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.
2020
Authors
Fatima Heinicke Xiangfu Zhong Karola Manuela Zucknick Johannes Breidenbach Arvind Yegambaram Meenakshi Sundaram Siri Tennebø Flåm Magnus Leithaug Marianne Dalland Simon Rayner Benedicte Alexandra Lie Gregor GilfillanAbstract
High-throughput sequencing has emerged as the favoured method to study microRNA (miRNA) expression, but biases introduced during library preparation have been reported. We recently compared the performance (sensitivity, reliability, titration response and differential expression) of six commercially-available kits on synthetic miRNAs and human RNA, where library preparation was performed by the vendors. We hereby supplement this study with data from two further commonly used kits (NEBNext, NEXTflex) whose manufacturers initially declined to participate. NEXTflex demonstrated the highest sensitivity, which may reflect its use of partially-randomized adapter sequences, but overall performance was lower than the QIAseq and TailorMix kits. NEBNext showed intermediate performance. We reaffirm that biases are kit specific, complicating the comparison of miRNA datasets generated using different kits.
Authors
L. Willocquet W.R. Meza B. Dumont B. Klocke T. Feike K.C. Kersebaum P. Meriggi V. Rossi Andrea Ficke A. Djurle S. SavaryAbstract
Wheat disease management in Europe is mainly based on the use of fungicides and the cultivation of resistant cultivars. Improving disease management implies the formal comparison of disease management methods in terms of both crop health and yield levels (attainable yield, actual yield), thus enabling an assessment of yield losses and yield gains. Such an assessment is not available for wheat in Europe. The objective of the analysis reported here is to provide an overview of wheat health and yield performance in field experiments in Europe. Data from field experiments in six European countries (Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Norway, and Sweden) conducted between 2013 and 2017 were analysed to that aim. Relationships between multiple disease levels, yield, level of cultivar resistance, level of fungicide protection, and weather patterns were assessed. The analyses included 73 field experiments, corresponding to a total of 447 [fungicide protection level x cultivar] combinations. Analyses across the six countries led to ranking the importance of foliar wheat diseases as follows, in decreasing order: leaf blotch (septoria tritici blotch, septoria nodorum blotch, and tan spot), leaf rust, yellow rust, and powdery mildew. Fusarium head blight was observed in France and Italy, and stem rust was sporadically observed in Italy. Disease patterns, crop inputs (fertiliser, fungicides), and yields widely varied within and across countries. Disease levels were affected by the level of fungicide use, by cultivar resistance, as well as by weather patterns. While this analysis enables a better documentation of the status of wheat health in Europe, it also highlights the critical need for policies in Europe enabling a more judicious use of pesticides. First, common standards for field experiments are needed (experimental designs and protocols; disease assessment procedures and scales; references, including reference-susceptible cultivars); second, assessments in farmers’ fields – and not in research stations – are necessary; and third, there is a need to use available process-based crop models to estimate attainable yields, and so, yield losses.
Abstract
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.
Abstract
No abstract has been registered
Authors
Kaare Magne Nielsen Yngvild Wasteson Siamak Pour Yazdankhah Øivind Bergh Ole Martin Eklo Erik J. Joner Elisabeth Henie Madslien Pål Trosvik Bjørnar YtrehusAbstract
No abstract has been registered
Authors
Malte Müller Leif Christian Stige Geir W. Gabrielsen Øyvind Rinaldo Stig Morten Knudsen Rolf Rødven Anne Christine Brussard Tor EldevikAbstract
No abstract has been registered
Abstract
Studying summer farming and farm dairies in Sweden and Norway—the shared empirical basis of this essay—using methods that require a close proximity between the researcher and the researched working closely together can be a challenge. This is especially obvious when the studied community is subjected to frequent studies conducted by scholars and authorities. It became even more complicated as the researchers had different roles in the three projects discussed in this text. In Project One, researchers developed knowledge together with summer farmers, in Project Two the research group interacted with the summer farmers while implementing the UN Convention on Biological Diversity on behalf of the Swedish government and in Project Three researchers addressed summer farmers as respondents. It is our experience that research in which interaction with respondents is close often becomes a target of criticism from other scholars who claim that this type of research is incapable of producing valid and impartial knowledge due to suspected bias. In this article we discuss five types of ethical challenges met in the three projects, two of which are based on a community-based participatory research approach (CBPR) and one on a case study approach (CS). Starting off, from previous literature, we compare ethical dilemmas in both CBPR and CS with the help of the following concepts: creation of partnerships, participation and perceptions of truth, sources of conflicts and mistrust and the consequences of such research for quality, reliability and research integrity. Our research questions are: What are the ethical, practical, methodological, and scientific challenges and implications of research conducted in close proximity to informants? What can the research community learn from such experiences? [...]
Abstract
No abstract has been registered
Abstract
No abstract has been registered
Abstract
Field trapping experiments were carried out in Norway to measure attraction of the cherry bark tortrix (CBT) Enarmonia formosana to volatile blends of candidate compounds including acetic acid (AA), linalool oxide pyranoid (LOXP), 2-phenylethanol (PET), pear ester (E,Z)2,4-ethyl decadienoate (PE) and (E)-β-farnesene (BF). The binary blend of AA and LOXP caught the highest number of CBT adults. While addition of PET along with PE did not significantly change the attraction, a sex-dependent decrease of female captures was found when LOXP was replaced by PET/PE. Male attraction to AA/LOXP did not differ when PET/PE were added to the blend or when LOXP was substituted by the same two compounds. A similar attraction to blank traps was recorded for the ternary blend of LOXP/PET/PE, for the binary blend of PET/PE and for LOXP alone, supporting AA as a possible fundamental component of CBT kairomone. In addition, a lower number of bycatches of Hedya nubiferana, Anthophila fabriciana, Synanthedon myopaeformis, Pammene spp. and Pandemis spp. were scored in the AA/LOXP than in any blend including AA/PET/PE. BF was not behaviourally active on CBT in our field experiments. The high attraction of both sexes of CBT to the binary blend of AA/LOXP represents a first step towards the identification of a multicomponent kairomone for this pest. A continuous flight activity of both sexes of CBT was recorded from the end of May until the beginning of August, supporting the hypothesis that CBT is univoltine in Norway. Because larval infestation on tree trunks varies substantially with apple varieties, we encourage the collection of additional data to attempt a correlation between adult catch by AA/LOXP traps and the following larval population.