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.
2025
Abstract
Bacterial canker caused by Pseudomonas syringae is an important disease on stone fruit trees. The development of infections after artificial inoculation of sweet cherry and plum trees in the nursery phase was examined. Furthermore, sweet cherry trees were observed in a nursery and for up to four years after planting in commercial sweet cherry orchards. If inoculated at the time of grafting, this caused near 100% death of the scions. Following inoculation of defeathering wounds, a mean of 52 and 61% of inoculation sites developed bacterial canker on sweet cherry and plum, respectively. Of non-inoculated nursery trees observed as healthy in the autumn, between 20 and 80% had developed visible bacterial cankers after a period of cold storage. In the planting year, a mean of 21% of the trees developed bacterial canker in seven commercial orchards included in the investigation, and by 2–4 years after planting 40% of the trees had symptoms of the disease. All sweet cherry cultivars and rootstocks developed bacterial canker in the commercial orchards. Cultivar Giorgia had the most severe symptoms. Up to 60% replacement of trees within two years after planting was experienced in the orchards.
Authors
Junbin Zhao Simon Weldon Alexandra Barthelmes Erin Swails Kristell Hergoualc’h Ülo Mander Chunjing Qiu John Connolly Whendee L. Silver David I. CampbellAbstract
No abstract has been registered
Abstract
No abstract has been registered
Abstract
Introduction: The discovery of the methane-mitigating effect of the red seaweed Asparagopsis taxiformis has triggered a search for other seaweed species with similar effects. Brown seaweeds constitute the largest production volume of seaweeds in Europe. Some brown algae are known to inhibit methanogens and could potentially reduce enteric methane emissions. Use of by-products generated from industrial processing of plants are typically inedible for human consumption but well known as ruminant feeds. As fractions from Laminaria hyperborea showed significant reductions in methane emissions in vitro, a L. hyperborea by-product was chosen for an in vivo trial with sheep. The aim was to investigate the effect of L. hyperborea by-product inclusion in the diet of growing lambs on dry matter intake, methane emissions, growth rate and nitrogen digestibility. Methods: Twenty-four Norwegian White Sheep lambs (12 ewe and 12 male lambs, 4 months; 36.8 kg live weight) were fed a Control diet (grass silage and control concentrate) or an Algae diet (grass silage and algae concentrate 2% inclusion rate). Lambs were fed a basic diet (grass silage and neutral concentrate) and, in staggered order, introduced to their respective diets for five weeks before entering one of six open circuit respiration chambers. Methane production was measured for three consecutive days. All lambs entered the chambers three time (Periods 1, 2 and 3). Feed intake was measured four consecutive days a week, and live weight (kg) was measured every two weeks. Twelve male lambs were used to investigate in vivo nitrogen digestibility using metabolism crates. Results: The inclusion rate of L. hyperborea by-product was above the target and ended at 2.5% of DM. There was an increase in feed intake and live weight over the experimental period, consistent with the growth of the lambs. Methane production, yield, or intensity was not affected by diet, overall, but the Algae diet reduced methane in Period 1. Male lambs produced more methane than female lambs. Algae inclusion affected live weight negatively. Discusssion: It is concluded that use of L. hyperborea by-products as a feed additive to sheep needs further investigation due to inconclusive results in the present study.
Abstract
No abstract has been registered
Authors
Gunhild Bødtker Claire Coutris Eva Marie-Louise Denison Åsa Frostegård Erik J. Joner Bjørn Tore Lunestad Elisabeth Henie Madslien Kaare Magne Nielsen Pål TrosvikAbstract
In this self-tasking scoping review, VKM will map research about the environmental impacts of biodegradable plastics, including biodegradation rates and material persistence in different environments and geographical regions, the influence on microbial ecology and activity, and ecotoxicological effects of materials and associated chemical substances. Related to this is also research associated with the development of methodology, standards, environmental risk assessment, life cycle impact analyses, material sources and properties of biodegradable plastics and products. The aim is to 1) determine the extent of evidence summarised in reviews and original research papers within this emerging research area and 2) map the evidence according to the materials and chemicals studied, types of environments and geographical regions covered, the hypotheses addressed, the type of endpoints assessed and the reported key findings. Systematic literature searches will be performed to identify the summarised evidence, applying APRIO to develop a tailored search protocol that addresses the multi- and cross-disciplinary nature of the research area. We will select and map the identified publications applying Rayyan and sort them into three categories based on their main scientific focus and aim of study: 1) material properties and application, 2) biodegradation and microbial ecology, and 3) ecotoxicology. There will be no geographical restrictions on the search and study selection, but in the data charting process we will highlight findings relevant to Norway and other Nordic countries. The current project adheres to the “Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and MetaAnalyses extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) Checklist” for protocol development and reporting. We will address uncertainties associated with research studies applying EFSA guidelines and their generic list of common types of uncertainty affecting scientific studies and assessments.
