Testing of strawberry-varieties (with/without biodegradable mulch film) for organic cultivation

Different strawberry varieties, available from organic propagation at that time were, planted in August 2004 and proofed about their suitability for organic cultivation, each variety was tested with and without biodegradable mulch film. Within the early ripening strawberry varieties ‘Clery’ had a middle yield and was susceptible for infections with leaf spot, losses of plants by Verticillium were seldom. This variety should be planted early to reach enough vigor in autumn. ‘Clery’ has an interesting potential in the phase of higher prices at the beginning strawberry season. ‘Darselect’ ripened shortly before ‘Elsanta’, the yield was lower, but the fruit-size bigger, so the picking could be done more quickly. ‘Elsanta’ showed in this trial under organic conditions not too bad results, but on this area no strawberries had been cultivated for many years before, so the potential of soil-borne diseases was only low to middle. In the group of middle ripening varieties ‘Korona’ suffered under the hot weather in June 2006 and reacted with heavy wilting symptoms, first of all caused by Verticillium, and with more leathery and small fruits. ‘Florence’ and ‘Peco’ had often sunburst (by intensive sunbeams). ‘St. Pierre’ had a vigor plant, middle yield and less sunburst, but should be picked well ripened. The late variety ‘Yamaska’ was robust, but tasted only middle good. The biodegradable mulch film increased in the first year the yield of the early ripening varieties, in the second year with a hot summer this effect disappeared. Partly snails used the mulch film as refuge, damages of the film also were caused by birds. The natural decomposition was sufficient, when the film was tilled into the soil after the second harvest

Results from scab trials with Armicarb in the years 2006 and 2007

In organically cultivated orchards of the LVWO Weinsberg in the years 2006 and 2007 trials were carried out about new products and their efficacy against apple scab. In the year 2006 (variety ‘Gala’) Armicarb and BioPluss sprayed preventively during primary ascospore season could not convince, also not in combination with lime sulphur as stopapplication. Armicarb showed at ‘Gala’ a tendency to increase russetting of the fruits. In the year 2007 (Variety ‘Elstar’) different combinations of wetting sulphur with yuccasaponin and stop-applications (lime sulphur, Armicarb) were tested with focus on the time immediately after blossom. The effect of Armicarb as stop-application was weaker than of lime sulphur at an infection-period with extreme high ascospore potential. The differences between the tested combinations were low. Wetting sulphur+yucca-saponin showed interesting tendencies in the year 2007, but should not be combined with lime sulphur as stop-application because of significantly increased reticular russetting of the apples

Results from thinning experiments in 2002 and 2003

In 2002 an experiment about thinning blossoms of the apple variety 'Pinova' lime sulfur (in 2002 45 % thinning) and sodium salt (21 % thinning) showed good effects, the number of blossom-clusters in 2003 was very high in the lime sulfur parcels. Results from extracts of Hericium erinaceum in 2003 have to be replicated again, the number of applications must be increased

Optimizing crop loading of apples and pears - results 2004-2006 (foliar fertilizers, thinning)

Main topics of the research-project FuE 03OE088 of “Bundesprogramm Ökologischer Landbau” (30.04.2004-31.12.2006) were the testing of foliar fertilizers in organic apples and pears, optimizing lime sulphur for blossom thinning, looking for alternatives to lime sulphur for blossom thinning and looking at different combinations of thinning measures. Only the results of testing foliar fertilizers (carried out by KoGa Ahrweiler and OVB/ÖON Jork) and combinations of thinning measures (carried out by LVWO Weinsberg) are described in this article. Over three years only a small increase in yield was evaluated for the fertilizers Aminosol PS and Wuxal Ascofol (site Ahrweiler, apple variety ‘Elstar’). In Jork (apple variety ‘Holsteiner Cox’) yield could only be judged in 2005 and 2006. Wuxal Ascofol showed some advantage in comparison to the control. At pear variety ‘Conference’ no clear tendencies could be seen, the control had the highest yield. In 2005 the fruitsetting of ‘Conference’ was very low because of bad conditions during blossom

Stellar and nuclear-physics constraints on two r-process components in the early Galaxy

Proceedings of "Nuclei in the Cosmos 2000", Aarhus, DanmarkComment: 3 pages, 2 figures; to be publ. in Nucl. Phys.

