View of Plant Production Research in Finland in the 1970s and 1980s

JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURALSCIENCE IN FINLAND Maataloustieteellinen^Aikakauskirja

Vol. 61: ^477—488, 1989

Plant Production Research in Finland in the

1970 s ^and

¹⁹⁸⁰

s

JAAKKO MUKULA

Agricultural Research ^Centre, Department

of

Soils and Crops SF-31600 Jokioinen

Introduction

InFinland, ^{the areaof}arableland used for plant production was some 2.5 million ^hec-

tares in 1970. Owing ^to surplus production, the area was reduced to 2.0 million hectares by the end of the 1980

s.

During this period the number of farms (1 ha orover) declined from 290 000 to 190 000.

The fieldsarelocated between the latitudes of60 and 67° N (Fig. 1). The growingseason

(+5°...+5°C) is about 170—180 days long in the south and 130—135 days in the north.

Theeffectivetemperature sums(above ⁺5°C) are 1200—1300 Gdd and 750—800 Gdd, respectively. The mean temperature of the warmest month,July, is 16—17°C,and total precipitation during the growingseason250^— 300 mm. Themostcommon soiltypes are var- ious mixtures of glacialtill,sand, silt,^{clay and} peat. The major field cropsarecereal grains, grasses forhay and silage, oil seed rapes,pota- toand sugar beet. Production of horticultur- al plants isalso significant.

Plant production research is carriedoutin Finland by several institutes and regional ex- perimental stations, ^mostof them belonging to thetwo governmental organizations, the Agricultural Research Centre of Finland

(ARC) and the Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry of Helsinki University (HU). In the private sector, several commercial companies arealso contributing, either alone or jointly with the governmental organizations.

During the

1970 s ^and 1980 s some

^marked

changes took place in the research organiza- tions and their location in Finland. The ma- jor institutes of the ARC were transferred from the Helsinkiareato Jokioinen, ^located 130 km northwest of Helsinki. Some^{new ex-} perimental stations were also established (Fig. 2).

The objectives of plant production research in Finland ^{have been tosecure} domestic^sup- ply of food andfodder, taking into considera- tion both the nutritionaland technical quality of products. The regional extent of produc- tion and its geographical location in relation to climatic and ecological conditionsas well as the agricultural and marketing policy are also taken into account.

During the period of this study the general trend of plant productionresearch wasshifted towards more interdisciplinary studies and specific research projects. More attentionwas payed toenvironmental factors like less pol-

477

luting croppingsystemsand product quality.

Most of the plant production research con- ducted in Finland is financedfrom the annual statebudget. During the period of this study alargersum wasallocated for the building of newlaboratories and for supplying the insti- tutes withnew scientific equipment. Finance for the implementation of research work re- mained about thesame aspreviously. Twoan- nual budgetary appropriationswere granted, however: one tosupport joint, interdiscipli- nary researchprojects (1975) and another to supportresearch into environmentally safe plant production methods (1983). Inaddition, increased contributions from commercial companies made it possible to enlarge the scope of experimental work in certain areas of plant production. The ^{same was true} for private_orsemi-governmentalfoundations, the Academyof Finland and SITRA in particu-

lar. Theamountof parlamentary moneyspent annually on plant production research was about FIM 50—60 million and that of the pri- vate sectorFIM 20—25 million correspond- ing toabout 400—450 person in manpower.

Soils and soil management

Regional mapping of soils suitable for plant production usedtobe carriedout in Finland by the Department of Soil Science ^{of the} ARC. Collecting soil samples was continued by the department until 1975 and printing of maps until 1988. About 200 sheetsat a scale of 1^: 20 000were the result of these studies.

In 1979 the government’s Board of Topogra- phy and the Institute of Geology jointly took the responsibility for continuing soil mapping.

During the period ofthis study (1970 —1989)

Fig. I. The geographical distribution of arable landin Finland. (Source: Atlas of Finland 1982:1Ig.)

Fig. _2. Agricultural institutes,experimentstations^(•) and cultivationzones(I —V) for fieldcrops pro- duction.

the Department of Soil Science participated in the globalassessmentof soil micronutrients sponsored by FAO ^Sillanpää (1982). Re- gional assessmentofsoil micronutrient is still on the department’s programme^atthecoun- try level (Sillanpää 1988).

A private company called Soil Fertility Services carried outsoil fertility studies with aviewtoproviding farmers with the informa- tion necessary for fertilizing their fields properly. Country-wide summaries of these studies were published by Kurki (1982) and Kähäri etai. (1987). Special studies ^ofsever- al mineralelementswerecarried_outin cooper- ation with other institutes.

