Pflanzenschutz#
Plant Protection: The aim of plant protection is to control the decrease in yield caused by animals, fungi, bacteria and viruses with the help of chemical and biological methods. As well as controlling diseases and vermin, it is of major importance to eradicate noxious weeds. Without plant protection the yield level would decrease by 23-35 %, and yield fluctuations would increase.
The bacteriological department of the agricultural-chemical research
department in Vienna was established in 1901 as an independent
"Station for Agriculture, Bacteriology and Plant
Protection"; its founder and first director was K. Kornauth (1920
"Staatsanstalt fuer Pflanzenschutz", State Institution for
Plant Protection). Research on plant protection is also carried out at
the University of Agricultural Sciences, at the Bundesamt fuer Wein-
und Obstbau (Federal Office for Wine and Fruit Growing) in conjunction
with the Institute of Apiculture (Klosterneuburg), at the Hoehere
Bundeslehr- und Versuchsanstalt fuer Gartenbau (advanced-level Federal
Research Institute for Horticulture, Vienna-Schoenbrunn) and at the
Forstliche Bundesversuchsanstalt (Federal Research Institute for
Forestry) in Vienna (forest protection). The
Kulturpflanzenschutzgesetz (Law on Plant Protection) of 1929 provided
the legal basis for a comprehensive service on plant protection, which
was restructured in 1945. The federal provinces are responsible for
its implementation.
Under the Plant Protection Act of 1948 and the Pesticide Regulation
published in 1949 only such pesticides can be marketed as have been
tested by the Bundesanstalt fuer Pflanzenschutz (Federal Institute for
Plant Protection) and authorised by the Federal Ministry of
Agriculture and Forestry (compulsory registration). A number of laws
on plant protection provide regulations for specific matters such as
import regulations for pesticides, plants and seeds.
The amount of pesticides used every year (1992: 3,900 t active
agent) and the number of registered pesticides is declining.
Literature#
Pflanzenschutz-Berichte, 1947ff., Der Pflanzenarzt, 1948ff. (from 1985 Pflanzenschutz); Taetigkeitsbericht der Bundesanstalt fuer Pflanzenschutz; Jahresbericht der Bundesanstalt fuer Pflanzenschutz; F. Beran, 50 Jahre oesterreichischer Pflanzenschutz, 1901-1951, 1951; Bibliographie der Pflanzenschutz-Literatur, 2 vols., 1953; Oesterreichischer Fachkalender fuer Pflanzenbau und Pflanzenschutz, 1994.