Project Details
Projekt
SP5: Agroforestry for Sustainable Multifunctional Agriculture - Management, Productivity and Yields
Applicants
Professorin Dr. Sonoko Bellingrath-Kimura; Professor Dr. Michael Frei; Professorin Dr. Heidi Webber, Ph.D.
Subject Area
Plant Cultivation, Plant Nutrition, Agricultural Technology
Term
since 2024
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 517723694
Agroforestry systems are widely adopted in tropical countries but are currently rarely practiced in temperate regions. As this type of mixed cropping system is thought to be more resistant to extreme weather conditions, including drought and heat stress in comparison to mono-cropping systems, agroforestry may become more relevant in the future due to climate change. This project forms a part of a larger research unit, which aims at exploring the potential of agroforestry systems in temperate regions. The aims of this specific sub-project are to explore gradients of productivity and resource use efficiency in agroforestry systems i.e., potential changes extending from tree rows into the crop alleys. To this aim, we will conduct experiments in two locations, where annual crops (winter wheat, maize, winter rye) will be grown between tree rows that run across a slope. The first work package will investigate resource use efficiency (radiation, water and nutrients) in gradients perpendicular to the tree rows. This will comprise the monitoring and analyses of plant growth, biomass formation and yields, physiological vegetation indices, in depth analyses of photosynthetic performance, nutrient uptake and physiological indicators of water stress. In the second work package, we will vary management options (variety and fertilizer application) and investigate their effects on resource use efficiency along the identified gradients. The focus of this subproject will be on indicators of nutrient use efficiency. In the third work package, we will study heterogeneity within the cropping system, which are caused by introduction of the tree rows with understorey vegetation into arable land. This will include a comprehensive analysis of yield heterogeneity by means of harvesting 400 to 900 sub-plots, followed by a statistical yield heterogeneity analysis. The final work package will develop a modelling framework to assess the effects of multiple stressors on crops in agroforestry systems, exploring particularly modes of stressor interactions. Overall, this project will investigate gradients of crop yields and resource use efficiency in temperate agroforestry systems characterized by contrasting site conditions in unprecedented depth, and will thereby facilitate the wider adoption of agroforestry as a measure to safeguard food security under global climate change.
DFG Programme
Research Units
Co-Investigator
Professor Dr. Frank Ewert
