Institut für ökologische Chemie, Pflanzenanalytik und Vorratsschutz
The collaborative project aims to identify and overcome hurdles to the establishment and performance of different agroforestry systems in Lower Saxony. The collaborative project has three main objectives:1) Identification of economic, social, and agronomic hurdles, analyze economic risks based on economic data, and identification of potential solutions that can contribute to an increased establishment of agroforestry systems in Lower Saxony.2) Analysis of the contribution of agroforestry systems to plant health and food safety, such as the analysis of effects of rows of trees on phytopathogenic organisms (e.g. Fusarium species in small grain cereals and maize, Verticillium longisporum and Leptosphaeria species in oilseed rape and Phytophthora infestans and potato virus Y in potatoes) and toxic secondary metabolites (mycotoxins). 3) Identification of optimal nutrient management for efficient use of soil nutrients in young agroforestry systems. Previous research has shown that implementing alley cropping systems improves carbon sequestration, habitat for biological activity, and resistance to wind erosion without compromising yield and profitability. However, ecosystem functions associated with fertilizer applications (e.g., nitrate leaching, non-CO2 GHG emissions) did not improve. Within the project, initial sampling for nutrient supply and carbon accumulation will be conducted. In the project, we aim to evaluate how nutrient management can be optimized to improve nutrient use efficiency, maintain high profitability, and reduce negative impacts such as nitrate leaching and non-CO2 GHG emissions.
Niedersächsisches Ministerium für Ernährung, Landwirtschaft und Verbraucherschutz
