More seed from existing Norway spruce seed orchards?

More seed from existing Norway spruce seed orchards?

More seed from existing Norway
spruce seed orchards?
NordGen 5.-6.9.2012
Tiina Ylioja
Finnish Forest Research Institute Metla
Picea abies seed orchards in Finland
• 1st generation seed orchards, 1964-1972
• 1st generation seed orchards 1994, 1997
• new established starting from 2002
– graft seed orchards 1.5 generation
– seedling seed orchards (plustree selection in 1990 – 2003)
Picea abies seeds
Forest nurseries
stand
1600
62%
1400
seed [kg]
1200
seed orchard
32%
77%
17%
1000
800
600
400
200
0
2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
Year
www.evira.fi
Why the lack of SO seed?
• flowering pattern of spruce: cone years (masting), weather
(Pukkala ym. 2010)
• Uneven flowering: clones flower during different years -> low
flowering in orchard: cost of collection
• History: establishment of first spruce seed orchards
– forest sites and agricultural sites
– not designed for machine work and orchards ”not managed
intensively”
• Insect and fungal damage to cone crops
• Cone collection and handling procedures (timing, storage,
seed extraction etc. ). Seed germination in the nurseries
What could be done?
• Weather cannot be manipulated
• Uneven flowering: perhaps gibberellin injections could not
only increase the crop but also help to synchronize flowering
of clones, fertilizing during or after flowering
• History: establishment of first spruce seed orchards
– thinnings, cutting of tops
– sites cannot be changed
• Insect and fungal damage to cone crops
– Integrated pest management
• Optimizing the cone collection and seed extraction so that
minimum number of seeds are lost and no loss in germination
potential (including pre-treatments of seed in the nurseries)
Damage
Infection (fungi) and infestation (insects) start already
during flowering
Pathogens:
cherry-spruce rust, Thekopsora areolata
spruce cone rust, Chrysomyxa pirolata
Insects:
spruce cone worm, Dioryctria abietella
spruce seed moth, Cydia strobilella
spruce cone looper, Eupithecia abietaria
spruce seed chalcid, Megastigmus strobilobius
spruce cone maggot, Strobilomyia anthracina
etc.
Not a new problem!
Rummukainen, U. 1960. Abundance and quality of seed damage in spruce:
”1890: Cecidomyia strobi destroys northern spruce cones”
”1900: fungi and insect ruined the otherwise good cone crop”
”1925: plenty of cones, but destroyed by insects” AND SO ON…
Insecticides?
• Turex WP 50 (Bacillus thuringiensis var.
aizawai x kurstaki ) registrated in Sweden
for seed orchards (not in Finland)
– Weslien (1999) Scand. J. For. Res.
– Rosenberg & Weslien (2005) J. Econ. Entomol.
– biological + ”environmentally friendly”
– lower cone worm (Dioryctria) and cone
looper (Eupithecia) damage: right timing,
during flowering
Turex WP 50 spraying
Seed orchard 113
20
Percentage of cones
Percentage of cones
Seed orchard 112
16
12
8
4
24
20
16
12
8
4
0
0
Dioryctria And Eupithecia
Unsprayed
Dioryctria
Cydia strobilella
1xTurex
Cydia
Dioryctria And Eupithecia
Unsprayed
Dioryctria
Cydia strobilella
2xTurex
Cydia
• no replication!
• Low infestation levels
Photo: Sakari Pönniö
Infestation levels:
2006
2-20% Strobilomyia
2-42% Cydia
5-25% Dioryctria
2007
0-71% Strobilomyia
40-90% Cydia
23-57% Dioryctria
Other promising insectisides
• Fastac (alpha-cypermethrin ): Dioryctria
abietella, Strobilomyia anthracina (Rosenberg
et al., unpubl.)
Stem injections
gibberellin + insecticide
• Rosenberg et al. (2012) J Econ Entomol
• bifenthrin, deltamethrin ja imidacloprid were
ineffective
• abamectin effective: also when applied year prior
flowering!
– Dioryctria and Eupithecia damage decreased
– No effect on Megastigmus seed chalcid (X-rays)
Pesticide solution
• Many species targeted simultaneously
• In experiments there are no control
effects…
• … or the effects are too small
• laboursome experiments
• experiments cannot be carried out in the
laboratory (demand for cone
development)
• small scale experiments needed before the
practical scale experiments (e.g. need for
many treatments, risk of phytotoxicity)
Legislation in Finland
• Laki kasvinsuojeluaineista 1563 voimaan 1.1.2012:
– 5 vuoden välein levitysvälineiden testaus
• §6 Kasvinsuojeluaineita on käytettävä asianmukaisesti havaitun tarpeen
mukaan ja käyttöohjeita noudattaen. Jos kasvinsuojeluaineita käytetään
ammattimaisesti, myös integroidun torjunnan yleisiä periaatteita on
noudatettava. 1.1.2014 alkaen.
