Archive
2,437 posts
Forages in the light of NIRS
An insight into the determination of the chemical composition of forages via NIRS is presented. Predictive models developed at the Agroscope Institute for Livestock Sciences ILS show the typical values: R2 > 0.96 for dry matter (DM), crude protein (CP), ADForg, NDForg, crude fibre (CF), cellulose, ash, fat, sugar and starch content in hay and…
Pests and pathogens in the cabbageoilseed rape agroecosystem
The cabbage – oilseed rape agroecosystem consists of cruciferous crop plants with different levels of productivity and labour intensity. In Switzerland, such crop plants are cultivated mostly in small-scale agricultural settings. Cruciferous crop plants are hosts for a wide range of pest insects and plant pathogens. However, the importance of the damage caused by pests…
Leaf blowers as an alternative to rakes: impact on vegetation after four years
In the mountains, hay harvesting represents a significant task for farmers. To make this job easier and speed up the harvest, farmers are gradually replacing rakes with leaf blowers. The Swiss nature conservancy organisation Pro Natura and the Agriculture and Agri-Food Research Station Agroscope are currently evaluating the potential effects of leaf blowers on the…
Plant protection products – mitigating the risk due to surface runoff
Plant protection products (PPP) can betransported from treated fields to surface waters via surface runoff during rain events. Potential risks for aquatic organisms due to surface runoff are assessed during the registration process for PPP, and risk mitigation measures are implemented if necessary. Currently, a vegetated buffer zone of 6 m width may be required…
Pesticide application – measures for mitigation of spray drift
The spray application of plant protection products (PPP) leads to a contamination of non-target areas via spray drift: Droplets containing the active ingredient are deposited outside of the targeted area. The potential risk for non-target organisms caused by this drift is evaluated in the authorization-process of PPP. In order to achieve acceptable risk levels for…
Sugar beet pulp with higher DM-contents shows a good silage quality
Currently, pressed sugar-beet pulp is delivered with a DM content of around 25 %. In future, sugar refineries hope to press the pulp even harder, with a view to reducing transported quantities. In the present study, we investigated the influence of higher DM content on silage quality and aerobic stability in various silage methods. To…
Global food security – the consequences for Switzerland
Society is facing major challenges in ensuring global food security. Global trends since the food-price crisis in 2008 have revealed significant new risks. In 2012, the Swiss Federal Office for Agriculture decided to identify, quantify and prioritise these risks and to derive potential areas of intervention. A literature review based on the analysis of key…
Synergies and trade-offs with regard to ensuring food security and the efficient use of resources
In Switzerland, agriculture and the food industry are facing major challenges, as is society in general. The gap between desired and achievable levels of food production is growing wider, since ensuring sufficient food supplies for a growing population requires a constant increase in production while at the same time it is necessary to reduce the…
ProfiCrops: the status of efficiency, effectiveness and added-value
As with the other two research programmes Agroscope (AgriMontana and NutriScope), ProfiCrops began in 2008 and will end in March 2014. To bring the programme to a close, several events were organised and a series of articles were published in Recherche Agronomique Suisse from July 2013 onwards. This last article presents an assessment of ProfiCrops,…
Innovation mapping in plant production: the case of HOLL rapeseed
The Swiss plant production sector aims at maintaining its competitiveness, even in a liberalized economy. The research program ProfiCrops takes a look into innovations generated for the plant production sector. Innovations are a requisite for maintaining the competitiveness of the agricultural sector. A tool allowing to map innovations in the plant production sector has been…
Potato susceptibility to blackleg disease caused by Dickeya spp.
Pectin lytic bacteria belonging to the genera Pectobacterium and Dickeya can cause several diseases on potato, such as stem rots, commonly named «blacklegs», and tuber rots, which are referred to as «soft rots». The blackleg symptom is the primary cause for the rejection of potato seed lots in Switzerland. The field trials conducted in this…
What is the impact of the new alpine pasturing subsidies?
Alpine pasturing subsidies are now being introduced under the 2014–2017 Agricultural Policy. These subsidies are meant to offer lower-altitude farms a further incentive to move their livestock to alpine pastures during the summer season. Calculations made with the agent-based model SWISSland show that the alpine pasturing subsidies in combination with the previous summer pasturing subsidies…
Controlling pollen beetle with the natural agent «Surround»
Meligethes spp. (pollen beetles) can cause major damage to oilseed rape crops. Organic and extensively farmed stands are especially at risk, since the use of insecticides on them is prohibited. Moreover, the pollen beetle’s increasing resistance means that non-chemical treatment options could also become important for conventional oilseed rape cultivation in future. Agroscope has tested…
