Organic Agriculture

Dr. Zikeli is the Coordinator for Organic Farming and Consumer Protection at the University of Hohenheim. She is an expert in Soil Science and Plant Nutrition who is specialized in crop production and the management of natural resources in cropping system research, carbon dynamics and nutrient flows at the farm level. As a member of the advisory boards for the “Research Programme on Organic Farming and Other Forms of Sustainable Agriculture” at the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture, Germany and for Organic Farming Research with the Ministry of Rural Areas and Consumer Protection, Baden-Württemberg, Germany.

Dr. Zikeli is deeply involved in inter- and transdisciplinary research projects in the organic sector. Therefore, she is closely linked to farmers, processors, associations, extension services, administration and civil society actors.

She is also a lecturer for organic agriculture and Programme Director of the M.Sc. program Organic Agriculture and Food Systems (EUR-Organic). 

Contact:

Dr. agr. Sabine Zikeli, Co-ordination for Organic Farming and Consumer Protection,
Phone: +49 711 459-23248, Email: zikeli@uni-hohenheim.de

Prof. Dr. Valle Zárate is an expert in animal breeding. One of her latest research projects in the field of organic farming is a collaborative project between the Institute of Agricultural Sciences in the Tropics (490h) at the University of Hohenheim, the State Office for Geo-Information and Land Development in Baden-Württemberg (LGL, Department 35) and the Goat Breeding and Performance Control Associations of Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria.

Under the supervision of Dr. Herold, the collaborative project is working on improved dairy goat breeding for organic milk production. Especially for the production of organic goat dairy products, which is often produced by small family farms, the breeding for improved milk production offers new opportunities for ecological as well as economic sustainability of this small-scale farming sector.

The aim of this project, which focuses on “high milk yielding life-time achievement and process robustness particularly for pasture feeding”, is to acquire a specific goat-breeding program for organic farming. Therefore, the project is focusing on principals of lifetime achievement and production processes in pasture feedings with special focus on the genotype-environment interaction, which are essential in organic animal production. Based on its participatory research approach, the project will involve the goat farmers themselves throughout the whole project duration.

Contact:

Prof. Dr. Anne Valle Zárate, Animal Breeding and Husbandry in the Tropics and Subtropics,
Phone: +49 711 45924210, Email: Anne.Valle.Zarate@uni-hohenheim.de

Prof. Dr. Grashorn is an expert in the field of poultry production with more than 30 years of research experience. His main focus is on the quality of poultry production and the influence of production factors on product quality.

Numerous scandals in food production, an increased awareness of animal welfare and the interest of consumers in more sustainable food production has led to an increasing demand for organic products. It is assumed that food products which are safe and of high value can be produced in extensive farming systems while banning prophylactics, conventional medicines as well as synthetic additives in feed.

To verify this assumption, Prof. Dr. Grashorn´s latest projects are focusing on:

• the comparison of conventional and organic chicken eggs and poultry meat production in view of product quality,
• the potential of slow growing broiler and dual purpose chicken breeds for the production of organic poultry meat,
• the assessment of the nutritive value of a large number of organic grains less commonly used in poultry nutrition for broilers and laying hens,
• and the improvement of the supply of organic broilers in the first weeks of life with essential nutrients, especially methionine.

Contact:

Prof. Dr. habil. Michael A. Grashorn, Institute of Animal Science,
Phone: +49 711 459-22484, Email: michael.grashorn@uni-hohenheim.de

Dr. Longin is an agrobiologist, specializing in plant breeding and biotechnologies. As the Research Director of the Landessaatzuchtanstalt - Research Group Wheat, which belongs to the State Plant Breeding Institute, he is working on the development of application-oriented technological and nutritional knowledge for the broader and optimized utilization of the old wheat species Einkorn, Emmer and Spelt. His research activities support small and medium size companies by giving recommendations for producing high quality wheat products and promoting old wheat varieties by highlighting their nutritional values.

The different crops are tested on their agronomic parameters such as yield, plant height and stem stability. Furthermore, Dr. Longin and his research group are evaluating the processing properties of the wheat species for the production of bakery products and pasta. In relation to this, phytochemicals of nutritional relevance such as carotenoids, vitamin E compounds, alk(en)ylresorcinols, steryl ferulates and phytates are also being studied in detail and their levels of proteins associated with intolerances (α-amylase trypsin inhibitors (ATI), gluten) are being investigated.

