerable gaps in long-term observations in the Earth's arid and semi-arid regions remain. In summary, adequate data pre-processing and accounting for uncertainties regarding the definition of dryness are crucial to the quantification of spatially aggregated trends in precipitation extremes in the world's dry regions. In view of the high relevance of the question to many potentially affected stakeholders, we call for a well-reflected choice of specific data processing methods and the inclusion of alternative dryness definitions to guarantee that communicated results related to climate change be robust.
Authors
Hilde Margrethe Helgesen Arja Rautio Sari Piippo Eva Pongrácz Elena Golubeva Andrey Soloviev Ida Synnøve Bårvåg Grini Themistoklis AltintzoglouAbstract
Dette prosjektet, «Healthy lifestyle choices in the Arctic» eller «Beslutninger om sunn mat og livsstil i de arktiske områdene», er finansiert av Nordisk Ministerråd gjennom det Arktiske samarbeidsprogrammet 2015-2017. Forskere ved NIBIOs avdeling for økonomi og samfunn og Nofima har samarbeidet med forskere fra universitetet i Oulu i Finland og to universiteter i Arkangelsk i Russland. En viktig del av prosjektet er at forskere fra Norge, Finland og Russland deler kunnskap og lærer av hverandre om hva som er et bærekraftig og sunt kosthold og hvordan dette virker inn på folkehelsen i de tre landene. Prosjektets overordnede mål har vært å bidra til å dokumentere noen sentrale utviklingstrekk i kosthold og alkoholforbruk og hvordan disse påvirker folks helse i Barentsregionen. Videre har prosjektet som mål å gi en kort beskrivelse av en del viktige forhold knyttet til matsvinn og hvilken rolle matsvinn har eller kan ha for et bærekraftig og sunt kosthold. Denne rapporten, som peker på store ulikheter i folkehelse i de tre landene, baserer seg på arbeid gjort i prosjektets første år. Temaet matsvinn er i denne rapporten begrenset til å peke på ulikheter i de tre landene når det gjelder regelverk og noen tiltak for å redusere mengden matsvinn. Rapporten forholder seg til arbeidet gjort i en av prosjektets arbeidspakker og ble gjennomført i perioden september 2015 tom august 2016.
Authors
Arja Rautio Sari Piippo Eva Pongrácz Elena Golubeva Andrey Soloviev Ida Synnøve Bårvåg Grini Themistoklis Altintzoglou Hilde Margrethe HelgesenAbstract
The Nordic Council of Ministers through the Arctic Co-operation Programme 2015-2017, funds «Healthy food and lifestyle in the Arctic». Researchers at NIBIO - Department of Economy and Society, and Nofima has collaborated with researchers from the University of Oulu in Finland and two universities in Arkhangelsk in Russia. An important part of the project is that researchers from Norway, Finland and Russia share knowledge and learn from each other about what a sustainable and healthy diet is and how it affects public health in the three countries. The project's overall goal has been to contribute to documenting some key trends in diet and alcohol consumption, and how these affect people's health in the Barents Region. Moreover, the project aims to provide a brief description of some key aspects related to food waste and what role food waste has, or may have a sustainable and healthy diet. This report, which points to large inequalities in health in the three countries, is based on work done in the project's first year. The theme food waste in this report is limited to pointing out differences in the three countries in terms of legislation and some measures to reduce the amount food waste. The report relates to the work done in one of the project's work packages, and was conducted during the period September 2015 to August 2016.