| Course title | Harmful Organisms of Crops and Their Monitoring |
| Course code | LauZ5196 |
| Credit points (ECTS) | 3 |
| Total Hours in Course | 81 |
| Number of hours for lectures | 24 |
| Independent study hours | 57 |
| Date of course confirmation | 25/01/2022 |
| Responsible Unit | Institute of Soil and Plant Science |
| Course developers | |
| Dr. agr., prof. Gunita Bimšteine Dr. sc. ing., doc. Ingrīda Augšpole Dr. biol., vad.pētn. Biruta Bankina |
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| There is no prerequisite knowledge required for this course | |
| Course abstract | |
| Students obtain knowledge on the diversity, systematics, occurrence and importance of harmful organisms (invertebrates, causal agents of plant diseases) in agriculture and forestry. Students understand the concept “weeds”, are introduced with the systematics of weeds, possibilities of their spreading, and devastation of weeds. Obtain knowledge on harmful organisms’ assessment methods and the evaluation of their harmfulness, understand the necessity of monitoring. | |
| Learning outcomes and their assessment | |
| Obtain knowledge on the basics and necessity of the systematics of living nature, and are acquainted with the groups of more important harmful organisms. Are able to evaluate the damages caused by invertebrates and microorganism’s activity (Tests 1 – composed description about harmful organisms and their life cycles relevant to the selected crop).
Students understand the methods of research and monitoring and the necessity for their use in agriculture and forestry, and are able to analyse the data obtained in monitoring. Are able to analyse scientific literature in relation with the spreading of harmful organisms and the evaluation of damages they cause (Tests 2 – Description of monitoring methods for harmful organisms relevant to the selected crop). Students obtain knowledge on weeds, know their systematics and the most important ways of spreading, are able to evaluate devastation of weeds (Test 3). |
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| Course Content(Calendar) | |
| 1.Systematics of living nature, and history of its development – 1 h.
2.Introduction into the entomology of agriculture and forestry; the morphology, reproduction and development of insects – 1 h. 3.Diversity of insects – an overview of most important orders of insects in agriculture and forestry – 2 h. 4.An overview of other important invertebrates – 2 h. 5.Basic ecology of insects – 2 h. 6.Methods of the research and monitoring of invertebrates in agriculture and forestry – 2 h. 7.Importance of plant diseases in agriculture and forestry. Symptoms of diseases, their impact on plants – 1 h. 8.The most important genera of fungi and other microorganisms – plant diseases they cause and peculiarities of disease development – 1 h. 9.Evaluation and assessment of diseases – 2 h. 10.Possibilities of the outbreak, development, evaluation, analysis and forecast of epidemics – 2 h. 11.The concept “weeds”; systematics of weeds – 4 h. 12. Devastation of weeds. Monitoring of weeds, and the necessity and techniques of monitoring – 4 h. |
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| Requirements for awarding credit points | |
| Three tests successfully accomplished. | |
| Description of the organization and tasks of students’ independent work | |
| Studies of lectures’ materials and scientific literature; independent learning for tests. | |
| Criteria for Evaluating Learning Outcomes | |
| Knowledge and understanding of harmful organisms, their harmfulness, the necessity of assessment, and monitoring methods have been evaluated. | |
| Compulsory reading | |
| Augu slimības. B. Bankinas red. Jelgava, LLU, 2003. 247 lpp.
Bankina B., Bimšteine G., Kaņeps J. Vispārējā augu patoloģija: laboratorijas darbi. Jelgava, LLU, 2021. 34. lpp. Bankina B., Turka I. Augu slimību un kaitēkļu uzskaites metodes. Jelgava, LLU, 2013. 24. lpp. Kroģere R. Laukkopības praktikums. II daļa Tīruma nezāles. Jelgava: LLU, 2021. 37 lpp. https://llufb.llu.lv/LLU-studiju-materiali/LF/Laukkopibas-praktikums-2dala-Tiruma-nezales_2021.pdf Priedītis A. Kultūraugu kaitēkļi. Rīga, Zvaigzne ABC, 1996. 296. lpp. Priedītis N. . Latvijas augi. Rīga, SIA Gandrs, 2014. 888 lpp. Zimdahl R. (2018). Fundamentals of Weed Science, 5th Edition. Imprint: Academic Press, 2018. 758 p. |
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| Further reading | |
| Kusiņa M. Savvaļas ziedi Latvijas gadalaikos. Rīga: Apgāds Zvaigzne ABC, 2019. 80 lpp.
Liepiņa L.L. Ziedēšanas prieks Latvijas mežos un ārēs. Rīga: V elements, 2008. Rīga. 207 lpp. CABI: 2020. 437 p. Gillot C. Entomology. Dordrecht: Springer, 2005. 831 p. Tronsmo A.M., Collinge D.B., Djurle A., Munk L., Yuen J., Tronsmo A. Plant Pathology and Plant Diseases. Wallingford, Oxfordshire, UK; Boston, MA: CABI, 2020. 438 p. |
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| Periodicals and other sources | |
| Weed Research. The Official Journal of the European Weed Research Society. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/13653180 | |
| Notes | |
| Master study programme “Geoinformatics and Remote Sensing” | |