Investigations on alternative substances for control of apple scab - Results from Conidia germinating tests and experiments with plant extracts

The intention of this research project, which was supported within the "Bundesprogramm Ökologischer Landbau", was to find alternatives for the control of Venturia inaequalis for the organic fruitgrower. Beside the investigations on reducing the ascospore potential on fallen leaves, experiments were conducted in laboratory, greenhouses and in orchard to test direct control of scab with different plant extracts, concentrations and methods of extraction. Extracts from Inula viscosa, Quillaja saponaria-bark, citrus-species (AGROMIL) and Saponaria officinalis revealed a distinct efficacy against apple scab in greenhouse studies on apple seedlings. ELOT-VIS, CHITOPLANT, COMCAT, MOOSEXTRAKT, SILIOPLANT und FZB 24 did not show sufficient efficacy with the application schedule used for control of scab. Mixtures of Quillaja-saponine and sulphur reduced effectively apple scab incidence. In an experiment concerning rain stability Citrus-extract and Quillaja-saponine showed a lower efficacy against scab after a simulated rain of 5 mm. The screening of different supplements to Citrus-extract as surfactants and adhesives revealed GREEMAX and BIOPLUSS as promising additives. Both combinations showed an efficacy comparable to copperoxychloride corresponding to 400 g elementary copper per ha

Higher Gauge Theory and Gravity in (2+1) Dimensions

Non-abelian higher gauge theory has recently emerged as a generalization of standard gauge theory to higher dimensional (2-dimensional in the present context) connection forms, and as such, it has been successfully applied to the non-abelian generalizations of the Yang-Mills theory and 2-form electrodynamics. (2+1)-dimensional gravity, on the other hand, has been a fertile testing ground for many concepts related to classical and quantum gravity, and it is therefore only natural to investigate whether we can find an application of higher gauge theory in this latter context. In the present paper we investigate the possibility of applying the formalism of higher gauge theory to gravity in (2+1) dimensions, and we show that a nontrivial model of (2+1)-dimensional gravity coupled to scalar and tensorial matter fields - the $\Sigma\Phi EA$ model - can be formulated both as a standard gauge theory and as a higher gauge theory. Since the model has a very rich structure - it admits as solutions black-hole BTZ-like geometries, particle-like geometries as well as Robertson-Friedman-Walker cosmological-like expanding geometries - this opens a wide perspective for higher gauge theory to be tested and understood in a relevant gravitational context. Additionally, it offers the possibility of studying gravity in (2+1) dimensions coupled to matter in an entirely new framework.Comment: 22 page

Nuclear Structure Studies at ISOLDE and their Impact on the Astrophysical r-Process

The focus of the present review is the production of the heaviest elements in nature via the r-process. A correct understanding and modeling requires the knowledge of nuclear properties far from stability and a detailed prescription of the astrophysical environment. Experiments at CERN/ISOLDE have played a pioneering role in exploring the characteristics of nuclear structure in terms of masses and beta-decay properties. Initial examinations paid attention to far unstable nuclei with magic neutron numbers related to r-process peaks, while present activities are centered on the evolution of shell effects with the distance from the valley of stability. We first show in site-independent applications the effect of both types of nuclear properties on r-process abundances. Then, we explore the results of calculations related to two different `realistic' astrophysical sites, (i) the supernova neutrino wind and (ii) neutron star mergers. We close with a list of remaining theoretical and experimental challenges needed to overcome for a full understanding of the nature of the r-process, and the role CERN/ISOLDE can play in this process.Comment: LATEX, 38 pages, 16 figures, submitted to Hyperfine Interaction

Investigations on alternative substances for control of apple scab - results from sanitation trials

The intention of this research project, which was supported within the "Bundesprogramm Ökologischer Landbau", was to look for alternatives in organic fruit growing to control apple scab, Venturia inaequalis. One important part of the investigations was the application of different substances like microbiological nutrient media, enzymes usually used for production of fruit juices and organic fertilizers on their effect on the ascospore potential on depots of fallen leaves. Some substances like TRYPTIC SOY BROTH increased the decomposition of the leaves significantly, other like BACTOFIL B and HUMOFIX showed nearly no effect on the decomposition, but reduced the ascospore potential in early spring by 80 % compared to the untreated control