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.

2010

Abstract

Literature data from experiments with lactating dairy cows offered silage-based diets was reviewed to evaluate the effects of the grassland legume species Trifolium repens (WC, white clover), Trifolium pratense (RC, red clover) and Medicago sativa (M, lucerne) on feed intake, milk production and milkquality. Seven data sets were created to compare grass silage (G) with grassland legumes in general (L), G with RC, G with WC, G with M, RC with WC, RC with M and different silage proportions of RC. Daily dry matter intake and milk yield were on average 1.6 and 1.6 kg, respectively, higher and milk fat content 1.2 g/kg milk lower on L than on G based diets. Similar differences were found when G was compared with RC or WC diets. Cows offered WC yielded 1.1 kg/d more milk than RC, and milk produced on WC and M contained 0.7 g more protein per kg than milk from RC diets. Increasing the silage diet RC proportion from 0.5 to 1.0 also decreased the milk protein content by 0.8 g/kg milk. RC increased the level of poly-unsaturated fatty acids, particularly C18:3n-3, and isoflavones, particularly equol, in milk. Effects are discussed in relation to plant cell wall characteristics, plant chemical constituents and changes in rumen digestion to explain the origin of the differences in intake, milk yield and milk composition.

To document

Abstract

The aim of this study is to use airborne laser scanning (ALS) data to simulate synthetic aperture radar interferometry (InSAR) elevation data [digital elevation model (DEM)] from the spatial distribution of scatterers. A Shuttle Radar Topography Mission X-band DEM data set and an ALS data set from a spruce-dominated forest area are used. A 3-D grid of voxels is made from the spatial distribution of ALS first echoes. The slant angle penetration rate of the SAR microwaves (P-SAR) is simulated to be a function of the vertical ALS penetration rate (P-ALS), i.e., P-SAR = P-ALS(4). The InSAR DEM and heights above the ground are fairly well reproduced by the simulator. A total least squares regression model between the simulated and measured InSAR DEMs has an R-2 value of 0.99 and a slope of 1 : 1. By subtracting the ALS-based terrain heights (digital terrain model), we obtained InSAR heights, which were reproduced with an R-2 value of 0.78, a slope of 0.96, and a root-mean-square error of 2.3 m. With the simulator, it was demonstrated how a disturbance event would affect the InSAR height. Unfortunately, the relationship was curvilinear and concave, which means that the method is not very sensitive to weak disturbances. This might be partly overcome by using a more vertical incidence angle of the SAR microwaves. The simulator might be used for validation or ground truthing of the InSAR data, as well as gaining understanding of how vegetation changes affect the InSAR data.

To document

Abstract

In this study we investigated the interaction between temperature and genotype on fruit development and levels of total phenols and anthocyanins in cloudberry. The experiment was done in a phytotron using one female (‘Fjellgull") and one hermaphroditic (‘Nyby") cultivar. Plants were grown at 9, 12, 15 and 18°C in 24-h photoperiod. The female cultivars were pollinated with pollen from a male (‘Apollen") clone and from the hermaphrodite clone. Parthenocarpic fruit development was induced by gibberellic acid (GA3). Ripe berries were frozen individually at -80°C and stored until analyses. There was a linear, double logarithmic relationship between temperature and number of days from pollination/GA3-treatment to ripening. ‘Fjellgull" had significantly larger berries than ‘Nyby", and the largest berries were obtained at 12 and 9°C. Pollen clone did not have a significant effect on berry size. GA3 induced parthenogenesis in ‘Fjellgull" and partial parthenogenesis in ‘Nyby". In ‘Fjellgull", the parthenocarpic berries were comparable to pollinated ones at low temperatures, but at 18°C their development was restricted. The level of total anthocyanins was significantly higher in ‘Fjellgull" than in ‘Nyby", and these levels were significantly enhanced at 9 and 12°C compared to higher temperatures. Levels of total phenolic compounds were not significantly affected. In conclusion, the present results indicate that low temperature is favourable both for size and quality of cloudberries.

To document

Abstract

Semi-natural grasslands and their species and populations are declining rapidly throughout Europe, bringing about a need for successful vegetation recreation methods. To maintain biodiversity and ecological services of semi-natural grasslands, we need more knowledge on the relative performance of different recreation methods. In a replicated experiment in western Norway, we evaluated two hay transfer methods (hard or light raking of local hay), sowing of local seeds and natural regeneration for recreating semi-natural grassland in a road verge. We compared treated trial plots with their respective donor plots (where hay and seeds were harvested) for three successive years by evaluating vegetation cover, species richness and species transfer rates, and vegetation dynamics analysed by Bray-Curtis compositional dissimilarity (BC) and GNMDS (Global Non-Metric Multidimensional Scaling) ordination. Vegetation cover at the trial site exceeded that of donor sites in three years. Transfer rates of common species were high for seed sowing and both hay transfer procedures. Species composition in trial plots for all three treatments became significantly more similar to donor plots, but was still relatively dissimilar after three years. Natural regeneration showed a different temporal pattern and also had a higher successional rate. The species composition of the other treatments followed the same trajectory toward the donor sites as revealed by GNMDS. We found relatively small differences between the two hay transfer methods and seed sowing. Transfer of local hay therefore appears to be a successful method of establishing local species when recreating semi-natural grasslands, and is generally cheaper than using commercial local seed mixtures.