Theuseof chemical fertilizers increasedun- til the mid

1970 s

^{(Fig. 3). A methodto place}

the fertilizer under soil surface between the seed rows was developed in the

1960 s and

adopted in farming practice at the beginning of this study period. Special equipment made it possible to sowand fertilize simultaneous- ly (cf. Oksanen, in this volume). The place- menttechnique ledtoaconsiderable improve- mentin the degree of utilization of fertilizers

by plants. Nevertheless, about 40 °7o of nutrientswerenottaken up by plants anden- teredwater courses,the atmosphereorground soil as useless compounds (Elonen 1984).

This had detrimental impact on the environ- ment. Intensive research workwasdonetoes- tablish nutrient losses and how to reduce them. Some imbalance in soil nutrientswas also found when using heavy nitrogen fertili- zation. Nitrogen apparently stimulated plant’s utilization of other nutrients, potassium in particular.

In the

1980 s new

experiments were con- ductedtodetermine the optimumamount of commercial fertilizers to be used for field crops. Owingto the low level of selenium in Finnish soils itwasdecided_toadd this element to commercial fertilizer mixtures(Yläranta 1983).Several field experimentswerealsocar- riedoutwith farm yeard^manure, ash,organic sludge and other substances from thewaste watersof populatedareas and factories. Cer- tain heavy metals, especially cadmium and lead,proved problematic in theuseof sludge.

There is oftenaspecial need for soil irriga- tion insome partsof southernFinland, ^where early summer drought frequently limits the growth of plants. Sprinkler irrigationwas in- troduced in the early

1970 s

(Elonen 1983).

By the end of this study period about 10 000 sprinkler units_werein_usewith the maximum capacity of 100 000 ha.

Soil compaction dueto theuse of heavy machines and carriers onfields is adifficult problem. Effortswere madeto easeit by fit- ting doubletyresto tractorsand carriers. Ex- periments werealso made using deep cultors

androtaryharrows. To improve the seed bed preparation special warping equipment was addedtoconventional harrows (cf. Oksanen, in this volume).

Plant breeding

Finland’s locationat the northern limit of plant production makes it difficulttocultivate foreign varieties. The main climatic factors

Fig. 3. The rate of main nutrients yearly usedin ^com- mercial fertilizermixtures,kg/ha. (Source:Ke- mira Ab.)

limiting plant productionare the short grow- ing seasonwith its low effective temperature sumand the hard winter.Hence, the domes- tic plant breeding is important.

During the

1970 s and 1980 s the

breeding of field cropscontinuedintensivelyat the Plant Breeding Institute of the Hankkija Coopera- tive Company under Professor Erkki Kivi and at the Department of Plant Breeding of the ARC under Professor Rolf Manner. The Hah- kiala Training and Experimental Farm of the Kesko-Group contributedas apart ofa con-

tractwith Swedish Svalöf Ab. In 1985,a simi- larcontract was made by Suomen Vilja (the Finnish Cereal) and the Swedish Plant Breed- ingInstituteof W. Weibull Ab, both of them private companies. The domestic breeding of horticultural plants was mainly in the hands of the Department of Horticulture of the ARC.

In the

1970 s Finland

participated in thees- tablisment and development of the Nordic Gene Bank (NGB) and Internordic Plant Breeding (SNP) sponsored by the Nordic Council of Ministers. Finland’s active cooper- ation with these and other international plant breeding organizations continued in the 1980

s.

During this study period the main objectives of Finnish plant breedingweretoproduce cul- tivars which

thrive well in the climate and ecological conditions ofFinland;

meet the quality demands of consumers and the food/fodder industry;

possess good resistance to pests and dis- eases;

canbe adaptedtomechanical cultivation;

have high yielding potential.

These objectives call for earliness in annual plants, winter hardiness in biennials and perennials, strengthening of straw in cereals and increasedamount and improved quality of protein in cereal grains and forage grasses.

The conventional breeding methods includ- ed _massand single plants selection, ^pedigree and bulkmethods, progenytesting (polycross) and mutation breeding.

Great strices weretaken in adopting basic

methods of modern biotechnology, such as anther cultures, protoplast regeneration, in- terspecies fusion transformation and genetic engineering. The aim of these studies, con- ducted by several institutes, was toproduce basic material for plant breeding.

