Plant protection means used in organic farming throughout the European Union

Following the obligatory implementation of integrated pest management in the European Union (EU), the plant protection means suitable for application in organic agriculture attracted the attention of quite a wide group of potential users. In spite of the common rules of organic production, as well as the uniform principles of placing plant protection products on the market, the availability of products that can be legally used in organic crop protection differs significantly among the Member States. There is a uniform list of 10 basic substances that can be used in the protection of organic crops throughout the entire EU. Twelve Member States have official registers of plant protection products for use in organic agriculture, and the total number of qualified products per country varies from 11 in Lithuania to 576 in Italy. Some products that improve plant vigour or resistance and may be of use in protection of organic crops are placed on the market as biostimulants. They fall under the law that governs fertilisers and the systems of their registration vary widely among the Member States. In addition, there exist a number of products that have been legally introduced onto the markets of some Member States without registration as a consequence of a loophole in the law. The use of unregistered products in organic agriculture raises some doubts, but currently it seems that there is no legal basis on which to explicitly prohibit the practice. © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry     

The role of models for multicriteria evaluation and multiobjective design of cropping systems for managing weeds

Weeds are both harmful for crop production and important for biodiversity, while herbicides can pollute the environment. We thus need new cropping systems optimising all cultural techniques, reconciling agricultural production, herbicide reduction and biodiversity conservation. Here, we show how to (i) develop models quantifying the effects of cropping systems on weed dynamics, (ii) integrate interactions between weeds and other organisms, (iii) predict the impact on production and biodiversity and (iv) use the model for multicriteria evaluation and multiobjective design of cropping systems. Among the existing weed dynamics models, we chose the one closest to our requirements to illustrate these different steps, that is, FlorSys which predicts multispecific weed dynamics as a function of cultural techniques and pedoclimate. We have illustrated the development of interaction submodels with the example of a crop pathogen whose propagation is increased when infecting grass weeds. To evaluate the weed flora impact, predicted weed densities were translated into indicators of harmfulness (crop yield loss, technical harvest problems, harvest pollution, field infestation, crop disease increase) and biodiversity (weed species richness and equitability, trophic resources for birds, insects and pollinators). Simulations were run over several years and with different weather scenarios (i) to optimise cultural techniques to control harmful weeds, (ii) to analyse the impact of changing agricultural practices (e.g. simplified tillage and rotations, no‐till, temporary crops) on weed density, species and trait composition and (iii) to evaluate cropping systems for their ability to reconcile agricultural production and biodiversity, thus identifying levers for designing sustainable cropping systems.     

土壤氮磷钾养分资源特征和综合管理策略

本文拓宽高产施肥的传统观念,将土壤和肥料施入的养分视为自然资源,提出了养分资源综合管理策略:在施肥技术上,以提高养分利用效率为目标,以积极发展有机肥为基础,对氮重在作物营养分期逐步调控,尽可能提高施肥量的准确性;对磷钾重在土壤养分消长趋势监控,施肥量可保持相对稳定。在研究方法上,以氮为重点,适当减少试验因素,增加因素水平。在化肥资源开发上,挖掘国内生产潜力,限制氮肥进口,适当增加磷钾肥进口。     

Effects of cultivar resistance and fungicide application on stem canker of oilseed rape (Brassica napus) and potential interseasonal transmission of Leptosphaeria spp. inoculum

Phoma stem canker is a damaging disease of oilseed rape (Brassica napus) that causes annual yield losses to UK oilseed rape growers worth approximately £100 million, despite the use of fungicides. In the UK, oilseed rape is sown in August/September and harvested in the following July. The disease epidemics are initiated by ascospores released from Leptosphaeria spp. pseudothecia (ascocarps) on stem stubble in the autumn/winter. Control of this disease is reliant on the use of cultivars with “field resistance” and azole fungicides. This study investigated the effects of cultivar resistance and application of the fungicide prothioconazole on the severity of stem canker before harvest and the subsequent production of pseudothecia on the infected stubble under natural conditions in the 2017/2018, 2018/2019, and 2019/2020 cropping seasons. The application of prothioconazole and cultivar resistance decreased the severity of phoma stem canker before harvest, and the subsequent production of Leptosphaeria spp. pseudothecia on stubble in terms of pseudothecial density. Results showed that stems with less severe stem cankers produced fewer mature pseudothecia of Leptosphaeria spp. on the infected stubble. This investigation suggests that the most sustainable and effective integrated control strategy for phoma stem canker in seasons with low quantities of inoculum is to use cultivars with medium or good field resistance and apply only one spray of prothioconazole when required.     

