Dirk Rautmann

A simple probabilistic estimation of spray drift—factors determining spray drift and development of a model

Spray drift represents a major mode of exposure in off-crop habitats or surface waters after pesticide spray application. Currently, the estimation of exposure by spray drift is based on a deterministic estimation of the amount of drifting residues, either with the use of default drift values or deterministic models, which, however, do not reproduce the entire range of spray drift observed in reality. However, because a series of data from extensive field trials are available, probabilistic methods based on Monte Carlo simulation can reveal realistic estimates of the entire range of exposures. For the development of a probabilistic spray drift model, previously published data from a series of field trials was analyzed to reveal how these data could be used for the parameterization of a probabilistic model. This analysis showed that wind speed, agricultural equipment (nozzle type, spray pressure), and relative humidity showed the strongest effect on spray drift. But remarkably, the effect differed for different distances from sprayed fields. For example, higher wind speed increased spray drift only at larger distances while it even reduced spray drift very close to field borders. Also spray pressure influenced spray drift predominantly close to fields. After identifying the parameters with the strongest effects, a probabilistic model for the estimation of the exposure by spray drift in off-crop habitats was developed. Spray drift can be simulated for any given distance from fields. It is demonstrated how the exposure and the amount of effects can be estimated when applying this model in real landscapes. Results are compared with a deterministic risk assessment.

A new model for the prediction of agricultural operator exposure during professional application of plant protection products in outdoor crops

A new predictive model for the estimation of agricultural operator exposure has been developed on the basis of new exposure data to improve the current agricultural operator exposure and risk assessment in the EU. The new operator exposure model represents current application techniques and practices in EU Member States (MS) and is applicable for national or zonal authorisation of plant protection products as well as for approval of active substances in plant protection products (PPP) supporting a stepwise risk assessment. 34 unpublished exposure studies conducted between 1994 and 2009 were evaluated for the new model. To ensure a very high quality of data the studies had to meet a set of quality criteria, e.g. GLP conformity or compliance with OECD guidance. Exposure data and supplementary information on the trials were used for a statistical analysis of exposure factors. The statistical analyses resulted in six validated models for typical outdoor scenarios of pesticide mixing/loading and application. As a major factor contributing to the exposure of operators, the amount of active substance used per day was identified. Other parameters such as formulation type, droplet size, presence of a cabin or density of the canopy were selected as factors for sub-scenarios. For two scenarios the corresponding datasets were too small to identify reliable exposure factors; instead the relevant percentiles of the exposure distribution were used. The whole project report on the development of the new model (including the underlying study data) and the corresponding exposure calculators will be published at the BfR website (http://www.bfr.bund.de) after confirmation of the model by EU MS.

Konzept zur Bewertung des Staubausstoßes von Einzelsäscharen anpneumatischen Universalsägeräten

Recent studies on endophytic Kosakonia radicincitans DSM 16656T demonstrated a wide plant growth-promoting activity. The application of this Gram-negative bacterium as a biofertilizer is limited due to the lack of adequate formulation that protects the cells during drying and storage and supports plant colonization. Here we set out to elucidate the compatible solutes accumulation influence of K. radicincitans triggered by osmotic stress on its capacity as an endophyte in radish plants. We found that physiological modifications by osmotic stress treatments and accumulation of compatible solutes during cultivation, improve the capability of K. radicincitans formulated in dry beads to colonize and to promote radish growth. Thus, pre-conditioning of cells with NaCl 4% and by adding compatible solutes such as hydroxyectoine during cultivation induced a positive effect on relative gene expression response, enhancing significantly the ability to colonize plant tissue up to 10 fold. Additionally, when this osmolyte was added, either dry matter of tuber or leaves increased by 3 % and 13.59 %, respectively in comparison to beads without the bacterium. These first results indicate that a systematic approach to cultivation and formulation may increase the endophytic capacity of this bacterium.