The new cultivars of field crops, both domestic and foreign, wereevaluatedatsever- al domestic institutes and experimentalsta- tions. On the basis of theseevaluations, ^aspe- cial committee, established by theNational Board of Agriculture in 1975,^compilesan an- nuallist of “recommended field crops varie- ties”toguide the farmerstoselect suitable cul- tivars. In 1978, the plant breeders agreed to delegate the responsibility for the “official va- riety testing” of field crops_tothe Department of Plant Husbandry of the ARC. For this pur-

pose, thecountry wasdivided into five culti- vation zones and the experiments were dis- tributed to the stations located in the ap- propriate cultivation_zones (Fig. 2, ^{p. 1).}

A law advancement of plant breeding (1977), enacted in accordance with interna- tional organizations, gavea significant boost toFinnish plant breeding. The number ofnew varieties bred by Hankkija in the

1970 s and

TableI. The number of domestic varieties of fieldcrops and lawngrasses:a) bred during 1970—1989;

b) included inthe list of recommended varie- ties for 1990.

Plantgroup Hankkija ARC ^Jo

a b a b

Winter cereals 3 2 7 6(2)

Springcereals 16 II 16 8(1)

Peas 73 2

Oil plants

Springrapeand turniprape 4 1 2

Potatoes 3 3 1 ⁽²⁾

Clovers 11 0 (3)

Forages-hays 3 2(1) 5 5(1)

Lawn grass 3 3 2 1

Species not in the list

Horse bean 2

Smoothbromegrass 1

Winter turniprape I 1

Total 43 26(1) 37 20(9)'

( ) ⁼the variety bred before 1970

1980 s was

^43,and by the Department of Plant Breeding of the ARC was 37 (Table ^1).The respective number of foreign varieties in- troduced ⁱⁿ the 1970

s

and 1990

s was

about

100, of which40werebreeded incontractwith Kesko-Group. The Department of Horticul-

tureof the ARC breeded 15 varieties of small fruits and seven new varieties of apple. The number of varieties of flowers bred by the Department of Horticulture andsomeprivate nurserieswas21. Inaddition, the Department of Plant breeding of HU developed sixnew varieties of rhododendron.

Planl protection

Plant protection is usually divided into three sections:_pest investigations, plant pathology and weed science. Finland has special insti- tutesfor pestinvestigations and plant pathol- ogyatboth the ARC and HU. Weed investi- gations,onthe otherhand,were a partof the programmes of the Departments of Plant Husbandry and Horticulture of the ARC _un- til the end of 1988. When the ARC was reor-

ganized in 1989,^aspecial unit for weedcon- trol _wasestablished^{in the}newDepartment of Plant Protection. Closer cooperation with several other institutes was establishedwith- in the framework of the threesectorsinvolved with plant protection.

Surveys of the damage, frequency and abundance ofpests in cultivated plants were carriedout by the Department of Pest Inves- tigations of the ARC every other year in the

1970 s ^and 1980 s

(Markkula 1972—1987).

Similar surveys on certain plant pathogens were carriedoutby the Departments of Plant Pathology of the ARC and HU. The survey of weedson winter cerealswas conducted by the University of Jyväskylä in cooperation with the Department of Plant Husbandry of the ARC in the mid

1970 s

(M. and T. Raati-

kainen 1978). The weed survey on spring cerealswas carriedout by the Plant Husband- ry Department of the ARC (Erviö and Salo- nen 1987). The results showed a strong de- cline in the abundance of weeds during the past twenty years. The dry weight of aerial weed shootsonunsprayed fields had dropped from 1000 kg/ha downto320 kg/ha and that

UNTREATED

SPRAYED WITH HERBICIDES

Fig. 4. The decline in the amounts of weeds in spring cereals measuredasdry weightof aerialshoots, kg/ha.

Fig. 5. Salesof pesticides calculated asactive ingredients, tonnes. (Source:E.-L. Hynninen andH.Blom- qvist 1989.)

on sprayed fieldto 124 kg/ha (Fig. 4). Thus the potential yield of 876 kg/ha had been released for theutilizationof cultivated plants in sprayed fields.

Methods for controllingpests, diseases and weeds shifted from chemical control to more integrated and biological control. The pesti- cide lawwasrevised bynew Acts (1970, 1982) calling for moredetailed studies not only of the efficacy and safety of pesticides for culti- vated plants but also of their toxicity, residues andenvironmental hazards.^Theofficial ^field experiments with pesticides werecarriedout mainly by four departments of the ARC, which,in this capacity,werejointly named the

“Plant Protection Institute”. Some of the field experiments with ^pesticides were dis- tributedtothe regional experimental stations.

The Plant Protection Institute of the ARC was discontinued in 1982. Since then respon- sibility for theofficial ^approvalof^pesticides has been delegated to the interdisciplinary Committeeon Pesticides at the Ministry of Agriculture andForestry. Severalauthorities, such asthe institutesorboards of medicine, food, occupational safety and agricultural chemistryarerepresented onthiscommittee.

Sales trends in pesticides during 1974—1988 areshown in Fig. 5. The total abundance of agricultural pesticides amountedto 1834met- ric tonnes (a.i.) in 1988. The largest group, herbicides, accounted for 76 ^% of the total.

