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:
The overall objective of this PhD study is to gain knowledge about the productivity, quality and nutrient dynamics in a species-rich organic grassland composed of grasses, legumes and herbs.
The aims are:
- To determine the transfer and deposition of nitrogen in different plants in multi-species mixtures under field conditions throughout two seasons.
- To investigate the nitrogen uptake efficiency of different plants in a diverse pasture by injecting ammoniumsulphate in different depths in the soil and using 15N as a tracer.
- To analyse different plant species in a mixture for the temporal difference in their macro- and micromineral content over the season and over three years after sward establishment.
Background
On organic dairy farms grass-clover leys are essential for animal welfare, feed supply and soil fertility. In Europe forage is based on perennial ryegrass and white clover. The limitations of a grass-clover ley are linked to, among others, low drought resistance and short growth period of white clover. Earlier studies suggest that grasslands with a high diversity can overcome those limitations. The motivation to include herbs in a mixture is also based on the thought that they increase the health of livestock by their high mineral content and enhance the soil fertility by deep rooting plants which bring up minerals from deeper soil layers. Additionally, a multi species ley increases not just the plant biodiversity but also the biotopes for grassland fauna.
Knowledge about the nutrient use efficiency, productivity and quality of the different plant species can support farmers in their pasture management and help them to design productive grassland mixtures with high feed quality.
