Browsing by discipline "Plant Production Biology"
Now showing items 41-48 of 48
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(2015)Carrot production is very specialized and professional in Finland. Long term storage of the yield is necessary during winter. In storage, the resistance of carrots to diseases decreases even with optimized storage conditions. Diseases can cause huge losses during long storage periods, but the severity of losses varies between years and fields. One of the most harmful diseases of carrots during storage is Mycocentrospora acerina. It is a soil borne fungus that cannot be controlled by fungicides. This is a study of the test method to evaluate the risk of M. acerina in a field. In this test slices of carrots were placed in a container with collected soil samples from a test field. The containers with soil samples and carrot slices were kept six weeks in the dark at +15 °C temperature. After that it was possible to see if M. acerina had grown up from the soil and infected the carrots by forming dark colored patches to the carrot slices. By calculating and comparing the amount of patches on each soil sample it was possible to evaluate the risk of M. acerina in a test field. Results from the test were compared to amount of M. acerina infection found in stored carrots harvested from the same fields. The study showed that it is possible to evaluate the risk of M. acerina. Soil samples can be collected in different times of the year, and the test can be made with fresh or storage carrots. The test samples need to be comparable, so they must be collected the same way and the amount of samples in each container must be sufficient to minimize variation. This study will introduce simple guidelines that farmers can use to test fields and evaluate the risk of M. acerina.
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(2016)Elintarvikeväärennösten havaitsemiseen käytetään DNA-pohjaisia tunnistusmenetelmiä. DNA-viivakoodaus on tunnistusmenetelmä, jolla pystytään toteamaan laji tuntemattomasta näytteestä lyhyen DNA-jakson eli viivakoodin perusteella. Tämänhetkiset viivakoodit kasveilla sisältävät nukleotiditasolla vähän lajien välisiä eroja, mikä heikentää näytteiden erottelukykyä ja näytteen oikeaa tunnistamista. Viivakoodien erottelukykyä arvioitiin eri puolukoiden (Vaccinium) suvun lajien kesken. Arviointi tehtiin viivakoodeista matK, ycf1, rpoC1 ja ITS. Puolukoiden suvulle ei löydetty viivakoodia, joka kykenisi tunnistamaan täydellisesti näytteitä lajitasolla. Kloroplastiset viivakoodit matK ja rpoC1 onnistuivat parhaiten PCR:ssa, monistamisessa ja sekvensoinnissa. Genomisen viivakoodin, ITS:n monistamisessa ilmeni häiriötä näytteissä, joissa oli vähän DNA:ta. Avoin lukukehys ycf1 puuttuu puolukoiden (Vaccinium) suvulta, mikä esti viivakoodin käyttämistä. DNA-viivakoodeista matK kykeni tunnistamaan BLAST-tietokantavertailussa seitsemän 14:sta näytteestä ja BOLD-tietokantavertailussa yhdeksän näytettä 14:sta näytteestä. ITS kykeni tunnistamaan BLAST-tietokantavertailussa kahdeksan näytettä 14:sta näytteestä. ITS:lle ei ollut riittävästi vastaavuuksia BOLD-tietokannassa ja rpoC1:lle ei kummassakaan tietokannassa. Sekvenssilinjauksessa matK ja rpoC1 olivat lajien välillä hyvin samankaltaisia. ITS sisälsi lajien välillä enemmän variaatiota, mutta tietokannoista puuttui vastaavia sekvenssejä, mistä syystä positiivisia tunnistuksia saatiin heikosti. DNA-viivakoodauksessa kasveilla kahden viivakoodin käyttö on edelleen suositeltavaa lajitason tunnistuksen tarkentamiseksi. Reaaliaikaisella PCR:lla (qPCR) pystytään spesifisesti toteamaan lajin läsnäolo näytteessä havaitsemalla DNA-jaksoja, jotka ovat ainutlaatuisia kohdelajin perimässä. Spesifinen tunnistusmenetelmä pyrittiin luomaan mustikalle (Vaccinium myrtillus) sijoittamalla alukkeet ja koetin lokuksille dfr ja MADS-box. Mustikan spesifisen menetelmän kehittelyssä ei saavutettu täydellistä spesifisyyttä. Mustikan lisäksi myös lajit V. praestans, V. smallii ja V. ovalifolium tuottivat positiivisen signaalin dfr-geenille suunnitelluilla alukkeilla ja koettimella. Positiivista ekspressiota tuottaneet lajit sisälsivät oletettavasti samankaltaisen dfr-geenin, jolle mustikalle spesifiset alukkeet ja koetin sitoutuivat. Spesifinen menetelmä kykeni kuitenkin sulkemaan pois muiden kasvisukujen näytteet sekä suurimman osan puolukoiden suvun näytteistä. Menetelmää voidaan hienosäätää kun dfr-geenin sekvenssi saadaan selville positiivisen signaalin antaneista lajeista tai kun muita suuremman muuntelun alueita paljastuu sekvensoinnin tuloksena.
