159 research outputs found
Legume protein from Brandenburg - trials on the cultivation potential of organic soya and lupins
No full textField trials on grain legumes have been conducted at the Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) for many years. In this video, Moritz Reckling and Kathleen Karges give insights into their research on soybeans and various lupin species and present trials on the cultivation potential of these legumes in Brandenburg
10 questions to Falk Reckling, Austrian Science Fund, by Bruno Bauer
No full textAdvocates of Open Access call to substitute the established scholarly publication model, in particular subscriptions and licences, by an Open Access Publishing model. Scholarly papers should be immediately accessible without paying and leave the copyright to the author. At the beginning the Open Access movement focused on and demanded for the publication of original scientific articles in Open Access journals. Meanwhile they moved on to support a form of secondary publication, the self-archiving of sholarly papers in institutional repositories. The current interview with Falk Reckling gives an account of the FWF Austrian Science Fund (http://www.fwf.ac.at) and their point of view towards Open Access. The interview hits the Golden Road as well as the Green Road to open access and their costs. Preconditions for a paradigm shift towards Open Access Publishing are brought up and prospects of sholarly publishing in 2020 were discussed with a look on libraries and their possible role within this settingBefürworter von Open Access Publishing fordern, das etablierte wissenschaftliche Publikationswesen, insbesondere das System der subskriptions- und lizenzfinanzierten wissenschaftlichen Zeitschriften, durch das Open Access Publishing-Modell zu ersetzen. Wissenschaftliche Fachpublikationen sollen unmittelbar und kostenfrei über das Internet zugänglich sein , wobei das Copyright beim Autor bleibt. Stand dabei zunächst die Primärpublikation eines wissenschaftlichen Fachartikels in einer Open Access Zeitschrift im Mittelpunkt, so verlagerte sich der Handlungsschwerpunkt der Open Access Befürworter in jüngster Zeit auf die Zweitpublikation in der Form der Selbstarchivierung von wissenschaftlichen Fachartikeln in institutionellen Repositorien. Das aktuelle Interview mit Falk Reckling informiert über den FWF Der Wissenschaftsfonds (http://www.fwf.ac.at) und dessen Einschätzung von Open Access. Thematisiert werden sowohl der Goldene Weg zu Open Access als auch der Grüne Weg zu Open Access sowie die Kostenfrage. Angesprochen werden auch die Voraussetzungen für einen Paradigmenwechsel zu Open Access Publishing, Perspektiven für das wissenschaftliche Publikationswesen 2020 sowie die mögliche zukünftige Rolle von Bibliotheken
Repositorien: Der grüne Weg zu Open Access Publishing aus der Perspektive einer Forschungsförderungsorganisation : 10 Fragen von Bruno Bauer an Falk Reckling, Mitarbeiter des FWF Der Wissenschaftsfonds
No full textAdvocates of Open Access call to substitute the established scholarly publication model, in particular subscriptions and licences, by an Open Access Publishing model. Scholarly papers should be immediately accessible without paying and leave the copyright to the author. At the beginning the Open Access movement focused on and demanded for the publication of original scientific articles in Open Access journals. Meanwhile they moved on to support a form of secondary publication, the self-archiving of scholarly papers in institutional repositories. The current interview with Falk Reckling gives an account of the FWF Austrian Science Fund (http://www.fwf.ac.at) and their point of view towards Open Access. The interview hits the Golden Road as well as the Green Road to open access and their costs. Preconditions for a paradigm shift towards Open Access Publishing are brought up and prospects of scholarly publishing in 2020 were discussed with a look on libraries and their possible role within this setting
Repositorien: Der grüne Weg zu Open Access Publishing aus der Perspektive einer Forschungsförderungsorganisation: 10 Fragen von Bruno Bauer an Falk Reckling, Mitarbeiter des FWF Der Wissenschaftsfonds / Repository: The Green Road to Open Access Publishing and the FWF Austrian Science Fund's point of view: 10 questions to Falk Reckling, Austrian Science Fund, by Bruno Bauer
No full textAdvocates of Open Access call to substitute the established scholarly publication model, in particular subscriptions and licences, by an Open Access Publishing model. Scholarly papers should be immediately accessible without paying and leave the copyright to the author. At the beginning the Open Access movement focused on and demanded for the publication of original scientific articles in Open Access journals. Meanwhile they moved on to support a form of secondary publication, the self-archiving of sholarly papers in institutional repositories. The current interview with Falk Reckling gives an account of the FWF Austrian Science Fund (http://www.fwf.ac.at) and their point of view towards Open Access. The interview hits the Golden Road as well as the Green Road to open access and their costs. Preconditions for a paradigm shift towards Open Access Publishing are brought up and prospects of sholarly publishing in 2020 were discussed with a look on libraries and their possible role within this settin