Untersuchungen zur Abdrift auf Nebenstehende bei Anwendung vonPflanzenschutzmitteln in Raumkulturen

Recent studies on endophytic Kosakonia radicincitans DSM 16656T demonstrated a wide plant growth-promoting activity. The application of this Gram-negative bacterium as a biofertilizer is limited due to the lack of adequate formulation that protects the cells during drying and storage and supports plant colonization. Here we set out to elucidate the compatible solutes accumulation influence of K. radicincitans triggered by osmotic stress on its capacity as an endophyte in radish plants. We found that physiological modifications by osmotic stress treatments and accumulation of compatible solutes during cultivation, improve the capability of K. radicincitans formulated in dry beads to colonize and to promote radish growth. Thus, pre-conditioning of cells with NaCl 4% and by adding compatible solutes such as hydroxyectoine during cultivation induced a positive effect on relative gene expression response, enhancing significantly the ability to colonize plant tissue up to 10 fold. Additionally, when this osmolyte was added, either dry matter of tuber or leaves increased by 3 % and 13.59 %, respectively in comparison to beads without the bacterium. These first results indicate that a systematic approach to cultivation and formulation may increase the endophytic capacity of this bacterium.

Teilflächenspezifische Applikation durch Direkteinspeisung - mehrPräzision und weniger Mitteleinsatz

Recent studies on endophytic Kosakonia radicincitans DSM 16656T demonstrated a wide plant growth-promoting activity. The application of this Gram-negative bacterium as a biofertilizer is limited due to the lack of adequate formulation that protects the cells during drying and storage and supports plant colonization. Here we set out to elucidate the compatible solutes accumulation influence of K. radicincitans triggered by osmotic stress on its capacity as an endophyte in radish plants. We found that physiological modifications by osmotic stress treatments and accumulation of compatible solutes during cultivation, improve the capability of K. radicincitans formulated in dry beads to colonize and to promote radish growth. Thus, pre-conditioning of cells with NaCl 4% and by adding compatible solutes such as hydroxyectoine during cultivation induced a positive effect on relative gene expression response, enhancing significantly the ability to colonize plant tissue up to 10 fold. Additionally, when this osmolyte was added, either dry matter of tuber or leaves increased by 3 % and 13.59 %, respectively in comparison to beads without the bacterium. These first results indicate that a systematic approach to cultivation and formulation may increase the endophytic capacity of this bacterium.

Neue Wege beim Anwenderschutz: Einsatz geschlossener Befüllsysteme zur Risikominimierung

Recent studies on endophytic Kosakonia radicincitans DSM 16656T demonstrated a wide plant growth-promoting activity. The application of this Gram-negative bacterium as a biofertilizer is limited due to the lack of adequate formulation that protects the cells during drying and storage and supports plant colonization. Here we set out to elucidate the compatible solutes accumulation influence of K. radicincitans triggered by osmotic stress on its capacity as an endophyte in radish plants. We found that physiological modifications by osmotic stress treatments and accumulation of compatible solutes during cultivation, improve the capability of K. radicincitans formulated in dry beads to colonize and to promote radish growth. Thus, pre-conditioning of cells with NaCl 4% and by adding compatible solutes such as hydroxyectoine during cultivation induced a positive effect on relative gene expression response, enhancing significantly the ability to colonize plant tissue up to 10 fold. Additionally, when this osmolyte was added, either dry matter of tuber or leaves increased by 3 % and 13.59 %, respectively in comparison to beads without the bacterium. These first results indicate that a systematic approach to cultivation and formulation may increase the endophytic capacity of this bacterium.

Site-specific application of plant protection products in Precision Farming by direct injection

In agriculture, tank mixtures with several plant protection products (PPP) are frequently used, which makes it impossible to apply specific plant protection products to specific areas. Therefore a prototype of a field sprayer with a direct injection system was developed as part of a joint project between the company Herbert Dammann GmbH and the Julius Kuhn- Institute. This framework enables a real-time site-specific dosing of plant protection products and water from separate containers with direct mixing before the application without residual amounts. Results show a high accuracy in the working range of the selected dosing pumps by means of test bench measurements and field tests Field tests for site-specific weed control in winter wheat demonstrate the applicability of the system under practical conditions and enable a precise application of various herbicides.