Cereal herbicidesweresufficient for spraying 960 000 hectares, corresponding to79 ^% of the totalcerealacreage. The use of glypho- satefor controlling quackgrass increased while theuse of several other herbicides decreased.

Sales of agricultural insecticides amounted to 213 tonnes, correspondingto635 000 hec- tares, or 26 ^%for singletreatmentof fields.

The amount of fungicides marketed in 1988 amounted to 144 tonnes (a.i.). The major proportion of this consisted of the mercury compounds (other than alcyl mercury) used for seedtreatment.Some630 000 hectarescor- responding to 52 ^% of the total cereal area was sown with treated seed. Sales of plant growth regulators amounted to 88tonnes.

Biological control of pest insects was in- itiated byProfessor Martti Markkula (1981) at the Department of Pest Investigations of the ARC in the early 19705. His methods replaced the major insecticides previously used in glasshouses. The techniques used by Markkula were based_on the _use of a) para- sitic, ^b)carnivorous ^or c) pathogenic organ- isms for destroying the^pest insects. The fol- lowing commercially produced organisms were released for sale: Phytosciulus persimi- lis, Tetranychus urticae, Encarsia

formosa

and Aphidoleles aphidimyces. Successfulex- periments_on the control ofpestswith theaid of pheromones, attractivetrapplants and oth- er means were carriedout by other workers at thesame department.

The most significant discovery in the bio- logical control of plant pathogenswas made by Dr. Risto Tahvonen (1988), who estab- lished the fungistatic properties of Strep- tomycesqriseovihdis. Tahvonen’s method has been patented in several countries. Using fer- menting techniques, Kemira began manufac- turing acommercial product (Mycostop) from this Streptomyces species.

Successful studieswerecarriedout in order to determine,^testand produce healthy plant

Fig. 6. The useof arable fields for majorcropsduring the 1970s and 1980s.

material free of viruses. The role of antagonis- tic fungi, interactionbetween fungi and bac- teria ^{were but two of thenumerous research} projects thatwereconducted under the super- vision of Professor Eeva Tapio in the Depart- ment of Plant Pathology of HU.

Yields and quality of plants

The overall trend in Finnish agriculture during the

1970 s ^and 1980 s was

^{marked by an}

increase in the yield and quality of plant products despite of the decrease in culti- vated fieldarea (Fig. 6). Theaverage yield of field cropsrosefrom 2032to 2930 feed units perhectare, ^{or 1.33%} per year, thus demon- strating the significant impact of improved soilmanagementand plant breeding (Fig. 7).

A similar trendwasnoted in the yields ofcer- tain horticultural plants. Intheir,though, the improved plant protection played a more prominent role.

Forage grasses and clover

Production of field crops has traditionally been closely relatedtothe level of animal hus- bandry or dairy farming in the country (cf.

Poutiainenetal., in this volume). At the be- ginning of this study period the harvested and pastured forage grasses and clover accounted for 46 ^% of the cultivated field area. They weregrownas temporaryleys in rotation with other field crops. By 1989 the proportion of

forage leyswasdroppedto33 °7o of cultivated fields. Surplusproduction and high production costshad forced farmers _tocurtail production of forage plants.

In 1970,asmuchas92^% of the harvested leys were cut and dried for hay, only 8 ^% being prepared for silage. By 1989 the propor-

tion of hay had fallen to61 ^%,whereas pro- duction of silage had risen to 39 ^%.The leys for pastures and seed production are not in- cluded in the above figures.

The shift from hay^tosilage made for_a sig- nificant improvement in the quality of forage.

For example, theamount of digestible crude protein rose from 100—115 g to 130—165 g per feed unit.

Timothy had previously been cultivated in leys as mixtures with red clover. During the period of this study timothy was partly replaced by meadow fesque and cocksfoot, which haveabetter ability for regrowth. Red clover had previously accounted for 27 °/o of the harvested forage mixtures. By the end of the

1960 s the

proportion of clover had already fallento8 ^%.Apparentlyclover^was notable tocompetewith grasses when higheramounts of fertilizers were used. In addition, ^clover hindered drying for bailing. Serious efforts were made _to improve the nitrogen fixing ability of Rhizodium bacteria, ^{growing in} symbiosis with clover (SITRA 1986,^Uomala 1986,^Kemppainen 1987). Some success was achieved by plantbreeders in improving there- sistance of clover towinter damage. Evident- ly the clovercan still play an important role in forage production for silage andpastures.

The trend in the yield of dry hay increased from about3600 to 4000 kg/ha during the 1970

s

and remainedtothis level until the end of this study period. Similarly, the yields of silage rose during the

1970 s from

^{about 15}

tonnes to 20tonnes per hectare, likewisere- maining at that level until the end of this study. The correlation coefficients for the_an- nual variation in yield were only 7—9 ®/o in some areas of central and western Finland.