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(2014)Young people are often vulnerable to mental disorders while they are in a sensitive and fragile developmental stage. Mental disorders are becoming more and more common among young people at an alarming rate. It is estimated that one in five young people suffers from some form of mental disorder and would benefit from a treatment. Mental disorders demand different kinds of treatments. Medical treatment is not the only solution and it should be supported by some sort of functional therapy. By medical treatment you can treat the symptom, not the cause of it. Functional therapy is designed to accustom the patient back to the normal daily habits. It helps the patient to adjust to the normal live after a period in hospital. Different kinds of therapies should be motivating and effective in order to achieve the coals. The empowering effects of nature have been utilized in metal health care. Garden activity has been found to have a positive effect on the human experience of self-confidence and on the ability to cope in social contacts. It has been found to relieve aggression and stress as well as to improve attention and maintenance of social relationships. In natural environments the patient can feel from the treatment relationship and forget about his or her patient status for a while. This study focused to therapeutic horticulture and how it affects young people with mental health problems. The study involved young people in Pitkäniemi psychiatric hospital in two different departments. Young people took part in a weekly garden group from May to September. The aim was to find out if garden activities have an effect to the concentration and mood. Young people self-evaluated their ability to concentrate and their mood before and after the horticultural therapy session. The activities in the garden plot and the patients participating in the garden activities were observed. The nurses were interviewed after the study period. Positive results were obtained. Young people felt that they were calmer, happier and refreshed after therapeutic horticulture session and their concentration was increased. Plants were treated with care and the young patients participated in various work without any preconceptions.
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(2017)Water deficiency limits the growth of cereals and the utilization of nutrients worldwide. In Finland, the problem is lack of rain during vegetative growth in the spring. At that time plants are most sensitive to stresses. Irrigation in spring could improve yields and the utilization of nutrients in cereals. The aim of this study was to investigate whether spring irrigation affects the nitrogen use of spring wheat (Triticum aestivum L. emend Thell ’Amaretto') and what are the possible effective mechanisms. Study was conducted in the greenhouse as a completely randomized split-plot experiment where the main plot was irrigation (0 or 32 mm) and the sub-plot was nitrogen fertilization (0 and 150 kg/ha). The rate of photosynthesis, leaf area index (LAI), stomatal conductance, leaf temperature and SPAD value were measured from the crop. At flowering stage leaf area was measured and the numbers of fertile and sterile flowers were counted and plant nitrogen content was analysed. At maturity stage the yield components and nitrogen content of the grains were determined. The components of nitrogen use of wheat was investigated by calculating nitrogen use efficiency (NUE), uptake efficiency (UPE), utilization efficiency (UTE), agronomic efficiency (AE), grain accumulation efficiency (GAE), internal efficiency (IE), nitrogen harvest index (NHI) as well as nitrogen fertilizer partial factor productivity (PFP) and nitrogen fertilizer recovery (FNR). Biomass production efficiency (BPE) and harvest index (HI) were also calculated. Irrigation increased NUE, UPE and UTE. The NUE of irrigated wheat was 35 whereas the NUE was 25 without irrigation. The increase of NUE due to irrigation was explained for the most part by UTE which was 40 with irrigation and 35 without irrigation. Irrigation increased also the uptake of nitrogen by approximately 20 kg/ha. Additionally, FNR was 60 % and 40 % with and without irrigation, respectively. However, phytomass increased more than nitrogen uptake as a consequence of the irrigation and vegetative mass increased more than grain mass. Furthermore, it was observed that both the photosynthesis and the stomatal conductance became more effective and LAI was higher as a consequence of the irrigation. In conclusion, NUE of wheat can be increased by irrigation. One explanation for this could be that irrigation intensifies netphotosynthesis and stomatal conductivity.
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(2015)The great web-spinning pine-sawfly is a common species in Finland. Few mass outbreaks have occurred in Europe, but they have last a long time. Yet first outbreak in Finland was observed at Yyteri region near Pori in 2006. Larvae use pine needles as nutrient. It is estimated that 100–200 larvae/m2 is a level for severe forest damage. There have been many locations containing 200–500 larvae/m2 at the Yyteri region. There is tourism and nature value in Yyteri and so chemical control was not the first option. That is why biological control was used and the most promising seem to be Steinernema feltiae. It was commercially available and spraying it was simple. The purpose of the research was to find out how S. feltiae could be used to reduce the great web-spinning pine-sawfly on a large scale. Spraying was done by using agricultural spraying equipment attached to tractors. Photoelecton traps were used and soil samples of larvae were collected. Control traps gathered 65.0 % of adults in 2011 while treatment traps gathered 35.0 %. In 2012 traps collected 48.6 % and 51.4 %, respectively. Traps gathered 120 adults in 2011. Main swarming was 2012 and 469 adults were caught. Some unreliability is involved in results because of the high spatial distribution of larvae in soil. Differences between years might be explained by earlier metamorphosis of the great web-spinning pine-sawfly to adult, increased deviation of trap results and grassier field conditions. Chilly weather might also have prevented nematodes performing at maximum capacity in 2012. In soil samples 88.6 % of the great web-spinning pine-sawflies were alive. It seems that most of them would be overwinter for fourth year. Most of the dead great web-spinning pine-sawflies (90.3 %) were found in organic soil layers. However, the clear-cut area has stayed at 200 ha for now.