High precision weed control by a direct injection system

Ryegrass (Lolium spec.) is the most important cool-season forage crop in temperate regions. Though, the seed production is considerably affected by several fungal and bacterial obligate biotrophic pathogens. The overall purpose of this study is directed to developing ryegrass cultivars with multiple pathogen resistance and agronomic adaption to Germany’s agricultural conditions. This aim shall be achieved by combining genes for resistances to stem rust, crown rust and bacterial wilt. The pyramidisation shall be accomplished by the use of specific molecular markers which will be derived by bulked segregant analysis combined with next generation sequencing based massive analysis of cDNA ends (MACE) transcriptome profiling. RNA was isolated from bulks of infected and noninfected leaf segments from susceptible and resistant genotypes of various fullsibling mapping populations (n ≥ 200) and their respective parental lines for every investigated pathogen. After MACE was performed, bioinformatic analysis detects SNPs and transcripts that were exclusively expressed in the resistant bulk. Thus, 30 molecular markers were genetically mapped to a 50.8 cM spanning region surrounding the stem rust resistance locus LpPg1. The development of this high efficient molecular selection tool marks MACE as a fast and reliable method that detects polymorphisms for genetic mapping of candidate genes and obtains to be the method of choice for investigating the molecular and genetic base of resistances to stem rust, crown rust and bacterial wilt.The current production systems in arable farming have reached their limits. Sizes of machinery are continuously increasing. Compaction and limits on the road are the consequences. Productionrelated restrictions like nitrogen pressure and development of resistances against plant protection products are further problems. Last but not least, the sociopolitical acceptance of crop production is questioned in public opinion. Due to these circumstances the question arises if the system of crop farming which has been adapted to the machinery available on the market is the right strategy for the future. Why not going the other way round and decide what a plant production system has to look like to be at an optimum and then decide what kind of machinery is needed to cultivate? Following this idea the plants must be in the focus.

Testing of weed seeking systems for spray trains - development of a test procedure

Introduction G&G is a Hungarian company working as a service provider within the field of vegetation control on railroad tracks. Due to the fact that organic matters can reduce the necessary elasticity of the track installation, weed control is an important issue for the safety of railroad traffic in general. For this reason weed growth in the roadbed and alongside has to be controlled continuously, whereat due to the total size of the railroad network the application of herbicides is the only procedure being economically in our days. From an environmental and also economical point of view the spraying should only take place if weeds really exist within the target area. If not, spraying should be interrupted in order to avoid the disposal of herbicides and to safe them. For this reason G&G has developed a precision spraying system for weed control on railroad tracks, consisting of weed detection and mapping unit as well as a controllable spraying device being able to apply herbicides on nine different segments separately within the target area (Fig. 1). Therefore a project has been initiated with the aim to establish methodologies to determine the quality of the weed detection and mapping system as well as the quality of the precision spraying device related to the target area. The objectives of the project was to determine the • sensitivity and accuracy of the weed detection system with different speeds of the spray train,

Application of the Zürich-methodology for risk assessment concerning the inspection of pesticide application equipment in use according to article 8 (3) of Directive 2009/128/EC at the example of Germany

Article 8 of Directive 2009/128/EC (Sustainable UseDirective) demands a risk assessment for human healthand the environment in order to apply different time tables and inspection intervals in selected cases for the inspection of pesticide application equipment (PAE) in use or make exemptions from inspection within the member states of EU 27. The experts of the SPISE (Standardised Procedure for the Inspection of Sprayers in Europe) Technical Working Group agreed on their meeting in March 2015 to use the Zurich-methodology as an appropriate instrument to implement the demanded risk assessment in a harmonized manner within the EU 27. The article explains the Zurich-methodology, illustrates its requirements and demonstrates the application of this method at the example of a risk assessment in case of Germany. Furthermore, it shows of what questions still have to be discussed in future by the expert in order to come up with a common and harmonized procedure being applicable for all member states of EU 27.