诊断施肥综合法（DRIS）在渭北旱塬红富士 苹果营养诊断中的应用

本研究通过提前叶片采样时期,运用诊断施肥综合法(DRIS)对不同产量水平红富士苹果进行了叶片矿质营养诊断,以期为早期红富士苹果营养诊断与科学施肥提供依据.测定诊断结果表明,渭北旱塬红富士苹果叶片N、P、K、Ca、Mg、Cu、Fe、Mn、Zn的适宜值分别为26.04±3.50 g·kg-1、2.84+0.74 g·kg-1、15.05±4.08 g·kg-1、14.25±3.04 g·kg-1、3.15±0.73 g·kg-1、12.69±3.14 mg· kg-1、262.87±82.05 mg·kg-1、96.33±33.35 mg·kg-1、23.57±10.13 mg·kg-1.选择的DRIS诊断参数中,除N/Zn、Cu/P、P/Zn、Ca/Zn、Mg/Zn和Cu/Zn外,30种表示形式的变异系数均表现出低产组(＜ 25 kg·tree-1)大于高产组(＜25 kg·tree-1);高产组和低产组的养分不平衡指数(NII)分别为73和88.相对于高产组,低产组元素间关系更不平衡.总体而言,渭北旱塬区红富士苹果园除产量高于41.3kg· tree-需肥顺序排在第一位的元素为Cu外,其它均为P;需肥顺序排在第二位的元素高产为K,低产果园仅当产量低于10.2 kg·tree-1时为K,其余为Zn;而排在第三位的,高产均为Ca,低产均为Mg.     

Induced resistance: a tool for fungicide resistance management

Induced resistance to the apple scab fungus Venturia inaequalis was demonstrated in greenhouse tests with 12-day-old seedlings of the apple cultivar Golden Delicious treated with methyl 2,6-dichloro-isonicotinate or 3,5-dichlorosalicylic acid prior to inoculation with the causal fungus. Studies of the dose-response of flusilazole on induced resistant plants revealed synergistic effects between both crop protection principles. Therefore, the use of such resistance-inducing compounds in the field might allow a reduction in the number of fungicide applications, and possibly a reduction in dose, thus resulting in improved efficacy of fungicides. There was also evidence that induced resistance could prove to be a valid strategy for the treatment of pathogen populations with reduced sensitivity to a given fungicide. © 1998 SCI     

Exploring drivers of the usage of anticoagulant rodenticides on UK farms

Anticoagulant rodenticides (ARs) are considered inhumane, show increasingly limited efficacy due to acquired resistance, and carry environmental consequences associated with non-target species uptake. In a questionnaire study of 499 UK farms that all deployed chemical rodenticide we found a high mean reliance (79%), on second generation ARs with just over half of the respondents using no other rodent control methods. Additional methods where deployed, alone or in combination, included predation (41%), kill-trap deployment (16%) and shooting (1%). Nearly 40% of all respondents deployed rodenticides year-round. There was no evidence to suggest that “tidy-farm” measures, such as clearing food spills and minimising on-farm rodent harbourage sites aimed at minimising rodent-associated problems, were associated with a lower likelihood of year-round deployment; in fact trends in our analyses suggested the opposite. We therefore encourage operators to fully evaluate the true necessity of rodenticide deployment before AR use.     

兴隆林业局木材缴库、存储、销售计算机管理系统开发模型

从管理层次、数据流、工作界面、功能模块、系统安全性等几个方面对兴隆林业局木材缴库、存储、销售计算机管理系统的开发模型进行了详细的分析。