Hopp til hovedinnholdet

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.

2023

To document

Abstract

Background Cultivation of oilseed rape Brassica napus is pesticide-intensive, and alternative plant protection strategies are needed because both pesticide resistance and legislation narrow the range of effective chemical pesticides. The entomopathogenic fungus Beauveria bassiana is used as a biocontrol agent against various insect pests, but little is known about its endophytic potential and role in plant protection for oilseed rape. First, we studied whether B. bassiana can establish as an endophyte in oilseed rape, following seed inoculation. To evaluate the plant protection potential of endophytic B. bassiana on oilseed rape, we next examined its ability to induce plant metabolite biosynthesis. In another experiment, we tested the effect of seed inoculation on seedling survival in a semi-field experiment. Results Beauveria bassiana endophytically colonized oilseed rape following seed inoculation, and, in addition, natural colonization was also recorded. Maximum colonization rate was 40%, and generally increased with inoculation time. Seed inoculation did not affect the germination probability or growth of oilseed rape, but B. bassiana inoculated seeds germinated more slowly compared to controls. Endophytic colonization of B. bassiana induced biosynthesis of several flavonoids in oilseed rape leaves under controlled conditions. In the experiment conducted in semi-field conditions, inoculated seedlings had slightly higher mortality compared to control seedlings. Conclusion Beauveria bassiana showed endophytic potential on oilseed rape via both natural colonization and seed inoculation, and it induced the biosynthesis of flavonoids. However, its use as an endophyte for plant protection against pests or pathogens for oilseed rape remains unclear. © 2023 The Authors. Pest Management Science published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Chemical Industry.

To document

Abstract

Aims: In a field study, the effects of treatments of glyphosate-based herbicides (GBHs) in soil, alone and in combination with phosphate fertilizer, were examined on the performance and endophytic microbiota of garden strawberry. Methods and results: The root and leaf endophytic microbiota of garden strawberries grown in GBH-treated and untreated soil, with and without phosphate fertilizer, were analyzed. Next, bioinformatics analysis on the type of 5-enolpyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate synthase enzyme was conducted to assess the potential sensitivity of strawberry-associated bacteria and fungi to glyphosate, and to compare the results with field observations. GBH treatments altered the abundance and/or frequency of several operational taxonomic units (OTUs), especially those of root-associated fungi and bacteria. These changes were partly related to their sensitivity to glyphosate. Still, GBH treatments did not shape the overall community structure of strawberry microbiota or affect plant performance. Phosphate fertilizer increased the abundance of both glyphosate-resistant and glyphosate-sensitive bacterial OTUs, regardless of the GBH treatments. Conclusions: These findings demonstrate that although the overall community structure of strawberry endophytic microbes is not affected by GBH use, some individual taxa are.

To document

Abstract

Interactions between plants and herbivores are central in most ecosystems, but their strength is highly variable. The amount of variability within a system is thought to influence most aspects of plant-herbivore biology, from ecological stability to plant defense evolution. Our understanding of what influences variability, however, is limited by sparse data. We collected standardized surveys of herbivory for 503 plant species at 790 sites across 116° of latitude. With these data, we show that within-population variability in herbivory increases with latitude, decreases with plant size, and is phylogenetically structured. Differences in the magnitude of variability are thus central to how plant-herbivore biology varies across macroscale gradients. We argue that increased focus on interaction variability will advance understanding of patterns of life on Earth.

To document

Abstract

Yield maps give farmers information about growth conditions and can be a tool for sitespecific crop management. Combine harvesters may provide farmers with detailed yield maps if there is a constant flow of a certain amount of biomass through the yield sensor. This is unachievable for grass seeds because the weight of the intake is generally too small to record the variation. Therefore, there is a need to find another way to make grass seed yield maps. We studied seed yield variation in two red fescue (Festuca rubra) fields with variation in management and soil fertility, respectively. We estimated five vegetation indices (VI) based on RGB images taken from a drone to describe yield variation, and trained prediction models based on relatively few harvested plots. Only results from the VI showing the strongest correlation between the index and the yield are presented (Normalized Excess Green Index (ExG) and Normalized Green/Red Difference Index (NGRDI)). The study indicates that it is possible to predict the yield variation in a grass field based on relatively few harvested plots, provided the plots represent contrasting yield levels. The prediction errors in yield (RMSE) ranged from 171 kg ha-1 to 231 kg ha-1, with no clear influence of the size of the training data set. Using random selection of plots instead of selecting plots representing contrasting yield levels resulted in slightly better predictions when evaluated on an average of ten random selections. However, using random selection of plots came with a risk of poor predictions due to the occasional lack of correlation between yield and VI. The exact timing of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) image capture showed to be unimportant in the weeks before harvest.