Demand for integrated pest management when
pesticides are in professional use
Euroopan parlamentin ja neuvoston direktiivi 2009/128/EY liite III:
2) haitallisia organismeja seurattava, jos mahdollisuus pest monitoring
3) ammattimaisen käyttäjän on seurannan tulosten perusteella päätettävä
toteutetaanko kasvinsuojelutoimenpiteitä vai ei ja milloin. Selkeät ja
tieteellisesti perustellut kynnysarvot! treshold values for control
4) kestävät, luonnonmukaiset, fysikaaliset ja muut kuin kemialliset
menetelmät asettava etusijalle, jos niillä voidaan torjua tyydyttävästi.
chemical methods avoided if other means are available for control
Legislation in Finland
Lag om växtskyddsmedel 29.12.2011/1563
§6 Växtskyddsmedel ska användas på ett korrekt sätt i enlighet med det
konstaterade behovet och med iakttagande av bruksanvisningarna. Vid
yrkesmässig användning av växtskyddsmedel ska även de allmänna principerna för
integrerat växtskydd iakttas. Tillämpas från och med den 1 januari 2014.
Demand for integrated pest management when
pesticides are in professional use
Bilaga III till Europaparlamentets och rådets direktiv 2009/128/EG
2) Skadliga organismer ska övervakas med hjälp av lämpliga metoder och verktyg, där
sådana finns att tillgå. Sådana lämpliga verktyg bör omfatta fältobservationer och
vetenskapligt underbyggda system för varning, prognos och tidig diagnos, där så
är möjligt, samt rådgivning av professionella rådgivare. pest monitoring
3) Yrkesmässiga användare ska utifrån resultaten av övervakningen fatta beslut om
huruvida och när växtskyddsåtgärder ska vidtas. Tillförlitliga och vetenskapligt
välunderbyggda tröskelvärden är väsentliga för beslutsfattandet. Innan någon
behandling inleds ska när så är möjligt hänsyn tas till vilka tröskelvärden för
skadliga organismer som fastställts för regionen, de särskilda områdena, grödorna
och de särskilda klimatförhållandena.treshold values for control
4) Hållbara biologiska, fysiska och andra icke-kemiska metoder ska ges företräde
framför kemiska metoder om de leder till tillfredsställande bekämpning av
skadegörare och ogräs. chemical methods avoided if other means are available
for control
•
•
Practical challenge - even with
effective insecticides
• If the time window for spraying is narrow and
spatially overlapping among seed orchards:
simultaneously spraying at different seed
orchards, demand for staff and equipment
• rough terrain not good for targeting spraying
• aerial spraying not allowed (special
permission)
• injections are laboursome (but perhaps the
best option)
Towards IPM
(Integrated Pest Management)
Cone worm Dioryctria
Sakari Pönniö
Seed moth Cydia
Pekka Helenius
• Tresholds for control: pheromone monitoring
• Connection among flying period, degree days and
flowering phase
• NCSI Nordic Cone and Seed Insects funded by SNS
Synthetic pheromones
• Pheromone for spruce cone worm (Dioryctria
abietella)
– Löfstedt et al.(2012) J. Appl Entomol
• Pheromone for spruce seed moth (Cydia strobilella)
– Wang et al. (2010) J Chem Ecol
• North-American spruce seed moth different species
from European Cydia strobilella (testing in seed
orchard 403 Suhola, Joroinen)
– Svensson et al. (submitted) Systematic Entomology
Spruce cone worm
Photo: Sakari Pönniö
Nordic pheromone testing
• 1 trap per ha, 3 – 5 traps per orchard, at 1.5 m
Cone crop survey
Damage survey
Trap height: 1.5 m, 9 m and 14 m
”TALL”
”SHORT”
Trap height testing: preliminary results
• Spruce cone worm (Dioryctria abietella) flies
higher than spruce seed moth (Cydia
strobilella)
• None of the two species prefer to fly above
canopies
• Female calling behaviour?
Future in control: mating distruption with
synthetic pheromones?
Conclusions
• Hopefully more seed in the future as research progresses
– good luck with weather and mismatch with the insect population
dynamics
• newly established seed orchards need to be managed so that
control sprayings are possible to conduct easily and efficiently
• seed orchard managers need training with pesticides, their
use and obligations including IPM
• gibberellin + abamectin + Turex WP 50: registered in Finland
for the future
• IPM: tresholds for control, monitoring methods, alternative
control methods