Plant and Microbe Adaptations to Winter Environments in Northern Areas

Nordic Association of Agricultural Scientists (NJF)

Working group on Winter Survival of Agricultural Crops

Chairman: Bjarni E. Gudleifsson, Agricultural Research Institute, Modruvellir, 601 Akureyri, Iceland. Telephone: +354-462-4477 Fax: +354-462-7144 e-mail: beg@rala.is

Plant and Microbe Adaptations to Winter Environments in Northern Areas

May 19.-21. 2000
Akureyri, Iceland

Winter injury of plants in marginal areas in the north is the major factor causing yield failure, with practical and economical problems for the farmers. Therefore increased winter hardiness of plants plays a major role in increasing the stability and economy of farming in northern areas. The best way to mininize losses caused by winter damages is to know the underlying principles, and agricultural scientists in many countries have been working on winter hardiness research. Hardier plant cultivars have been produced and agricultural practices have been developed to increase winter survival, however economical losses caused by winter damages are still big. Groups of agricultural scientists have mainly been working seperately and isolated in different countries and often in separated institutions. Obviously, international and inter-disciplinal cooperation would promote this type of research. The task of the planned conference is to bring together scientists from different disciplines and different countries to communicate, share results, and establish cooperation.

BACKGROUND

Perennial plants in northern areas experience different kinds of winter stresses related to the low winter temperatures. The winter stresses to herbage plants have been divided into abiotic stress, caused directly or indirectly by low temperature (frost, frost heave, drought, ice cover, flood) and biotic stress caused by living organisms (low temperature fungi, bacteria). In addition all stresses during the growth period (cutting, fertilizing) reduce the plants ability to harden and withstand the winter stresses. The relative importance of different types of stress and damage vary with climatic conditions and plant species. Some species can attain high level of frost tolerance while their ice tolerance is not high, and vice versa. The different winter stresses may occur seperately, but in many cases plant injury is the result of a mixture of stresses, and a complex of factors determines the fate of the plants.

CLIMATE CHANGE

Winter damage of agricultural crops caused by low temperatures (abiotic) or living organisms (biotic) are dynamic and drift from area to area and from one year to another, depending on the actual weather conditions. The expected and predicted climate change will have dramatic effects on the extent and location of different types of winter injury, independent of whether the climate gets warmer or colder. Changes in climate means that the adapted crops will suffer by a new type of winter stress. If the climate gets milder, freezing might take over where ice encasement dominates today, whereas ice encasement might take over where snow molds dominate now.

OBJECTIVES

Scientists working on winter injuries of plants are few in each country and spread geographically and institutionally. These studies depend on contribution from scientists in many fields, such as plant research, microbiology, meteorology, biochemistry and other related diciplines. Therefore the aim of the planned meeting is to bring scientists involved in winter hardiness studies together to discuss and exchange informations and ideas on this complicated area of research.

The objectives of the planned meeting are:

to minimize losses caused by winter damage on plants in northern areas by distributing latest scientific results on that field of science.
to bring together scientist from different diciplines to focus on winter damages and to exchange informations.
to increase international contacts between scientists working in this area and to promote multinational research projects on winter damage of plants in northern areas.

PREVIOUS SEMINARS

Agricultural scientists in the Nordic countries have cooperated under the auspies of the Nordic Association of Agricultural Scientists (NJF) which established a working group in 1983 under the title “Winterhardiness of Agricultural Plants”. This group is composed of one participant from each Nordic country. The working group has held seminars every 2 to 4 years as visualised in following table:

Year	Country	Title	Number of participants	Number of participating countries
1986	Finland	Overwintering of Agricultural Plants	72	6
1988	Iceland	Ice and Water Damages on Perennial Plants	30	6
1991	Norway	Disease Resistance in Agricultural Crops	61	7
1993	Sweden	The Overwintering of Agricultural Crops, Theories and Test Methods	42	8
1996	Denmark	New Biological Approaches to Understand and Improve Winter Survival of Plants	72	18

Originally these seminars were attended almost only by scientists and advisors from the Nordic countries, and this has been a good occation for them to meet and exchange ideas and results. Several cooperative projects have evolved from the scientific and personal contacts made during these meetings. Of course winter injuries of plants are not restricted to the Nordic countries, it is a common circumpolar arctic and sub-arctic problem. The Nordic working group has therefore opened these popular seminars to non-Nordic scientists, to increase the scientific basis of the subject and to draw into the discussion results from non-Nordic countries, and if possible also to establish cooperation with scientists from outside. In the beginning only persons from Canada were invited from outside the Nordic areas, but later also from USA, Russia, Japan, former Soviet Union and other European countries. The table above illustrates increasing number of participants and number of participating countries. Abstracts of all papers presented in the seminars have been published by Nordic Association of Agricultural Scientists (NJF), and most of the papers have since been published either as special publications or in official journals (Icelandic Agricultural Sciences, Norwegian Journal of Agricultural Sciences, Acta Agriculturae Scandinavica, Physiologia Plantarum).