Contact:

PD Dr. Friedrich Longin, State Plant Breeding Institute (Landessaatzuchtanstalt) - Research Group Wheat,
Phone: +49 711 459-23846, Email: friedrich.longin@uni-hohenheim.de

Prof. Dr. Gruber is a scientist at the agronomy department. Her research on lentils (Lens culinaris) contributes to the development of organic agriculture in Germany by improving mixed cropping systems for lentils.

Lentils do not only have a high nutritional value for human consumption but also benefit organic crop rotation and intercropping systems by biologically fixing atmospheric nitrogen. However, the production and consequently also research initiatives on lentils was neglected in Germany since the middle of the 20th century. For about 10 years, lentils experience a revival in German organic agriculture.

Prof. Gruber and her team are working on the design of improved organic lentil cropping systems in terms of productivity and competitiveness performance, suitable species and proportion of companion crops, lentil cultivars and sowing dates. The results of her research will be used to optimize lentil-cropping systems for different local climatic conditions in Germany.

Contact:

apl. Prof. Dr. Sabine Gruber, Agronomy (340a),
Phone: +49 711 459-22371, Email: Sabine.Gruber@uni-hohenheim.de

Prof. Dr. Zörb is evaluating plant seeds of soya, lupine and lentil as a a potential source of proteins, which are an essential component of animal as well as human diets. The production of primer proteins from soya in conventional cropping systems is partly criticized as a significant amount of soya is imported to Germany for livestock-feeding. The past year’s research put considerable effort into making it possible to produce soya in our temperate zones of Europe.

Especially in organic production, the production of farm produced proteins for animal feeding is highly desirable. But also in the field of human nutrition, plant proteins are needed in vegetarian diets where new possibilities to make use out of lupine proteins were developed.

Soya and lupines are particularly suitable for organic agriculture given their ability to fix atmospheric nitrogen through rhizobia and transforming it efficiently into storage proteins. Another important criteria for their cultivation in organic agriculture is their resistance against miscellaneous pests and pathogens which will also be tested in the current project.

Contact:

Prof. Dr. Christian Zörb, Quality of Plant Products,
Phone: + 49 711 459 22520, Email: christian.zoerb@uni-hohenheim.de

Dr. Hahn is an agronomist specializing in plant breeding. As the Scientific Director of the Landessaatzuchtanstalt - Research Group Legumes and Sunflowers under the State Plant Breeding Institute, he is working on the climatic adaptation of soybean varieties.

Due to its ability to fix atmospheric nitrogen through rhizobia, soya plays an important role in organic agriculture worldwide. At the same time, the demand for soya is increasing not only as animal feed with high protein content for pig and bull fattening and dairy cows, but also for human consumption with an increasing demand for soy-based products such as soy milk and tofu. However the production in Germany is still limited to a few regions with warmer climates.

Plant breeding offers new opportunities to increase soya production for the domestic market. Therefore, Dr. Hahn and his team are focusing on breeding improved soya varieties for the climatic conditions of Germany.

Current research includes:

• Developing a genomic-based breeding program
• Analysis of the genetics of important traits
• Advancement of soybean breeding programs specialised for different markets

Contact:

Dr. Volker Hahn, State Plant Breeding Institute (Landessaatzuchtanstalt) - Research Group Legumes and Sunflowers,
Phone: 07852 918817, Email: volker.hahn@uni-hohenheim.de

Prof. Dr. Zörb is testing established and new tomato varieties from field production systems as an alternative low-cost production method in organic agriculture compared to the typical greenhouse production of tomatoes. Aside from resistance and yield, a key priority is the quality features of diverse traditional varieties and new cultivars of tested tomatoes.

Contact:

Prof. Dr. Christian Zörb, Quality of Plant Products,
Phone: + 49 711 459 22520, Email: christian.zoerb@uni-hohenheim.de

Prof. Dr. Zörb is analysing traditional onion varieties which are not necessarily better in terms of pest resistance or yield but might provide a broader basis for interesting and health activating secondary plant compounds. Therefore, Prof. Dr. Zörb is analysing the substances in traditional and new onion varieties. Furthermore, he conducts quality categorization in sweet and spicy varieties.

