Current high input agricultural systems now rely on intensive production based on high fossil energy consumption and large-scale use of plant protection products and fertilisers. However, on the same time there is a growing consumer demand for healthy food, as well as increasing awareness of the need to preserve endangered environments and biodiversity and to limit greenhouse gas emissions and resource use. So, to increase the sustainability of production systems and preserve ecosystems, alternative and more sustainable methods of production need to be encouraged.
Design of novel cropping systems based on increased agrobiodiversity will be addressed in a specific workpackage (WP4) on basis of the hypothesis that cropping systems based on higher breeding and management diversity should increase crop yield, yield stability, produce quality, soil fertility and weed suppression. Innovative cropping systems based on a higher level of genetic and management/habitat diversity will be designed in ad hoc experiments conducted in several agricultural and socio-economic contexts. Increased cropping system diversity (e.g. the use of green manure crops, living mulches, intercropping and variety mixtures) needs specific technical adaptation, which will be studied and adjusted to site-specific conditions. An innovative aspect of the experiments will be in-depth studies be carried out by Risø DTU on nitrogen cycle assessments using 15N natural abundance technique, measuring N2-fixation in annual and perennial legume species and emissions of N2O from the soil to the atmosphere using manual gas-flux chambers combined with GC-analysis.
The part of the SOLIBAM project dealing with novel cropping systems has the following overall objectives:
- design, develop and test innovative arable and vegetable cropping systems based on a high level of agrobiodiversity
- develop joint activities across a range of different pedo-climatic conditions in Europe and Sub-Saharan Africa
- follow priorities set forth by stakeholders group about different crop typologies in different environments when designing cropping systems
Transfer of knowledge and experience is the key for success when designing and introducing novel cropping system to increase agrobiodiversity in time and space, through e.g. cereal-legume intercropping. Farmers have to change a lot of old habits and form new ones in an ongoing process that begins with exposure to, and assimilation of relevant information.
Legume rotations and organic sources of nitrogen (N) fertility have progressively been replaced with synthetic N fertilizers over the past 3-4 decades. Future cropping systems will be more dependent on atmospheric N inputs through N2-fixation and recycling of N-rich residues to maintain soil fertility. Increasing emphasis on environmentally sustainable development with the use of renewable resources is expected to increase interest in the capacity of legumes to supply N to cropping systems of the future. On the same time, expected increasing and more unpredictable seasonal precipitation patterns together with the turnover of easily decomposable leguminous crop residues may results in N losses to air (N20), ground and surface waters (NO3-). Nitrogen is the most limiting nutrient in many agricultural plant production systems and the key challenge is to match the rate and timing of N supply to crop demand for N.
It is expected that inclusion of legumes in arable and vegetable cropping systems would increase diversity-driven agroecological services, namely crop yield, yield stability, weed suppression and soil fertility in all environments. Data and samples collected in the WP4 experiments will feed the global performance analysis of sustainability.
Participants:
The project consist of 15 European Research Institutions (Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique; INRA, Associazione Italiana per l’Agricoltura Biologica (AIAB), Italy; The Organic Research Centre Elm Farm, UK; Risø DTU National Laboratory for Sustainable Energy, Denmark; Institut technique de l’Agriculture Biologique (ITAB), France; Technical University of Munich, Germany; Instituto de Tecnologia Quimica e Biologica (ITQB), Portugal; Instituto de Agricultura Sostenible (IAS), Spain; Escola Superior Agraria de Coimbra (ESAC), Portugal; Agricultural Research Institute of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (HAS), Hungary; Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, Pisa (SSSUP), Italy; University of Perugia (UNIPG), Italy; Federal Department of Economic Affairs/Agroscope Reckenholz-Tänikon Research Station (FDEA- ART), Switzerland; Institute of Food and Resource Economics (UCPH), Denmark and INRA Transfert, France), 4 crop breeding companies (Saatzucht Donau, Austria; Gautier Semence, France; Agrovegetal, Spain and Arcoiris, Italy) and 3 institutions from African ACP countries and international organisation (International Center for Agricultural Research In the Dry Areas (ICARDA), Coordination Nationale des Organisations Paysannes du Mali (CNOP), Mali and Mekelle University (MU), Ethiopia)
Role:
Risø DTU will primarily conduct in-depth field studies involving cropping strategies with annual and perennial legumes measuring N dynamics.
Resources:
The project is funded by the EU Seventh framework programme: Food, Agriculture and Fisheries, Biotechnology, with a grant agreement for: Collaborative Project (large-scale integrating project) - FP7 KBBE- 245058
Duration:
The SOLIBAM project is funded to run 54 months in total, with an expected start in May 2010.
Web page:
The SOLIBAM project webpage side is under construction
Additional with other Risø project - Information here...
Employees involved:
Per Ambus (stable isotopes and N20 Emissions), Liselotte Meltofte (soil analyses), Anja Nielsen (gas analyses) and Henrik Hauggaard-Nielsen (N2-fixation and crop production)
Student projects:
Student projects can be offered in connection to the project
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