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Die bisher in der Praxis dominierende einmalige Herbizidanwendung im Vorauflauf entspricht nicht den Grundsätzen des Integrierten Pflanzenschutzes. Zu diesem Zeitpunkt lässt sich die schlagbezogene Unkrautsituation nicht abschätzen und Möglichkeiten einer Anpassung der Aufwandmengen der Herbizide sind sehr eingeschränkt. Aus diesem Grund wurde ein mehrstufiges integriertes Unkraut-Bekämpfungskonzept entwickelt, welches die zielgerichtete Anwendung der Nachauflaufherbizide stärker in den Fokus rückt. Mit diesem hier vorgestellten Konzept wird das Belastungsrisiko für Gewässer nach der Ausbringung von Herbiziden durch Wirkstoffaustrag und Abschwemmung reduziert. Es können eine Großzahl bedeutender Rapsunkräuter gut kontrolliert werden. Im Rahmen eines gemeinsamen Versuchsprogramms der Bundesländer Berlin, Brandenburg, Sachsen, Sachsen-Anhalt und Thüringen wurden auf 139 Standorten im Zeitraum von 2010 – 2019 Versuche zur Unkrautbekämpfung im Winterraps im Sinne des mehrstufigen integrierten Unkraut- Bekämpfungskonzeptes durchgeführt. Die Versuchsergebnisse belegen, dass auf einem Fünftel der Winterrapsfläche die Notwendigkeit bestand, die vollen Aufwandmengen zu applizieren. Die Prüfung der Wirksamkeit von Varianten mit reduzierten Metazachlormengen bzw. Metazachlor-freien Varianten stand im Vordergrund der Untersuchungen. Trotz der geltenden Begrenzung der Wirkstoffausbringung von maximal 1000 g/ha wurden Metazachlor und dessen Metaboliten (Metazachlorsulfonsäure und Metazachlorsäure) in den letzten Jahren in Grund- und Oberflächengewässern vermehrt nachgewiesen. Zum vorbeugenden Gewässerschutz wird deshalb eine Reduzierung der Metazachlormenge auf = 500 g/ha empfohlen. Die geprüften Alternativen werden hier diskutiert und in das mehrstufige Bekämpfungskonzept integriert.

Soil-transmitted helminths continue to be a serious problem causing disease and morbidity globally. Children, mostly school-aged, are more at risk of these infections. The main strategy for control remains to be the mass drug administration (MDA) of antihelminthic drugs. With the limitation of MDA to prevent re-infection, the need for additional approaches such as hygiene education and improvements in water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) infrastructure are required. Although the importance of health education as a crucial component of an integrated approaches to STH control is highlighted, this component has often been disregarded because the other more complex solutions have been the focus of most studies and programmes. We performed literature searches from four bibliographic databases - Scopus, PubMed, Web of Science and Cochrane Library - to determine availability of studies on the impact of health education interventions targeting STH infections on schoolchildren in Southeast Asia. Our review found only three studies that evaluated health education interventions targeting children. The current lack of evidence in this area suggests the need for more studies assessing the impact of health education intervention for STH control. A successful health education programme for STH called "The Magic Glasses" has been developed targeting schoolchildren in China and the Philippines. This public health intervention displayed significant impact in terms of improving knowledge, attitude and practices, reducing prevalence of STH infections in schoolchildren and encouraging compliance to MDA. This article details the successes and benefits of the Magic Glasses programme as a promising control tool for STH in the Southeast Asian region., (Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

There is an increasing interest in modelling and control of integrated urban wastewater systems (UWS). Nevertheless, given the multiple interactions between the sub-systems - catchment, sewer system, wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) and receiving water system - the selection of effective control handles for improving receiving water quality is a major challenge. In this paper, a systematic study to identify the most important control handles in an UWS is presented. The Benchmark Simulation Model for Urban Wastewater Systems (BSM-UWS) is selected as a virtual case-study. Morris screening is used to perform global sensitivity analysis. Results indicate that, for the BSM-UWS layout, while river dissolved oxygen quality (Texc,DO) is influenced by multiple control handles both in the sewer system and WWTP, river un-ionized ammonia quality (Texc,NH3) is mainly influenced by WWTP control handles. The study highlights the need to perform simulations for at least 1 year when determining key control handles for UWS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a freely distributed, open-source toolbox to predict the behaviour of urban wastewater systems (UWS). The proposed library is used to develop a system-wide Benchmark Simulation Model (BSM-UWS) for evaluating (local/global) control strategies in urban wastewater systems (UWS). The set of models describe the dynamics of flow rates and major pollutants (COD, TSS, N and P) within the catchment (CT), sewer network (SN), wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) and river water system (RW) for a hypothetical, though realistic, UWS. Evaluation criteria are developed to allow for direct assessment of the river water quality instead of the traditional emission based metrics (for sewer overflows and WWTP discharge). Three case studies are included to illustrate the applicability of the proposed toolbox and also demonstrate the potential benefits of implementing integrated control in the BSM-UWS platform. Simulation results show that the integrated control strategy developed to maximize the utilization of the WWTP's capacity represents a balanced choice in comparison to other options. It also improves the river water quality criteria for unionized ammonia and dissolved oxygen by 62% and 6%, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Species of Calonectria and their cylindrocladium-like asexual morphs are important plant pathogens of agronomic and forestry crops, especially in the tropical and subtropical regions of the world. Calonectria species have been associated with a wide range of disease symptoms on a large number of plant hosts. On horticultural crops, most records of Calonectria species come from the Northern Hemisphere, where they occur mainly in gardens and ornamental nurseries. In Europe and the Mediterranean basin, several species are widespread in nurseries and cause extensive damage to ornamental plants. In the past, identification of species was based on phenotypic characters and sexual compatibility using standardised media. More recently, morphological characteristics, phylogenetic studies (DNA sequence data of the β-tubulin, histone H3 and translation elongation factor-1α gene regions) and mating studies have revealed the presence of several cryptic species complexes that were formerly treated as single Calonectria species. These studies resulted in the introduction of several new species. Other studies aimed at understanding environmental sustainability focused attention on soil solarisation and biological control as means for controlling these pathogens. The potential use of biological control agents (BCAs) and chemicals for controlling Calonectria-induced diseases has recently been addressed. In this review we discuss the Calonectria species detected in Europe and the Mediterranean basin, and the disease management strategies. In view of the mandatory implementation of integrated pest management (IPM) for all European countries by 2014, this paper provides basic information as a platform for the adaptation of more sustainable integrated measures to control Calonectria diseases in European nurseries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In organic systems of agriculture, integrated control strategies are necessary for the management of late blight. Agronomic treatments such as presprouting of seed tubers, planting early and in different populations and spacings should be considered for inclusion. They may delay and/or decrease infection and help to ensure that acceptable marketable yields are achieved before the disease prevails. Individually, their efficacy may be limited, but in combination with other components the integrated strategy may be more successful. Experiments in the UK and the Netherlands tested some potential components of such a strategy: presprouting (chitting) and early planting of seed tubers, which should encourage early bulking and evasion of the disease; choice of plant population and configuration to make the crops’ microclimate less favourable for infection. Both early planting and presprouting (chitting) gave higher yields earlier in the season, before late blight put an end to crop growth, and were most effective in years with a short growing season (e.g., when the disease started early). Plant population and spacings within commercially acceptable limits had marked effects on canopy architecture but no effects on late blight infection. However, the effects on tuber size grading were large. At lower densities, tubers were larger on average. This was an advantage when blight infection was early, but could result in the production of too many oversized tubers if it was delayed or absent, unless the crop was defoliated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]