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(2016)Ubiquitin is an important modifier in eukaryotic cells through many effects on the targeted protein. Ubiquitination is a reaction cascade, catalyzed by E1 – E2 and finally E3 enzyme which completes the ubiquitination. In this study preselected 61 RING type ubiquitin E3 proteins of Arabidopsis thaliana were classified, grouped and analysed to characterize what kind of domains and groups were included. Proteins which contain a RING domain, can either ubiquitinate substrates independently or function as part of a multi-subunit complex. RING E3s are known to act as a molecular adaptors for the E2s and the substrates. It is the E3 ligase that is responsible for selecting the target protein for ubiquitination and later for degradation in proteasome in to peptides. The same preselected 61 genes were also researched from the Betula pendula Roth genome. Web Apollo database was used to annotate genes from the recently sequenced silver birch genome. As a result 32 gene homologs that included RING domain were identified in silver birch.
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(2016)Viikin arboretum on tärkeä luonto- ja virkistyskohde monille helsinkiläisille. Arboretumin hoito- ja kehittämissuunnitelmaa laadittaessa vuonna 2014 tuli esiin tarve selvittää arboretumin eri käyttäjäryhmiä. Tämän tutkimuksen tavoitteena oli kartoittaa Viikin arboretumin kävijärakennetta ja mitä arboretumissa harrastetaan sekä käyntimotiiveja ja millaisia motiiveihin perustuvia kävijäsegmenttejä arboretumissa on. Tutkimuksessa selvitettiin myös eri segmenttien tyytyväisyyttä Viikin arboretumin palveluihin, rakenteisiin ja ympäristöön. Tutkimusaineisto kerättiin kyselytutkimuksella, joka toteutettiin jakamalla paperisia kyselylomakkeita Viikin arboretumissa 4.–30.7.2014 välisenä aikana sekä sähköisellä lomakkeella 20.8.–16.9.2014. Vastauksia saatiin yhteensä 260 kappaletta. Kävijäsegmenttien muodostamiseen käytettiin pääkomponenttianalyysia ja k-keskiarvon ryhmittelyanalyysia. Kävijät ottivat osaa monenlaisiin aktiviteetteihin käydessään Viikin arboretumissa.Tavallisimpia arboretumin käyttömuotoja olivat pyöräily ja kävely sekä kaikenlainen luonnon tarkkailu. Maisemat, luontoelämykset ja hyvät ulkoilureitit olivat tärkeimmät syyt käydä arboretumissa. Viikin arboretumin pääasiallisia käyttäjäryhmiä olivat ulkoilu- ja virkistyskäyttäjät, opetus- ja tutkimuskäytön merkitys oli vähäinen. Kävijät olivat yleisesti ottaen tyytyväisiä Viikin arboretumiin. Aineistosta tunnistettiin yhteensä kolme motiivipohjaista toisistaan eroavaa kävijäsegmenttiä: luontokeskeinen ulkoilija (38,8 % kävijöistä), liikunnan harrastaja (44,7 %) ja kasviharrastaja (16,5 %). Luontokeskeiset ulkoilijat ja liikunnan harrastajat käyttivät arboretumia jokapäiväiseen virkistäytymiseen. Kasviharrastajat tulivat tutustumaan arboretumin ainutlaatuiseen kasvillisuuteen kauempaakin. Kävijäsegmenttien tunteminen auttaa alueen suunnittelijoita ja hoitajia kehittämään Viikin arboretumia ja kohdentamaan palveluita ja viestintää tehokkaammin.
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(2015)Crop rotation is an important farming practice in organic agriculture. In the research it has been shown that diverse crop rotations enhance productivity as well as agrobiodiversity, and thus the organic regulations of EU obliges the farmers to have diverse rotations on their farms. However, it is unclear what kinds of crop rotations have been implemented on Finnish farms. In this master’s thesis the aim was to find out what kinds of crop rotations plans there were used on 21 organic arable farms on Uusimaa and Satakunta regions in the Southern Finland and how the plans were put into practice during 2008–2012. The aim was also to study, if there were differences between the regions. The study material consisted of the crop rotation plans which are required from the farmers in the beginning of 5-year organic subsidy period and of the information from EU’s IACS-database about the crops grown on farms. The typical crop rotation on the organic farms was the alternation between cereals and ley, in different pace on different field plots. Also the winter rye – oat – two- or three-year ley was a typical crop rotation. Crop rotation plans and realized crop rotations were compared with each other by “realization index”, which was developed by this study. The realization index showed that the plans were followed every year less and less on the average, but on the same time it was also typical to come back to the plans. However, as a consequence of the changes made into the plans, the field area of the farm was usually not an entity, bound together by crop rotation, but the crop rotation was planned for the each field plot separately. There were statistically significant differences in crop rotations plans between regions. In Uusimaa region the crop rotations were based on crop types whereas in Satakunta region the crops to be grown were identified more precisely. Several future research topics emerged, such as the significance of crop rotations in organic agriculture, farmer’s strategies in crop rotation design and the sustainability as well as productivity of those strategies.
Now showing items 41-48 of 48