Owing tofrequent early_summer drought the correlation coefficients _rose much higher

Fig. 7.The increasing trend inthe yields of field^crops and their variability, feed unitsperha. (Source:

L.Kettunen 1989.)

along the southerncoast; winter damage did thesameinthenorth. Excess nitrogen fertili- zation and _too frequent _orincorrectly timed cuttings for silage contributedtowinter dam- age, especially in Lappland (Marjanen etai.

1976). Some imbalancewasalso found in the Mg/K ratio of the forage (Tähtinen 1979).

Even this was caused by excessively heavy nitrogen fertilization. The imbalancewas cor- rected by dividing the usage of nitrogen into two periods and increasing the amount of potassium in the fertilizer mixtures.

Cereals

The total area of cereal grains was about 1.2 million hectares during the

1970 s and

1980

s.

The acreage by species are given in Table 2. At the end of the 1980

s,

74 official experiments comparing cultivars _{were con-} ducted every year. Further experiments with cereals concerned the effect offertilizers,^soil management, plant protection, etc.

An increase in grain yields of cerealswas significant. The estimated harvest indexrose to 40—50 «7o (Kivi 1984).

The area of winter rye declined drastically until theautumn 1988. Thiswas due_torainy weather,which frequently prevented sowing.

Special seminars wereheld todiscuss the prob- lems of insufficient production of winterrye.

Determined efforts_weremadetoeasethe sow- ing problems andto introduce improved cul- tivars. The “trend yield” of winter rye per

areaunitrose from2030to2320 kg/ha. This corresponded to anannual rise of 15 kg/ha, or0.7 °7o. The correlation coefficient for the total yield was moderatelylow, 15 ^%, while that for the commercially acceptable yieldrose to22^% (Table 2). Theareasof total crop fail- urecaused by winter damageare notincluded in the above figures. Theworst years of crop failure were 1974, 1977, 1981 and 1988(Mu- kulaand Rantanen 1989). Of the cultivars Jussi (Hja 1975)had the best winterhardiness in snowyareas,Anna (Jo 1979) the best yield capacity and Kartano (Jo 1985) thestrongest straw.

The region suitable for winter wheat is limit- edtothe southwest of thecountry. Thesame problems wereencountered in cultivation of this cereal ^as in that with winter rye. Year after year excessively rainyautumnsreduced theareaplanted for winter wheat. Cultivation of winter wheat reached its lowest level in 1987/88, when the harvested area was only 5400 ha. The yield of winter wheat per area unitrose from2650to 3080 kg/ha, when cal- culated accordingtothe linear trend.This^cor- responded to anannual rise of 22 kg/ha, or 0.8 °7o. The correlation coefficient for thean- nual yield variationswas 15 ^% for the total yield and 22^%for the commerciallyaccepta- ble per hectare yield. These figures donotin- clude the areaof total crop failure caused by winter injuries. In 1974, the failed area ex- ceeded20^%,in 1981 53 ^%and in 1984 45 °/o of the planted area.An explanation for these

Table2. Thegrain yieldsof cereal grains and their annual rise when calculated according to the linear trend. Thecom- mercial acceptability and correlation coefficients of the yields arealso given.

Winter Winter Spring Barley Oats

rye wheat wheat

Trend yieldin ^1969, kg/ha 2030 2640 2655 2310 2345

Trend yieldin 1989, kg/ha ²³²⁰ 3080 3190 3070 3155

Annual rise kg/ha 15 22 47 38 39

Annual rise ^{% 0.7} 0.8 1.8 1.5 1.5

Commercial acceptability,^% 90 92 ^{84 84} 85

Correlationcoefficient

for total yield ^% 15 19 16 II 9

for commercial yield ^% 22 26 31 16 16

exceptionally high figures for winter damage wasthe delayed of sowing intoo wetsoil. The average quality of winter wheatwas reasona- bly good. The protein contentof grains of the mostcommoncultivars reached 11.3—12.8^% during the 1980

s.

The highest yielding culti-

var wasAura (Jo 1975), while lives (Hja 1984) hadthe hardest strawandPitko(Jo 1985) the highest protein content.

The_areaof spring wheatwasabout 120000 ha in the early

1970 s and

^{rosetoabout 175 000}

ha by 1975. Owing^tooverproduction, thearea wasthen reduced toalevel of 100 000 ha. The trend yield of spring wheat was2655 in 1970 and 3190 kg/ha in 1989,correspondingto an annual rise of47 kg/ha, or 1.8^% per year.