European soybean to benefit people and the environment
No full textEurope imports large amounts of soybean that are predominantly used for livestock feed, mainly sourced from Brazil, USA and Argentina. In addition, the demand for GM-free soybean for human consumption is project to increase. Soybean has higher protein quality and digestibility than other legumes, along with high concentrations of isoflavones, phytosterols and minerals that enhance the nutritional value as a human food ingredient. Here, we examine the potential to increase soybean production across Europe for livestock feed and direct human consumption, and review possible effects on the environment and human health. Simulations and field data indicate rainfed soybean yields of 3.1 +/- 1.2 t ha-1 from southern UK through to southern Europe (compared to a 3.5 t ha-1 average from North America). Drought-prone southern regions and cooler northern regions require breeding to incorporate stress-tolerance traits. Literature synthesized in this work evidenced soybean properties important to human nutrition, health, and traits related to food processing compared to alternative protein sources. While acknowledging the uncertainties inherent in any modelling exercise, our findings suggest that further integrating soybean into European agriculture could reduce GHG emissions by 37-291 Mt CO2e year-1 and fertiliser N use by 0.6-1.2 Mt year-1, concurrently improving human health and nutrition
Linking the Topics "Climate Change and Nutrition" by Discussing Sustainability in Chemistry Lessons at School
No full textAgricultural production in Europe is intensive, highly specialized, and responsible for some negative environmental impacts related to climate change and loss of biodiversity, raising questions about the sustainability of farming and the wider food system. The integration of legumes into agricultural systems could contribute to the transition to more sustainable food production and consumption. For example, for the production of 100 g of protein in beef, 49.89 kg of CO2 is emitted, whereas for 100 g of protein in pulses, it is only 0.84 kg. While the general benefits from legume cultivation and consumption are widely known in the scientific community, there is little evidence on how to inform next generations. Therefore, in this paper, the development of materials for discussing sustainability in chemistry lessons at school using a guided inquiry approach is described and discussed. Chickpea and lupin were identified as two contrasting legume species that allowed exploring the role of established and novel crops as an example in Germany. Chemistry experiments related to nutrition were further developed, using canned chickpeas and lupin yoghurt as examples for plant-based food products. All materials were made available using an interaction box to ensure that the students can plan their own learning process individually. After finishing the work with the box, the students can use their results for a discussion
Spatial arrangement of intercropping impacts natural enemy abundance and aphid predation in an intensive farming system
No full textCrop diversification is an increasingly recognized management strategy to support biodiversity and ecosystem services, like pest and disease control, in agricultural systems. However, a significant obstacle to its adoption is the potential trade-off between ecosystem services and optimizing yields. We used a two year, on-farm study in Eastern Germany to test how different spatial arrangements of soy (Glycine max L.) and winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) can affect pest abundance, aphid predation, and natural enemy biodiversity as well as yields. We compared conventional sole cropping to three types of spatially diversified cropping systems: relay intercropping, wide strip cropping, and patch cropping. Strip cropping generally supported some of the highest levels of carabid abundance both years and spider abundance in 2022 without any yield penalties. While the relay system failed due to insufficient precipitation, strip cropping produced similar or higher yields than sole cropping (124 % and 96 % of the sole wheat yield and 96 % and 109 % of sole soy yield in 2022 and 2023, respectively). Strip cropping supported significantly more carabid beetles compared to sole cropped soy both years and sole cropped wheat in 2022. We found significantly different carabid community composition between wheat strips and patches and the corresponding soy strips and patches. There were no differences in aphid abundance between systems. Nevertheless, we found 51 % and 36 % higher aphid predation rates in wheat strips compared to wheat patches in 2022 and 2023. Our results provide initial insights into the potential of strip cropping to support both natural enemies and yields while also being an approachable diversification strategy for farmers
Faba bean introduction makes protein production less dependent on nitrogen fertilization in Mediterranean no-till systems