Contact:

Prof. Dr. Christian Zörb, Quality of Plant Products,
Phone: + 49 711 459 22520, Email: christian.zoerb@uni-hohenheim.de

Prof. Dr. Steidle is the Head of the Department of Animal Ecology and he is currently working on the biological control of stored product pests. Due to increasing concerns and high restrictions of using pesticides, especially in ecological farming, the aim is to develop and improve environmentally friendly methods for the control of stored product pests. The main focus is on the biological control of the stored product pest beetles like granary weevils and bruchid beetles, by the release of parasitoid wasps. Currently, Prof. Dr. Steidle and his team are developing a strategy for the continuous production and release of parasitoid wasps on-site in grain stores.

Contact:

Prof. Dr. Johannes Steidle, Animal Ecology,
Phone: +49 711 459-23667, Email: jsteidle@uni-hohenheim.de

Prof. Dr. Zebitz is the Managing Director of the Institute of Phytomedicine and Professor for applied entomology. Being a specialist in plant protection, he is investigating the mechanisms of plant resistance to herbivorous insects, and possibilities for integrated plant protection by habitat management, natural insecticides, and biological control measures as alternative to control by synthetic chemicals, which plays an important role for plant protection in Organic Agriculture. Hereby, antagonistic bacteria and arthropods, and plant-derived natural insecticides as environmentally friendly control processes are evaluated. In his role as entomologist he is also carrying out a wide range of research activities on insects in general, biological plant protection, insect-plant interaction and the direct and indirect effects of natural and synthetic insecticides.

Contact:

Prof. Dr. Dr. Claus P. W. Zebitz, Institute of Phytomedicine (360),
Phone: +49 711 459-22400, Email: Claus.Zebitz@uni-hohenheim.de

Prof. Dr. Vögele is an expert in the fields of microbiology, mycology, and phytopathology. Due to the new plant protection law that limits use of chemical pesticides, there is a steadily increasing interest in alternatives to chemical control.

In organic agriculture, by definition, the use of chemicals is restricted to few classical chemicals such as sulfur or copper containing formulations. As such the use of biological antagonists has a long tradition in organic agriculture. Whereas the use of biological control agents seems to be very successful in green house production, the use of such beneficial microorganisms in the field is very limited thus far.

Prof. Dr. Vögele and his group are working on the identification and characterization of novel antagonists with a broad application spectrum on a variety of different crop plants and cropping systems. In parallel they are trying to identify, isolate and chemically synthesize biologically active substances from the identified potential antagonists.

Current projects include:

• Identification and characterization of novel bacterial and fungal antagonists to be used in field crops
• Establishing RT-PCR and novel non-invasive detection methodologies for plant pathogens
• Green house and field testing of novel formulations

Contact:

Prof. Dr. Ralf T. Vögele, Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Phytopathology,
Phone: +49 711 459 22387, E-mail: ralf.voegele@uni-hohenheim.de

Prof. Dr. Kandeler is an expert in soil biology at the Institute of Soil Science and Land Evaluation. She is working on microbial regulations in soil, which have an important storage, filter and buffering functions that are not yet fully understood. By simulating biological, chemical and physical processes on various scales, complex bottom-up models are parameterized with molecular biological and physicochemical data. The aim is to elucidate which small-scale regulation mechanisms may be effective on plot and field scales and how much complexity is necessary to simulate soil functions. Model-based predictions are complemented and experimentally tested on plot and field scales.

Contact:

Prof. Dr. Ellen Kandeler, Soil Biology (310b),
Phone: +49 711 459-24220, Email: kandeler@uni-hohenheim.de

Prof. Dr. Dieterich is an animal ecologist at the Institute of Landscape Ecology and Vegetation Science. His research focus is on biodiversity in agricultural landscapes.

Biodiversity is a necessary component for the sustainability of natural and agricultural production systems. Intensification and increasingly simplified cropping systems, the loss of species rich grassland as well as the loss of unused High Nature Value elements, and pressures such as residential and infrastructure development, which are drivers of continued biodiversity loss in central European landscapes.

Prof. Dr. Dieterich research activities contribute to finding ways to maintain or restore biodiversity in grasslands, croplands, fruit production systems and their attendant environments. A particular focus is on the potential role of organic farming in maintaining and restoring biodiversity in agricultural landscapes. Prof. Dr. Dieterich is currently involved with projects to assess biodiversity in different cropping cultures. He is also part of a project to promote and evaluate the potentials of biodiversity and ecosystem services in conventional and organic fruit plantations through measures, which are being implemented in close cooperation with fruit producers.

Contact:

Prof. Dr. Martin Dieterich, Landscape Ecology and Vegetation Science,
Phone: +49 711 459 23530, Email: martin.dieterich@uni-hohenheim.de