Among the 70 participants in the last NJF meeting in Denmark 1996, ca. 25 were young researchers by definition. Most of them were from the Nordic and Baltic countries and 10 of them presented papers and 5 presented posters. New information and new research areas in the studies of winter survival of organisms have increased the need for incorporating young scientists in this work. Also young scientists have different scientific training from the older and bring new approaches and solutions to the problem.

Other international groups have organized mettings on this subject and the Nordic working group has cooperated with two of those on the preparation of the planned meeting.

ORGANIZERS

The organizing committee is composed of 10 scientists belonging to 3 different groups. These are

(1)     The NJF working group on Winterhardiness of Agricultural plants

(2) The International Workshop on Plant-Microbe Interactions at   Low Temperatures under Snow

(3)    International Committee on Global Climate and Plant Environmental Stress.

These groups are represented in the organizing committee by:

Anne Marte Tronsmo, Norwegian Crops Research Institute, Ås, Norway

Bjarni E. Gudleifsson, Agricultural Research Institute, Modruvellir, Iceland

Boris Vartapetian, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia.

Denis Gaudet, Research Station Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada

Eva Lindvall, Svalöf Weibull AB, Röbäksdalen, Sweden

Kurt Hjortsholm, Sejet Plant Breeding, Horsens, Denmark

Norio Iriki, Hokkaido National Agricultural Experimental Station, Japan

Seppo Pulli, Department of Biology, University of Turku, Finland

Tamotsu Hoshino, Hokkaido National Industrial Research Institute, Japan

Tim Murray, Washington State University, USA

PROGRAMME

In the planned conference the main emphasis will be on the interaction of organisms living near or under snow and ice in the north and on the impact of climate change on those organisms. The title of the seminar is “Plant and Microbe Adaptation to Winter Environments in Northern Areas”. The scientific program will be divided into five sessions: 1) Microbes, 2) Plants (physiology and plant improvement) 3) Climate change and 4) Interactions (microbes – plants – environment). A fifth session will be added to the program where international research programs will be discussed and multinational projects formed. Some of the papers are already on the seminar program and a few of the preliminary titles are listed below:

Understanding the components of snow mold resistance in winter cereals.

The effect of climate on freezing injury in strawberries.

Water relation and abscissic acid content in cold hardened barley and wheat.

The perception and transduction of cold signals in cyanobacteria.

Relationship between carbohydrates and cold hardiness in red raspberry.

Variations in Sclerotinia trifoliorum in Swedish isolates. Pathogenity interaction effects with various cultivars of red clover.

Schreening winter wheat for resistance to speckled snow mold under controlled conditions.

Visualization of general adaptation syndrom in plant cell under anaerobic stress.

Genetic bases of barley physiological response to winter environments.

Factors involved in ice nucleation ond propagation in plants: An overview based on new insights gained from the use of infrared thermography.

Re-analyzing historical records of winter injury in Finish apple orchards.

Field resistance of winter wheat to Typhula ishikariensis and Microdochium nivale.

Chilling resistance among isolates of Pythium from polar and temperate zones.

Influence of acid snowmelt on the snow damage of broad bean (Vicia faba L.).

Desiccation injury in winter cereals: The role of dehydrins and heat stable proteins.

The use of molecular biology techniques to enhance freezing tolerance in herbage plants.

Physiological and biochemical responses of overwintering crops to anoxia.

Glycine betaine increases cold tolerance and reduces cold-induced lipid peroxidation in herbaceous plants.

Selection of cold tolerant Tricoderma species for biological control.

The seminar is planned for May 19-21^st in year 2000, but that time of year was chosen so that participants will have the opportunity to see winter damages in situ on a short field trip.

MANAGEMENT

The meeting will be held at Fosshotel-KEA, located in the center of Akureyri. This hotel has a well equipped auditorium and is where most of the participants are expected to stay for lodging and food. Relatively cheaper rooms and food are avialable at locations within a walking distance. As winter is disappearing and summer approaching in May, and winter damages in hayfields are extremely common in Norteast-Iceland, the location and time of year makes it possible for the participants to see winter damages while on a planned field trip.

Four institutions located in Akureyri, North-Iceland, are responsible for the practical arrangements: Agricultural Research Institute, Modruvellir, Bjarni E. Gudleifsson (beg@rala.is), coordinator, takes care of the scientific prorgam, registarations to the meeting, communication to the speakers and distribution of information. He will also collect abstracts before the meeting and papers for publication after the meeting. Thoroddur Sveinsson (thorodd@rala.is) will take care of the financial side of the meeting.

The University Research Institute, University of Akureyri, Elín Margrét Hallgrímsdottir (emh@unak.is) will prepare material for the meeting, copy abstracts and other information, secure that auditorium and all equipment is working during the meeting, she will also assist the speakers and participants during the meeting and help with the publication of the papers after the meeting.

(3)Nonni Travel, Herdis Gunnlaugsdottir (nonni@nonnitravel.is aids participants in arranging their travel and accomodation, arranges two day post-seminar tour, and prepares a program for spouces during the meeting.

4) Stefansson Arctic Institute, Akureyri, Lara Olafsdottir, stef@svs.is.