SOAR is a research school. In addition to the focus on PhD students, SOAR also includes graduates, postdocs and supervisors in the activities and networks. This is important because they also constitute the research environment, in which the PhD student is under education. SOAR wants to contribute to the professional discussions with a special focus on the organic food and farming systems.
The research interests of SOAR cover a wide range of subjects within organic agriculture and food systems:
Farming system research
Crop production
Resource management
Ecosystem services
Climate change mitigation and adaptation
Livestock production
Animal health and welfare
Consumer and citizens’ involvement
Regulations and policies
Food chains
Food sovereignty
Name
Mira Arpe Bendevis
Project
Stomata Control and Development in Salinity Tolerance
Supervisors
Sven-Erik Jacobsen, University of Copenhagen, LIFE
Sergey Shabala, University of Tasmania (UTAS)
It has been suggested that the photoperiod responses and changes in plant development, are dependent on phytohormone and sugar signalling. This project will investigate the physiological and molecular basis of this phenomenon to enable crop adapation outside the centre of origin.
Background
Halophytic and drought tolerant crops such as quinoa, a highly nutritious high cash crop, are of interest for the future of sustainable agriculture particularly in developing countries and areas where arable land has become subject to drought or has been degraded due to increased soil salinity. However, the day length sensitivity of quinoa constitutes and issue for adaptation of the crop to regions outside of the centre of origin. A day length neutral quinoa cultivar has been developed at KU-LIFE and preliminary results have shown very different developmental responses in the day length neutral vs. Bolivian short day cultivars in response to increased photoperiod.
