Lars Pødenphant Kiær

Project	Meta-analyses and their application in agriculture: a case study on variety mixtures of cereals
Supervisors	Professor Ib Skovgaard, KU/LIFE Research Specialist Hanne Østergård, Risø National Laboratory, DTU
University	Copenhagen University, Faculty of Life Sciences
Work place	Technical University of Denmark, Risø National Laboratory Biosystems Department Building BIO-301 P.O. Boks 49 4000 Roskilde and Copenhagen University, Faculty of Life Sciences
E-mail / phone	E-mail: / Ph: (+45) 4677 4107 / Web-site
Aim	The primary aim of the project is to apply meta-analysis to obtain information on factors of importance for the successful application of variety mixtures. Meta-analysis is a statistical technique that enables evaluation of research results across different studies and thus provides an exciting possibility to infer general tendencies from variety mixture data. The project in this way aims at increasing the applied value of variety mixtures and setting up targets for future research on variety mixtures. To achieve this, the project will also consider the possibilities and challenges of applying meta-analysis on such agronomic data.
Background	Mixed cultivation of several varieties of a crop is a promising contribution to a more sustainable agricultural production. Through variety mixing, various types of diversity are introduced to the crop stand that may provide increased and enhanced yields in low-input systems and reduce the need for herbicide and fungicide application. A large number of experimental results on the agricultural and industrial performance of variety mixtures are accumulating. However, it is practically impossible to control all environmental parameters in the single experiments and information on general relationships and factors of importance for the successful application of variety mixtures may be overlooked.
Status	Status reports
Time table	Start: 01.03.2006 End: 31.10.2009

Sofie Kobayashi, - last update:28 July 2010