Andrej Paušič

In the growing seasons of 2021 and 2022, two field experiments in a Williams pear and an Abate Fetel pear orchard were conducted at location Bilje near Nova Gorica. The effectiveness of two spraying programs for suppressing the marmorated stink bug (MSB) was analyzed. In program A, insecticides based on the active substances acetamprid, pyriproxyfen, spirotetramat, indoxacarb, lambda-cyhalothrin, and abamectin were used. In program B, insecticides based on the active substances acetamprid, pyriproxyfen, deltamethrin, phosmet, and abamectin were used, combined with alternative repellent preparations. In 2021, we had 23 % of fruit damaged by MSB in the Williams variety and 25% in the Abate Fetel variety, both in the untreated control plots. In 2022, the percentage of fruits damaged by MSB in the control plots was 30 % in the Williams variety and 30% in the Abate Fetel variety. The effectiveness of spraying program A in reducing the proportion of damaged fruit by MSB was 34 to 78 % in 2021 and 60 to 70 % in 2022. The effectiveness of spraying program B in reducing the proportion of damaged fruit was 34 to 78 % in 2021 and 60 to 70 % in 2022. We can not entirely prevent economically relevant crop losses with the tested spray programs.

Chemical control of weeds with the herbicide glyphosate under vines in the vineyards is currently easy, effective, and cheap. There are currently no completely equivalent alternative herbicides or suitable mechanical control methods that have the same efficacy in suppressing weeds under vines in vineyards as glyphosate. Therefore, in this research, we tested two alternative technologies for controlling weeds under the vines as a counterweight to the predominant control approach with the herbicide glyphosate: (1) chemical control with pelargonic acid, acetic acid, and the plant extract-based fertilizer Stopeco^® with herbicidal action, and (2) mechanical control with a combined tool consisting of a rotary star tiller and finger weeder. A comparative analysis was conducted on time and fuel consumption, the extent of the carbon footprint, grape yield, and quality, which showed that the tested alternative methods of weed control were not comparable to the herbicide glyphosate in terms of effectiveness in weed suppression but were comparable at grape yield. In our trial, at the number of treatments we performed, differences in environmental footprint between different treatments were significant (glyphosate variant 10.55–11.21 gha anno⁻¹; other variants 7.48–8.08 gha anno⁻¹). Alternative mechanical and chemical methods need to be applied at least three to four times a year to achieve results comparable to those from two applications of glyphosate. For this reason, it is possible that, in the case of a slightly increased number of passes by mechanical tools or a slightly increased number of sprayings with alternative preparations to reach the efficacy level of glyphosate treatments, the foot print parameter, CO₂ emissions and global warming potential (GWP) parameter in alternative treatments would no longer be more favorable than when using the herbicide glyphosate twice a year.

V obdobju 2000-2022 smo izvajali spremljanje kmetijskih površin in nekaterih ob agrarnih habitatov po vsem ozemlju Slovenije glede pojavnosti tujerodnih invazivnih rastlin. Tujerodne rastline smo evidentirali in podali ocene o velikosti populacij. Hkrati smo izvedli oceno škodljivosti invazivnih rastlin za kmetijsko pridelavo. Obravnavali smo invazivne rastlinske vrste, ki jih pogosto omenjajo v mednarodno priznanih bazah invazivnih v geografskih območjih, ki so nam primerljiva po klimatskih in pedoloških značilnostih in po značilnostih kmetijskih pridelovalnih sistemov. V uvodu je predstavljena metodologija ocenjevanja škodljivosti vrst. Za večino vrst je škodljivost možno precej realno oceniti. Velika neznanka so klimatske spremembe, predvsem minimalne zimske temperature, ki odločajo o dolgoročnem ohranjanju tujerodnih večletnih rastlin. Med njimi je veliko takšnih, ki preraščajo vegetacijo, če uspejo preživeti zimo predstavljajo nevarne invazivke z ekosistemsko škodljivostjo. Pomembno vlogo bo imela tudi dostopnost herbicidov. Če se bo zmanjšala, bodo nekatere nove vrste pridobile na pomenu, ker jih ne bomo mogli učinkovito kemično zatirati. Vse več vrst je ekološko problematičnih tudi zato, ker so vmesni gostitelji novih tujerodnih povzročiteljev bolezni in škodljivcev, ki ogrožajo gojene rastline

As a result of worried consumer pressure, European supermarket chains (ESC) have developed very strict rules about the number and concentration of pesticide active substance residues (AS) accepted in fruits. So-called fruit quality toxicological burden indicators were developed. If fruit suppliers do not comply with ESC requirements, their fruit is often rejected. It is becoming increasingly difficult for apple producers to meet all the requirements of the ESC, so they need new residue reduction tools. One of the options to lower the concentrations of residue on apples is a preharvest application of low-risk preparations (LRP) based on potassium bicarbonate (KHCO₃) = PBC, coconut di-ethanol amide ((CH₃(CH₂)_nC(=O)N(CH₂CH₂OH)₂) = DEA, hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) = HP, and a mixture of microbes (EM) that have the ability to dissolve or disintegrate the AS residue. Trials were carried out to test the concept mentioned above. The application of LRP during the last four weeks of preharvest significantly reduced the residue concentration of pesticide AS in apples. Reduction rates among 25 active substances ranged from 0 to 100%, depending on the combination of LRP and AS. HP had the highest capacity to accelerate AS degradation, PB was the second most efficient, and DEA and EM displayed a low residue disintegration ability. The application of the tested LRP can enable apple growers to produce fruits with significantly lower residue concentrations and allows them to comply more successfully with strict ESC rules based on the calculations of toxicological burden indicators.

