Publications by authors named "Marit Almvik"

Article Synopsis
  • * Researchers analyzed 644 samples from soil and various wild animals and plants over two years, finding that 59.5% contained ARGs, with a higher occurrence in the fall and organic fields compared to conventional ones.
  • * Livestock manure was linked to increased ARG levels, while areas with minimal human activity showed fewer ARGs and no antimicrobial-resistant bacteria, suggesting a significant impact of farming practices on AMR.
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Article Synopsis
  • The Norwegian cereal industry faces challenges from head blight (FHB) pathogens, which produce mycotoxins like deoxynivalenol (DON) and T-2 toxins (T2 and HT2) in oats.
  • This study aimed to evaluate Nordic spring oat varieties based on their mycotoxin content and the DNA of the fungal species producing them, highlighting the significant impact of FHB resistance on mycotoxin levels in grains.
  • Findings showed that oat varieties resistant to FHB had lower mycotoxin levels, emphasizing the need for separate testing for different mycotoxins to effectively screen for FHB resistance in oat breeding.
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Article Synopsis
  • Difenoconazole, a commonly used triazole fungicide, has been studied for its degradation and toxicity in the environment, revealing a lack of comprehensive research on its transformation products (TPs).
  • Laboratory experiments identified 12 TPs from different degradation processes (photolysis, hydrolysis, soil) and confirmed four new TPs, which were quantified and assessed for toxicity.
  • Findings indicate that while the acute toxicity of the new TPs is lower than that of difenoconazole, most TPs are predicted to be chronically very toxic to fish, highlighting potential environmental risks to aquatic ecosystems.
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Helminth parasitic infections are common in small ruminants in Norway; infection is usually treated with anthelmintic drugs, but anthelmintic resistance is an increasing problem. It is necessary to identify strategies to reduce the use of anthelmintic drugs and mitigate the impact of anthelmintic resistance. Condensed tannin (CT)-rich forages have been shown to reduce the helminth burden in small ruminants, but these forages have limited cultivation potential in Scandinavia.

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Cereal grain contaminated by mycotoxins is undesirable in food and feed because of the harmful health effects of the mycotoxins in humans and animals. Reduction of mycotoxin content in grain by cleaning and size sorting has mainly been studied in wheat. We investigated whether the removal of small kernels by size sorting could be a method to reduce the content of mycotoxins in oat grain.

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In response to various stimuli, plants acquire resistance against pests and/or pathogens. Such acquired or induced resistance allows plants to rapidly adapt to their environment. Spraying the bark of mature Norway spruce (Picea abies) trees with the phytohormone methyl jasmonate (MeJA) enhances resistance to tree-killing bark beetles and their associated phytopathogenic fungi.

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Limited knowledge and experimental data exist on pesticide leaching through partially frozen soil. The objective of this study was to better understand the complex processes of freezing and thawing and the effects these processes have on water flow and pesticide transport through soil. To achieve this we conducted a soil column irrigation experiment to quantify the transport of a non-reactive tracer and the herbicide MCPA in partially frozen soil.

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Phosphorus (P) is an important element for crop productivity and is widely applied in fertilizers. Most P fertilizers applied to land are sorbed onto soil particles, so research on improving plant uptake of less easily available P is important. In the current study, we investigated the responses in root morphology and root-exuded organic acids (OAs) to low available P (1 μM P) and sufficient P (50 μM P) in barley, canola and micropropagated seedlings of potato-three important food crops with divergent root traits, using a hydroponic plant growth system.

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Organochlorine pollutants in the major fish species (pike Esox lucius, perch Perca fluviatilis, and roach Rutilus rutilus) of Lake Arungen, Norway, were investigated after an extensive removal of large pike in 2004. The organochlorine pollutants detected in fish liver samples in 2005 were dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDTs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), hexachlorobenzene (HCB), and heptachlor epoxide (HCE). DDTs were the dominant among all analyzed OCs.

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