Contact
ake.olson@slu.se, 018-671876
SLU news
Biological pesticides are tested in nurseries
Published: 23 September 2019
Today, high demands are made on the forest industry for production to be environmentally friendly. At the same time, many chemical pesticides are being phased out. Elin Persson is now investigating the effectiveness of four biological pesticides in a nursery.
Elin Persson studies the forester program in Umeå but is currently in Uppsala to do her master's work.
Elin is testing four different biological pesticides that are available on the market today. They consist either of bacteria or different fungi that can act as biological plant protection. The treatments have been done on pine plants at a Swedish forest plant nursery in Kilåmon
– In connection with the treatments I have collected needles and soil samples. In the lab at the Department of Forest Mycology and Plant Pathology, I am currently analyzing the samples to see if there are any fungi and how the fungal community developed during the summer, says Elin.
-
Needles and soil samples were collected after treatment with various biological pesticides in the nursery. Photo: Åke Olson.
1/2
-
Elin investigates which pathogenic fungi are present in the samples using molecular methods. Photo: Åke Olson.
2/2
– It will be exciting to compare the different treatments. It is already possible to see some differences between them, some plants have grown more in height than others, Elin continues.
The aim of this work is that it, together with other studies, will be able to provide guidance on whether these four biological pesticides are effective for use in nurseries.
– There are increasing demands on the forest industry that the entire chain with all pesticides and approaches should be gentle on people, animals and nature. Many chemicals are about to be phased out, so finding good alternatives is important, says Elin.
In her spare time, Elin likes all kinds of exercise and staying in nature.
- In the future, I want to work with forest owner issues, forest pathology and the role of the forests for the climate, says Elin.
Links:
This master thesis work is a part of a PhD project at the Department of Forest Mycology and Plant Pathology. Read more here.