Dr. Joachim Raupp (until December 2009), Meike Oltmanns, Markus Knipping (until October 2009)
Soil organic matter, soil life and crop growth with farmyard manure with and without application of biodynamic preparations compared to mineral fertilization.
Soil organic matter, soil life, crop growth and long-term effects of farmyard manure and plant based fertilizer (e.g. faba bean meal); investigation of the effects of biodynamic preparations
Cooperation with DFG (German Research Foundation) Research Training Group 1397 of Kassel University and the Georg-August-Universität Göttingen
Cooperation in the PAKT project of Institute of Vegetable and Ornamental Crops (IGZ) Großbeeren and Erfurt
- 2004-05: Micronutrient status in soils and crops (pre-test)
Effects of the long-term application of farmyard manure, biodynamic preparations and mineral fertilisers to the total contents of Fe, Cu, Mn, Zn? Are there any consequences for the micronutrient supply of rye and potatoes? Investigation of samples of 4 years back until 1980.
Publications:
Fischer et al. (2005a) (in English; 176 KB)
Fischer et al. (2005b) (in German; 97 KB)
- 2004-05: Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi (AMF) with potatoes (pre-test)
Degree of root colonization with comparable P availability in the soil; development of the extraradical mycelium under field conditions; effect of fertilization and biodynamic preparations on the habitus of AMF hyphae.
Publication:
Scharfy et al. (2005) (in German; 159 KB)
- 2004: Ecological differential analysis of ground beetles (Carabidae) on arable land
Ground beetles are an important element of agricultural biocoenoses; evaluation of the abundance of ground beetles from spring to summer (harvest) on our long-term fertilization trial, on biodynamic and conventional arable land with grain and potatoes; Evaluation of the ecological characteristics and demands of the identified ground beetle species.
Report
Schüle (2005) summary of a diploma thesis (in English) (in English)
- 2004-05: Vitamine C analyses with potatoes of different fertilization and storage duration.
Effect of farmyard manure, application of biodynamic preparations and mineral fertilization on ascorbic acid contents in potatoes; comparison of different analytical methods. To which extent ascorbic acid is degraded during storage? Is there an effect of fertilization on ascorbic acid degradation?
Report:
Wiegele (2005) (in English)
- 2004: Reduction of nutrient losses during composting of farmyard manure
Based of a literature study (approx. 200 references) and the evaluation of our composting trials from 14 outdoor experiments carried out in 11 years we tried to identify and quantify the reasons for nutrient losses and and their interactions. From this, a number of measures to reduce losses are derived, which can be easily carried out in practical farming.
Publications:
Raupp & OLtmanns (2005a) (in German in Lebendige Erde, 1.3 MB)
Raupp & OLtmanns (2005b) (in English, 173 KB)
Raupp & OLtmanns (2005c) (in German, 100 KB)
- 2004-05: Straw composting under controlled conditions
Stockless farms can either incorporate the straw directly into the soil of cereal fields or may compost the straw in heaps. Under the controlled conditions of laboratory composting containers the advantages of the aerobic composting method are examined and different treatments are tested: Addition of nitrogen or phosphorus as well as different moisture contents of the raw material.
- 2004: Investigation of farmyard manure composting with "electronic noses" (pre-test)
Electronic noses (sensor arrays) are semiconductor sensors that are sensitive to certain smells. They cannot indicate specifically certain gases, but provide a chemical image of all the emissions of a sample. Farmyard manure samples of different composting stages showed clear differences to each other which increased slightly with composting time. At the last sampling date (after 160 composting days) even the biodynamically prepared and the unprepared manure could be differentiated.
Publication:
Raupp et al. (2004) (in German)
- 2003-04: Soil microbial biomass and their substrate utilitzation
Did the long-term fertilization with farmyard manure and application of preparations cause a selection of the soil microflora? This was examined with 31 test substances (BIOLOG® test). The physiological performance of the microflora differs only slightly, however, increasing levels of mineral fertilization caused a clear restriction of the diversity. This indicates a depletion of the soil microflora.
Publication:
Raupp et al. (2004) (in German)
- 2003: The role of the organic agriculture in mitigating climate change
Cooperation in a scope study on behalf of IFOAM. Based on literature the effects of organic and conventional agriculture on the origin of greenhouse gases were described. With reference to the Kyoto protocol and the international regulations the possibilities for a special promotion of organic agriculture due to its system-immanent advantages are discussed .
- 1998-2002: Post-harvest behaviour of organically and minerally fertilized potatoes
Chemical contents in tubers and results of decomposition tests (e.g. extract darkening); infestation with storage rot.
- 1998-2000: Growth and yield of differently fertilized potatoes in the second generation
Does the way of fertilization has any effect on growth parameters in the next generation? Tubers originating from different fertilization treatments have been cultivated under the same conditions.
- 1998-99: Investigation on farmyard manure composting in a horticultural enterprise
Composting parameters depending upon covering and turning frequency of the heaps.
- 1995-97: Development of fertilization systems based on long-term trials on organic farming in Europe.
Evaluation of long-term effects of different types and intensities of fertilization based on long-term trials in Darmstadt (Germany), Therwil (Switzerland) and Uppsala (Sweden)
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