Authors
Heikki Korpunen Yrjö Nuutinen Paula Jylhä Lars Eliasson Aksel Granhus Juha Laitila Stephan Hoffmann Timo MuhonenAbstract
• Overall forest management objectives and stand properties set the requirements and possibilities for harvesting in continuous cover forestry (CCF). • Harvester and forwarder operators play a key role in successful CCF harvesting, as both productivity and quality of work are essential factors in harvesting operations. • Optimal stand conditions improve work productivity on selection harvesting sites; harvested stem volume correlates well with work productivity in cutting, and density of remaining trees does not significantly reduce work productivity in forwarding. • Carefully executed group cutting and shelterwood harvesting can reduce the number of damaged remaining trees, which is beneficial for future tree generations. • Research-based information is needed about work productivity in harvesting, damage caused by harvesting, and optimisation of strip road and forest road networks for CCF.
Abstract
1. Field-based vegetation mapping is important for environmental assessments.Often, the area covered by a species is estimated visually within a reference frame.However, such assessments are prone to observer bias and a large variability. 2. We developed a deep learning pipeline relying on YOLOv8 models to segmentspecies and estimate the percentage cover (%) of Vaccinium myrtillus (blueberry)and Vaccinium vitis-idaea (lingonberry), two key understory species in borealforests. We used 138 nadir and downward-looking images of the forest floorcaptured in correspondence with 50 × 50 cm vegetation sub-plots assessedwithin National Forest Inventory (NFI) plots. First, we trained a bounding-boxframe detection model to crop the image to the same area assessed in the field.Second, we trained an instance segmentation model to classify species. Third,we flattened the class values into a semantic raster and estimated the species-specific cover by pixel counting. 3. We evaluated our method against an independent test set of 156 images andfound a root mean squared error (RMSE) of 8.82% for blueberry and 3.49% forlingonberry and no substantial systematic errors. An additional comparison withocular estimation by various field workers for the same plots showed that themodel estimates were within the range of estimates by field workers 8 out of 9times for blueberry and 7 out of 9 times for lingonberry. 4. The developed method shows promise in reducing observer bias and variabilityin vegetation surveys, thereby improving their consistency while significantlyreducing the time needed for species-specific coverage estimation. This isparticularly beneficial for repeated measurements and monitoring vegetationcover dynamics. However, as the method relies on RGB data, it is limited toestimating the percentage of visible species that are not obscured by others.Expanding the method to include a broader range of cover classes (e.g. grasses,rocks, logs) or species could automate the capture of crucial information
Authors
Ararsa Derese Seboka Lu Feng John Morken Muyiwa S. Adaramola Getachew Birhanu Abera Gebresilassie Asnake EwunieAbstract
The growing hotel and education sectors in Ethiopia face increasing waste and energy demands, necessitating effective waste management and energy use strategies. This study is aimed to investigates biowaste production and energy consumption in hotels and university campuses in Southern Ethiopia, focusing on sustainable solutions for reducing environmental impacts. A mixed-methods approach, including surveys and onsite measurements, were used to assess energy consumption, biowaste generation, and management practices. A stratified purposive sampling was employed to select institutions, and both descriptive and inferential statistics, including time series analysis, multiple regression models, were applied; the environmental footprint of energy sources and energy potentials of biowastes were quantified following the guidelines set by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).The study found that the primary energy sources for both sectors are electricity, natural gas/LPG, diesel fuel, fuelwood, and charcoal, with electricity being the dominant source. Hotels exhibit a consistent increase in energy consumption from 2016 to 2023, driven by tourism and service expansion, while university campuses show more fluctuating trends influenced by student enrollment and policy changes. Both sectors generate substantial biowaste annually—over 588 tons from hotels and 1448 tons from campuses—comprising food, fruit, vegetable and animal waste. However, waste management practices are often inadequate, with open dumping being common and the lack of energy recovery or treatment systems. The study quantified the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, found that non-electric energy sources such as oil fuels and firewood contribute significantly to CO2 emissions. In 2023, oil fuels accounted for 15,474.2 tonnes of CO2e, and firewood generated 130,377.2 tonnes CO2e, highlighting the need for cleaner energy alternatives to reduce emissions and reliance on carbon intensive energy sources.
Authors
Adrian Unc Majdi R. Abou Najm Paul Eric Aspholm Tirupati Bolisetti Colleen Charles Ranjan Datta Trine Eggen Belinda Eline Flem Getu Hailu Eldbjørg Sofie Heimstad Margot Hurlbert Meriam Karlsson Marius Støylen Korsnes Arthur Nash David Parsons Radha Sivarajan Sajeevan Narasinha J. Shurpali Govert Valkenburg Danielle Wilde Bing Wu Sandra F. Yanni Debasmita MisraAbstract
No abstract has been registered