The European barley powdery mildew virulence survey and disease nursery 1993-1999

vo

Effect of growth stage on resistance to Drechslera teres f. teres in barley

vo

Pathogenic variation in populations of Drechslera teres f. teres and D. teres f. maculata and differences in host cultivar responses

v2006o

Mapping of net blotch resistance locus in barley line c-8755

vokpka ks

Advanced data analysis as a tool for net blotch density estimation in spring barley

Abstract A novel data analysis method for the evaluation of plant disease risk that utilizes weather information is presented in this paper. This research considers two different datasets: open weather data from the Finnish Meteorological Institute and long-term (1991–2017) plant disease severity observations in different hardiness zones in Finland. Historical net blotch severity data on spring barley were collected from official variety trials carried out by the Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke) and the analysis was performed with existing data without additional measurements. Feature generation was used to combine different datasets and to enrich the information content of the data. The t-test was applied to validate features and select the most suitable one for the identification of datasets with high net blotch risk. Based on the analysis, the selected daily measured variables for the estimation of net blotch density were the average temperature, minimum temperature, and rainfall. The results strongly indicate that thorough data analysis and feature generation methods enable new tools for plant disease prediction. This is crucial when predicting the disease risk and optimizing the use of pesticides in modern agriculture. Here, the developed system resolves the correlation between weather measurements and net blotch observations in a novel way

Data analysis in moving windows for optimizing barley net blotch prediction

Abstract In modern agriculture, the pesticides and the need to decrease their use is under discussion. Optimization methods and modelling tools are important research areas in this context. In this paper, data analysis, feature generation and selection in moving windows have been utilized for the evaluation of net blotch risk in barley. Two different datasets: The open data from the Finnish Meteorological Institute and the historical observation of the net blotch severity in different fields in Finland are combined with feature generation techniques. T-test is then applied to select the most statistically suitable features for prediction the net blotch risk from weather measurements. Analysis proceeds in moving data windows to indicate the most informative time period to predict the risk of net blotch during the growing season. Results show that the selection of the proper time instance and the length of data window may enhance strongly the potential performance of prediction methods for risk analysis on plant disease

Kevätviljan suorakylvö 2002-2005

vokMAAKAJMPLMP

Oral exposure to thiacloprid-based pesticide (Calypso SC480) causes physical poisoning symptoms and impairs the cognitive abilities of bumble bees

Abstract Background: Pesticides are identified as one of the major reasons for the global pollinator decline. However, the sublethal effects of pesticide residue levels found in pollen and nectar on pollinators have been studied little. The aim of our research was to study whether oral exposure to the thiacloprid levels found in pollen and nectar affect the learning and long-term memory of bumble bees. We tested the effects of two exposure levels of thiacloprid-based pesticide (Calypso SC480) on buff-tailed bumble bee (Bombus terrestris) in laboratory utilizing a learning performance and memory tasks designed to be difficult enough to reveal large variations across the individuals. Results: The lower exposure level of the thiacloprid-based pesticide impaired the bees’ learning performance but not long-term memory compared to the untreated controls. The higher exposure level caused severe acute symptoms, due to which we were not able to test the learning and memory. Conclusions: Our results show that oral exposure to a thiacloprid-based pesticide, calculated based on residue levels found in pollen and nectar, not only causes sublethal effects but also acute lethal effects on bumble bees. Our study underlines an urgent demand for better understanding of pesticide residues in the environment, and of the effects of those residue levels on pollinators. These findings fill the gap in the existing knowledge and help the scientific community and policymakers to enhance the sustainable use of pesticides

Occurrence of leaf blotch pathogens on wheat in the Nordic countries and potential role of toxin-sensitivity loci in determining susceptibility under field conditions

vokpka pka ks

Chronic oral exposure to Amistar fungicide does not significantly affect colour discrimination but may impact memory retention in bumblebees

Abstract Background: Intensive agriculture, including pesticides, is one of the many reasons for pollinator decline. The EU legislation on plant protection products (hereon pesticides) demands that the risks of active substances and their use in pesticide products are assessed for bees. However, the risk assessment is not always sufficient as shown, for example, in the case of the fungicide Amistar. The fungicide has been shown to cause lethal and sublethal effects on bumblebees at levels that, according to the EU risk assessment, do not require risk mitigation measures to protect bees. In order to understand the effects of chronic Amistar exposure on bumblebees, we studied whether 5 days of oral exposure to 0.015 µl Amistar (3.75 µg azoxystrobin/day) impairs bumblebees’ learning and memory performance in the 10-colour discrimination task. Results: Chronic Amistar treatment did not impair the learning of the bees, but a statistically non-significant negative trend was observed in memory retention between the final learning bout and the subsequent memory test. Conclusions: The results of our study suggest that chronic sublethal exposure to Amistar fungicide did not significantly impair the learning ability of bumblebees. However, there was a trend towards impaired memory retention, although this was not statistically significant. These findings provide further support for the hypothesis that Amistar may have a negative effect on bee cognitive performance. It is important to continue studying the effects of widely used pesticides on pollinators, as their decline is a complex issue with multiple contributing factors. Understanding the effects of different pesticide residue levels on bumblebees can inform policymakers in making more sustainable pesticide legislation and help protect pollinators