No full textContext: Under Mediterranean rainfed areas, no-till cereal-based systems have been adopted to cope with water availability and increasing input costs. However, the increased risk of biotic stresses, high N-fertilizer dependence, and current EU policies warrant cropping systems re-design. Objective: Evaluate diversification and N fertilization as strategies to improve N use efficiency at the cropping system level and quantify its productivity. Methods: Four crop sequences combined with four levels of N fertilization were assessed in a three-year field experiment in semiarid rainfed north-eastern Spain. Crop sequences were continuous winter wheat (WCS) and three-year diversified rotations with pea (PCS), faba bean (FCS), or a multi-service cover crop (MSCS) and two years of cereals. Crop, pre-crop and cropping system levels were considered. Agronomic evaluation included crops above-ground biological N fixation (Ndfa), net N balance (Ndfa minus N removed by grain), soil N mineralisation productivity, energy to N tradeoff (ENT), and N use efficiency of protein (NUEp) production. Results: Pea yields ranged from 0 to 766 kg ha-1 and Ndfa from 24% to 54%. Faba bean yield ranged from 1378 to 4251 kg ha-1 and Ndfa from 32% to 72%. Net N balance was close to neutral for pea while in faba bean it ranged from 41 to -21 kg N ha-1. Alternative pre-crops led to greater soil N mineralisation (51 kg N ha-1, on average) and higher wheat yield (564 kg ha-1, on average) compared to wheat as the pre-crop. N fertilization increased protein yields, with FCS presenting the highest yields at all N fertilizer rates. This effect led to a stable NUEp (1.69 kg protein kg N supply-1), as the protein yield increased proportionally to N supply. Conclusions: Diversification improved the succeeding wheat performance and grain legumes N fixation exceeded grain N removal. Introducing legumes into cropping systems led to a decrease in energy productivity compared to the cereal-based system. However, protein production in the FCS was higher than in any other cropping system regardless of the N fertilizer rate. Implications or significance: Crop diversification adds challenges and risks in dry Mediterranean areas. However, the study shows that crop diversification with faba bean can decrease cropping system's N-fertilizer dependence and increase protein productivity, contributing to cropping systems' sustainability
Winter wheat-soybean relay intercropping in conjunction with a shift in sowing dates as a climate change adaptation and mitigation strategy for crop production in Germany
No full textContext: Given the negative impacts of climate change on crop production, it is vital to implement efficient adaptation and mitigation strategies. The diversification of cropping systems, particularly through intercropping combined with shifts in sowing times, could have the potential to offset such negative impacts. Yet, both experimental data and simulation studies are scarce to elucidate the intercropping performance under future climate change conditions, particularly for evaluating its potential to offset climate impacts on crop and protein yields in German wheat-based systems. Objective: This study aimed to simulate the grain yield and grain protein performance of winter wheat-soybean relay-row intercropping across Germany under future climate conditions, comparing it to sole cropping systems. Methods: We employed the MONICA agroecosystem model and its intercropping module to simulate the performance of an innovative winter wheat-soybean relay intercropping system. This was in combination with a wide range of shifts in sowing dates, and we compared it against standard sole cropping under low and high emission scenarios across Germany. Results: The model projected a 15% higher sole wheat yield under the future (2031-2060) high emission scenario than that of the historical period (1981-2020), while sole soybean yield increased by 8% in the same case. Although the simulation of winter wheat-soybean relay intercropping across Germany indicated a 9 % yield penalty compared to sole cropping in the future, with a transgressive overyielding index of 0.91, intercropping emerged as particularly advantageous in terms of land-use efficiency and protein production. It saved 17 % of land compared to sole cropping, thus produced equal amounts of grain yield, and produced 16% more protein than sole cropping in the high emission scenario. On top of that, shifting the sowing dates of the component crops to earlier times was found to substantially enhance the advantages of intercropping, resulting in a maximum of 44 % higher total yield production, and 47 % higher protein production than sole wheat without shifting sowing date in the future projection window. Conclusion: Our findings highlight the grain yield and protein production potential of intercropping versus sole cropping under futuristic high emission scenarios (RCP 8.5), and underscoring its potential to create a win-win situation of increased crop diversity and productivity. The results affirm the crucial importance of selecting optimal sowing dates for the component crops in intercropping, to maximize production and ensure resilience in the face of a changing climate
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