In order to realize the goals of the EU Farm to Fork strategy, grape growers are introducing new grape-growing technologies. Among the new trends, “0-pesticide residue” protection is quite a promising one. Field trials were carried out in vineyards located in the Mediterranean part of Slovenia in 2021 and 2022 to test the “0-pesticide residue” (ZPR) grape protection system with the goal of producing wine without pesticide residues above the limit of 0.001 mg kg⁻¹. The standard integrated grape protection program (IP) was compared to the ZPR program. The level of infection of leaves and grapes by fungal pathogens did not significantly increase due to the implementation of the ZPR spray program. The amount of yield and quality of yield were not decreased significantly, but a small financial loss of EUR 70–400 ha⁻¹ appeared at ZPR grape production when compared to the IP production system. The ZPR system enabled a significant decrease in pesticide residue concentration in wine at a rate of 27 applied pesticide active substances in a rage from 20% to 99%. The goal of producing wine without pesticide residues above the limit concentration of 0.001 mg kg⁻¹ was not completely achieved in these experiments, but we came very close to it with the tested spraying programs. Further finetuning of pesticide positioning and alternative plant protection products in 0-pesticide residue systems is needed.

The aim of this review study was to analyse large paleo-botanical datasets derived from investigations of 35 archaeological sites and published during a longer time period. The presence of 18 selected crop taxa has been monitored in the region of Styria. Our results indicate that in the Copper Age, the cultivation and usage of proso millet (Panicum miliaceum) and the einkorn wheat (Triticum monococcum) was present. From the Bronze Age period, the most commonly grown taxa are barley (Hordeum vulgare), proso millet, emmer wheat (Triticum dicoccum) and spelt wheat (Triticum spelta). In the Iron Age, some new crops emerged along with the already common foxtail millet (Setaria italica) and common flax (Linum usitatissimum), a species first found in Styria during this exact period. The importance of Roman period for Styria lies in the introduction of new taxa like the Persian walnut (Juglans regia), of which remnants were also found in the studied area. The late Antiquity and Middle Ages are a wide time frame where all important cereal taxa were already known from previous periods and were also grown in the studied area, with the exception of oat (Avena sativa) and durum wheat(Triticum durum), of which remnants were absent from this period.

Monografija z nalovom Priporočila za nekemično zatiranje pelinolistne ambrozije Ambrosia artemisiifolia L. holistično obravnava aktualno problematiko zatiranja alohtonih, invazivnih rastlinskih vrst, na primeru pelinolistne ambrozije. V publikaciji so nazorno predstavljene najpomembnejše mehanske metode in tehnike zatiranja ambrozije, učinki samih metod, kakor tudi učinki uporabe ter primerjava med posameznimi tehnikami zatiranja vrste. Posebno poglavje je namenjeno ekonomiki zatiranja plevelov v urbanem okolju, z uporabo metod krtačenja, uporabo ognja, pare ter s pomočjo biotičnih metod zatiranja ambrozije. Prav omenjeni moderni pristopi k zatiranju alohtonih plevelnih vrst so danes, zaradi ukinjanja uporabe številnih herbicidov na javnih površinah, še kako aktualni. Monografija je namenjena kmetijskim svetovalcem, pridelovalcem, ekologom, pa tudi širšemu krogu bralcev.

The main objective of this paper was to holistically describe the occurrence of most important crop taxa found in different archaeological Iron Age sites in two selected biogeographical regions of Central Europe; in the Alpine and the Dinaric mountains. This study also links the known results of research about the ecological-biogeographical conditions in the Central Europe during the Iron Age time with the papers that include archaeobotanical data of the selected European landscapes as well. It is evident that many factors played crucial roles in the domestication process of many different plant taxa. This study showed that both the Alpine and the Dinaric region of Europe show similar ecological conditions for successfully growing important legumes and cereal taxa. The percentage of found cereal taxa is higher in the Dinaric region as it is in the Alps. In most archaeological sites in the Dinaric mountains, there were no evidence of the productionof pulses at all. However, if comparing the whole repertoire of cultivated plant taxa in the Iron Age epoch in both studied regions, one can conclude that there is not much difference in the number of cultivated planted taxa in the Iron Age epoch. Poljedelstvo v obdobju železne dobe na območju Alp in Dinarskega gorstva Srednje Evrope; pojavljanje in razširjenost pomembnejših vrst poljščin. V delu so zbrani arheobotanični popisi rastlinskih makroostankov, najdenih v arheoloških grobiščih iz dveh evropskih biogeografskih regij – Alp in Dinaridov srednje Evrope. Glavni namen preglednega članka je predstaviti najpomembnejše kulturne rastline, ki jih je človek gojil v omenjenih regijah v času železne dobe ter rezultate primerjati med regijami. Delo vsebinsko povezuje ekološko-biogeografske parametre v posamezni regiji s pojavnostjo izbranih oziroma opazovanih vrst poljščin. Evidentno je, da so imeli tekom procesa domestikacije številnih vrst poljščin na območju srednje Evrope pomembno vlogo številni ekološki dejavniki, ki so prispevali k nastanku ti. ekoloških tipov posameznih vrst poljščin; ki uspevajo v tem prostoru še danes. Delo nazorno nakazuje na podobne ekološko-biogeografske značilnosti obeh preučevanih regij; odstotek gojenih vrst žit (v primerjavi z drugimi vrstami poljščin) v času železne dobe je bil na prostoru Dinaridov višji kakor v Alpskem svetu. Na istem območju prav tako nismo našli dokazov oziroma podatkov o gojenju stročnic. Rezultati študije kažejo, da je bilo število gojenih vrst poljščin v obdobju železne dobe v obeh regijah primerljivo.