The correlation coefficient for the total yield was reasonably low, ^{16 %, but} rose up to 31 ^% in the commercially acceptable yield.

This _{was an} evidence of the exceptional vul- nerability of the quality. The proteincontent of Finnish spring wheat showed adecreasing trend until 1985. To redress thesituation a special wheat protein projectwas launched in 1986. The fate of the nitrogen usedasfertilizer was studied in detail both in the soil and in the plants using ^ISN techniques. The quality of gluten proteinwasevaluated by using pro- tein fractioning and test baking. The highest yielding cultivar during the period of this study_wasKadett (Wb 1981), and the best re- sistance ^{tolodging were} showed by Luja (Jo 1981)and Polkka (Sv 1988). Heta (Hja 1988) ripened faster and had higher protein content (15.6 ^%) than the other varieties.

The area planted for barley grew almost constantly from 400 000 ha to 680 000 ha during the period of this study. The average level of the yieldrose from 2310to 3070 kg/

ha, which corresponded toan annual rise of 38 kg/ha, or 1.5^% yearly. The major weak- ness in barley varieties _was the inadequate strength of theirstraw. Hence, the main ef- fort in breeding newcultivars from barleywas directed at hardening thestraw. Significant improvements were seen, a development which is ^tobe hoped will continuein^{the fu-}

ture. A specialresearch project for malting

barley _wascarried outin the 1980

s.

The aim of this project was to producerecommenda- tionsreferring specifically _tothevarieties cul- tivated for malting purpose. Astothe six-row varieties HJA 673 (Hja 1973) and Arra (Jo 1982) were the earliest to ripen; their weak- ness was soft ^straw. The protein content of six-row varietieswas highest in Arra. Agneta (Sv 1978), Kalle (Sv 1984 and Pohto (HJA 1986)showed significantly harder straw. In thisrespect thetwo-row varietiesIda⁽¹⁹⁷⁹⁾ and Kymppi (Sv 1980)werestillstronger. Both wereaccepted notonly for fodder but also for malting purposes.

Theareaunderoatsfell from about 550 000 ha downto400 000 ha. The average yield rose from 2350to 3155 kg/ha, corresponding to anannual rise of 39 kg/ha, or 1.5^%.Thevar- iation coefficient_wasmoderatelylow,9^% for the total yield and 16^% for the commercially acceptable yield. The trend in oats’ breeding wastowards thinning the grainhusk, ^increas- ing the protein content, strengthening the straw and shortening the growing time. Two significantly improved cultivars, Puhti (Jo 1978) and Veli (Jo 1981), demonstrated the achievements of Finnish plant breeders.

Other seed crops

The only oil seed crop cultivated in Finland in the early

1970 s was

^winter turnip rape.

Owing to its high content of harmful eruca acid the cultivation of winter turniprape was discontinued in the mid 19705, and it was replaced by spring turnip rape and spring rape. The plant breeders soon succeeded in freeing both of them from _eruca acid. The first acceptablecultivars^were obtained from Sweden andCanada. Domestic plant breeders had_successto joint in the 1980

s.

Problems in developing cultivation techniques for these new crops called for special research projects directed_at sowing and harvesting techniques, fertilization, control ofpests, weeds and dis- eases,_etc. The quality of the oil pressed from the ^seedsaswell^asthe suitability of the press- ingresidual for animal fodderwerestudied in-

tensively. Asaresult, the plant breederseven succeeded in eliminating the toxic glucosino- lates. The area under springsownrapes rose consistentlytoalmost86 000 ha in 1988. The yield level of spring turnip rape was only 1400—1600 kg/ha, while that of spring rape was3100—3300 kg/ha. The long growing time restricted the cultivation of spring rape _to smallareas along the south ^coast, while the turnip rape varieties thrived well inzonesI and 11,someof themevenatthe southern margin of zone 111 (cf. Fig. 2,p. 1). The earliest of the turnip rape varieties wereAnte (Sv) and Nopsa(Jo 1986). Kova (Sv 1988) showedasig- nificantly harder stem.

Peas have traditionally cultivated in small areas of southern and central Finland for hundreds of years. During the period of this study the^areaplanted annually for pea was only 1500—2000 ha and that ofmixture ^{of pea} and cereals 1000—3000 ha. The growing time of cultivars ranged from 88 to 101 days. One of the difficulties in cultivating theconven- tional peaswastheir inadequate suitabilityto long day conditions. They tendedtocontinue both vegetative growing and flowering before finally lodging. Such _types of pea were ^not suitable for mechanical harvesting. Noteven supporting the pea stand with hard straw

cereals ^gavesatisfactory results. Some pro- gresswasmade by plant breeders in producing fascicatatypesof^{pea withashorterstemand} blunt crown. Another interesting development was asemi-leaflesstypebearing strongtendrils which caused the plantsto intertwine and thus prevented lodging.

