Doctoral candidate meeting Geisenheim

On Thursday morning, the first item on the agenda was a visit to the field trials at the Forschungsring e.V. site near Darmstadt and the trial sites of the University of Giessen near Groß Gerau. Here, the current test stand could be inspected on site and further sampling discussed. Thanks to the lively exchange with the test technicians, difficulties could be analyzed and solutions found. In the afternoon, the container experiments of the Soil Science and Plant Nutrition and Climate Impact Research on Special Crops working groups at Hochschule Geisenheim University were inspected. The responsible doctoral candidates demonstrated their experimental procedure and explained further experimental ideas. This was followed by a guided tour of the Hochschule Geisenheim University campus.

The Agri-PV system above a vineyard, a unique research real laboratory, was visited and the potential of robotics for the management of weeds in the project was discussed with Prof. Dr. Dimitrios Paraforos, Head of the Chair of Technology in the Cultivation of Special Crops. The doctoral students were then given a tour of the entire wine production process, from mashing and pressing to fermentation, storage in oak barrels and bottling. The varied day ended with a small wine tasting. Exciting guest lectures were planned for Friday. First, Roman Kemper from the University of Bonn explained forms of mixed cultivation systems and their advantages and disadvantages. Then Norman Gentsch spoke on the topic of "Covercrops as tool for microbial mediated ecosystem services in soil". These two interesting presentations were followed by further planning discussions for the experiments and a lively exchange of ideas, so that all participating doctoral candidates left this year's summer meeting in Geisenheim with great motivation and new ideas.