Soil fertility, nutrient cycling and composting
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In the optimization of cultivation systems in organic farming, studies on the improvement and sustainable preservation of soil fertility and on farm and regional nutrient cycles, particularly in the application of organic fertilizers, are a major focus. In three-year research projects, we often concentrate on plant cultivation system approaches for organic farming, which, for example, take into account the effects of fertilization measures on both the main crop and the subsequent crop in order to investigate longer-term effects for the stabilization of yields.
Projects on the composting and compost application of cattle manure and clover grass on the farm level or of organic and green waste composts from the separate collection of organic household waste when considering regional nutrient cycles and their effects on plant health, yield and soil fertility have a long tradition in the department. In a long-term trial that has been underway at the Frankenhausen domain since 2017, various crop rotations in livestock-free and low-livestock farming systems in organic farming are being investigated; the impact of management and fertilization measures on greenhouse gas emissions plays an important role in this.
Greenhouse gas measurements and the closing of nutrient cycles are also the subject of the KLUFT project, which, in cooperation with practitioners, is concerned with closing the cycle in free-range laying hen husbandry, as well as the topic of intercropping currently being worked on by the arable farming section of the Hesse practical research network. The long-term trial in particular is a platform for the interdisciplinary processing of issues with the integration of soil chemistry, soil physics and soil biology expertise beyond the specialist area.
Selected publications / lectures
- Ruch, B.;Hefner, M.; Sradnick, A. Excessive Nitrate Limits the Sustainability of Deep Compost Mulch in Organic Market Gardening. Agriculture 2023, 13, 1080. https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture13051080
- Hupe, A., Naether, F., Haase, T., Bruns, C., Heß, J., Dyckmans, J., Joergensen, R.G., Wichern, F., 2021. Evidence of considerable C and N transfer from peas to cereals via direct root contact but not via mycorrhiza. Scientific Reports 11, 11424. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-90436-8
- Döring, T.F., Rosslenbroich, D., Giese, C., Athmann, M., Watson, C., Vágó, I., Kátai, J., Tállai, M., Bruns, C., 2020. Disease suppressive soils vary in resilience to stress. Applied Soil Ecology, 149, 103482. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apsoil.2019.103482
- Jannoura, R., Joergensen, R.G, Bruns, C., 2014. Organic fertilizer effects on growth, crop yield, and soil microbial biomass indices in sole and intercropped peas and oats under organic farming conditions European Journal of Agronomy 52:259-270. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eja.2013.09.001
- Hagn, A., Engel, M., Kleikamp, B., Munch, J.C., Schloter, M., Bruns, C. 2008. Microbial community shifts in Pythium ultimum-inoculated suppressive substrates, Biol. Fertil. Soils 44: 481-490, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00374-007-0230-x
Employees with a focus on
Dr. Margita Hefner
Michel Nehren
Ongoing projects
- GAP (2019 - 2025)
- Frankenhausen domain long-term trial (2017-2025)
- Site-differentiated modeling of N dynamics to reduce gaseous N emissions and further N losses in crop production (SmartMaN2agement) (2023-2026)
- Differentiated forage management - system comparison at crop rotation level (clover ace) (2022 - 2025)
- BonaRes Soil³: Sustainable Subsoil Management (2018-2025)
- Peat-reduced and peat-free substrates for organic herb cultivation (TerÖko) (2020 -2025)
- Fachgruppe Ackerbau Praxisforschungsnetzwerk Hessen: Catch crop rotation and nitrogen cycle (UMKREIS) (2022-2025)
- HydroSoilWise (2024- 2028)
Completed projects
- MIKODU (2018-2023)
- OPAL (2018-2023)
- Resource efficiency innovation networks (InRess) Compost network (2019-2023)
- Optimization of internal clover grass utilization on livestock farms (Opti-KG) (2019 - 2023)
- Control of Rhizoctonia solani in potato cultivation (2016 - 2020)
- The close range of laying hen houses under the nutrient aspect - better-practice farms and model studies on suitable substrates (2017-2018)
- Healthy plants from healthy soils: Resilience and stability of organic cropping systems (2016 - 2017)
- C & N rhizodeposition of peas (2012-2017)
- Increasing the added value of organically grown cash crops by optimizing the management of soil fertility (2008- 2013)