Potatoes andsugar beets

The _area planted forpotato was reduced from60 000to45 000 ha during the

1970 s and

1980

s.

The yield level, however, ^{rose from} about 16 to 20 tonnes per hectare. Factors contributingtothis favourable trendwerethe efforts made by the Finnish Potato Growers Society, the Potato Research Institute and the Seed PotatoCentre, which produced healthy planting material free of viruses. The plant-

ing, cultivation and harvesting techniques of_potato improved markedly as did harvest handling in _storageand _market, thus further contributing tothe better quality ofcommer- cialpotatoes. Outbreaks of dangerous diseases suchas potato wart⁽Synchytrium^),nematodes (Heterodera)and ring rot(Corynebacterium) wereprevented by isolating the infectedareas asspecified in the international plantquaran-

tine regulations (e.g. ^Seppänenand Heinänen 1973, ^Aapro 1980). Similarly, virus diseases were submittedtospecial surveillance (Kurp-

pa 1984). An interesting research project to study the glycoalkaloids (solanides) in pota- toeswascarriedoutjointly by the Department of Plant Husbandry, two experimental sta- tions and the Central Laboratory of the ARC.

High alkaloid contents were found mainly in northern_areas. Detailed results of this pro- ject have not yetbeen published.

Sugar beetwas cultivated in southern Fin- landover an area of25 000—32 000 ha. The cultivars werebreeded incontractwith Swed- ish Hilleshögorother foreign plant breeders.

The normal yield of sugar beet ranged from 25to30_tonnes per hectare and the sugarcon- tentfrom 15to 17^%. The_use of monogerm seed combined with selective herbicides such as chloridatzon, phenmedipham, etofumesate and metamitron made it possible to reduce the sowing density and thus to minimize the manual thinning. The herbicide spraying was usually repeated in small doses using the ap- propriate “tankmixtures”. To optimize the useof fertilizers a specialcomputer program wasdeveloped making it possibletoreduce the useof fertilizers by 40^%.To increase the ef- ficiency of the fertilizer a special placement methodwas developed. The fertilizer place- mentunit and seed unitswere fitted withro- tary harrow. This kind of one-pass machine made it possibletosowsugar beetdirectlyon to the plowed soil and thus effectively avoid soil compaction.

Horticultural plants

Horticulture is the most diversified and rapidly growing sectorof Finnish plant pro-

Table3. Commercial productionof horticultural plants in 1986.

Groups of plants Area Production

ha millionFIM On open fields

vegetables 7 100 200—250

small fruits ^{7 200} 250

strawberri 2 600 250

black currant ⁹⁰⁰

others currants 350 30

gooseberry 200

raspberry 150

apples 440 20

nurseries 475 70—80

In glasshouses

vegetables 235 540

ornamentals 120 600

duction. Research into horticultural ^plants was carriedout by the two horticultural in- stitutes of the ARC and HU. The institutes of crop protection and soil science also con- tributed, as did some regional experimental stations and private enterprices. Even sothe research into horticultural plants did^{not meet} the expanding demand for this special sector of plant production. Future research into hor- ticultural plants is intended to increase both basic studies and project-oriented interdiscipli- nary studies.

The area and market values of the major commercialhorticultural plants, evaluated in 1986, are given in Table 3. Home gardens, public parks and greenareasfor recreation are not included in the table. The total ^area of commercial vegetables, small fruits and nuresery plants in ^open fields amounted ^to 12 065 ha. This corresponded ^to FIM 500^— 600 million per ^yearin productionvalue, ^but did not meet the domestic need. In addition, production area was too narrow. For exam- ple, the commercial production of vegetables was toa greatextend limitedto cabbages,cu- cumbers and carrots.

The estimated ^area of home gardens was 14 000 ha in 1983 and that of public parks and greenareasforsport andrecreation ^was 2000—3000 km^2. The greenarea wasincreas- ing by 2000—3000 ha annually, and the

amount of money spentfor greenareas was FIM 2.5 billion per year!

The average quality of domestic horticul- tural products prooved better than that of im- ported products. Aboveall, contamination by air pollutantwaslow. The perennial horticul- tural plants bred in Finland showed better winter hardiness than did imported ones.

Cropping systems

Theterm“cropping system” refers tovar- ious aspectsof soilmanagement, fertilization, plant protection and plant orcrop rotation.

The cultivation methods of conventional ^crop- pingsystems werediscussedpreviously in this paper. The purpose has been, ^{and still} is,to achieve as effective and economic plant and crop production aspossible with the aid of large quantities of fertilizers, pesticides, ^etc.

Rotation of plantsorcropswasoriginallycon- sidered_partof the conventional cropping sys- tem. Owingto the reduced numberof^people

working in agriculture, farmers were forced toreplace manual labour with agriculturalma- chinery, which in manycases could be applied only to certain types of plants or crops, e.g. combined harvesterstocereals, hay balers and^ensilagecutters to harvest grasses, diggingmachines^withautomatic loading sys- tems to sugar beets and potatoes (cf. Oksa- nen, in this volume). Concentrating the pro- duction_on only_{one type} of plant the farmers avoided buying too many kinds ofexpensive machinery. Suchadevelopment inevitably led toanincreasing one-sided drift and finallyto monoculture. This inturn increased the vul- nerability of production and caused difficul- tyin the control of_pests, diseases and weeds, many of whichare more orless specifictocer- tain cultivated plant or crop. The chemical residues in food and feed prompted public concern about the affects on health of plant products cultivated by conventional methods.

Preliminary research into alternative crop- ping systems wascarried out in the 19705. A pioneer in this _sectorof plant productionwas

Professor Eero Varis at the Department of Plant Husbandry of HU. Variswasinterested in _newplants, leguminous in particular, mix- tures of plants differing growing types and crop rotation needs. He also explored the feasibility of avoiding theuseof fertilizers and pesticides.

In the

1980 s ^the

following four large scale research projects intoalternativecropping sys- tems werecarried out in Finland:

1) Biological nitrogen fixation (1981 1985): The project comprised several sub- projects, and a number of institutes and or- ganizationswere involved in the direction of Dr. Pertti Uomala (1986).

2) Prospects for self-sufficiency in food production independent of imported energy inputs (1982—1985): The project covered crop rotation, nitrogen recovery and a subproject oncomposting. Itwas carried^outby^two in- stitutes and four experimental stations of the ARC in the direction of Dr. Jouko Sippola.

3) Comparison of cropping systems (1982

—1988): This was a joint study carriedout at Suitia experimental farm by sex institutes of HU under the direction of Professor Eeva Tapio.

4) A case study _on alternative farming (1983 —1986); The project wascarriedouton 50 farms in southern Finland under the direc- tion of Dr. Timo Mela.

The financing of these studieswasobtained mainly from the SITRA foundation,the Finn- ish Academy of Science and the Finnish Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. Some cooperation between the Nordic countrieswas also organized by the Scandinavian Associa- tion of Agricultural Scientists (NJF) and the Nordic Contact Organ for Agricultural Re- search (NKJ).

InFinland, the acreage of alternative crop- pingsystemshas been minimaltodate. Owing tothe expansing publicinterest, however, the area of alternative cultivation is expected to grow in thenear future.

Selected Iliterature

Annales AgriculturaeFenniae, Vois. 10—28 (1970—1989): Annual lists of agricultural paperspublished by thescientists of the insti- tutes counted below.

AgriculturalResearch Centre, SF-31600 Jokioinen Central Laboratory

Departmentof Agricultural Chemistry and Physics Departmentof Plant Husbandry (Crop Science) Departmentof Horticulture

Departmentof Plant Breeding Departmentof Plant Pathology Departmentof Pest Investigations Department of Soil Science HealthyPlant Centre

Martens Vegetable Research Station Universityof^{Helsinki, SF-00710}Helsinki Departmentof Agricultural Chemistry

Departmentof Food Chemistry and Technology Departmentof Horticulture

Departmentof Plant Breeding Departmentof Plant Husbandry

Departmentof Agric. and Forest Zoology Departmentof Microbiology

Departmentof Plant Pathology Other institutes

Assoc. Agric. Centres, Helsinki

Food Res. Lab. Techn. Res. Centre, Espoo Grain Laboratoryof State Granary, Helsinki Inst. Biol. Jyväskylä University, Jyväskylä Kemira^Co, Helsinki

National Board of Agriculture, Helsinki Pesticide ^Bureau,Vantaa

Plant Breeding Institute of Hankkija, Hyrylä Potato Research Institute, Lammi

Research Centre for SugarBeet, Perniö Res. ^Inst. Agric.Economics, Helsinki Soil AnalysesService, Helsinki StateInst. Agric. Chemistry, Helsinki Work Efficiency Association, Helsinki Committee meetings

Luonnonmukaisen viljelyn tutkimuksen,opetuksen ja neuvonnankehittäminen. Komiteamietintö 1968:37.

Helsinki.

Maataloustutkimuksen tavoiteohjelma. Maataloustutki- mus 2000.TyöryhmämietintöMMM 1987:10. Hel- sinki.

Puutarhapoliittinen tavoiteohjelma.Puutarha-alan jär- jestöt.Helsinki 1986.