Using C-Tool to simulate soil carbon and radiocarbon development

Tho model framework C-TOOL was used to simulate soil carbon and radiocarbon development. A simple three-compartment model was sufficient for describing the data

Impact of foliar diseases in organically grown barley: Influence of fertilization, nutrient content in leaves, varietal disease resistance characteristics and yield potential

Significant increase in severity of powdery mildew,leaf rust and net blotch with increasing N-content in plant leaves 30 days after germination (all years where the relevant diseases were present at a substantial level). This may explain: · Most of the environmental main effects (field) on disease. · Effect of treatments, i.e., treament 4 resulted in reduced N/increased K content in leaves, which coincided with reduced levels of disease. We observed no clear effect of P, Ca, S, and Zn content in leaves on disease. Micronutrients as Cu, Mo and Mn showed significant effects on powdery mildew in one year but not the other; further interpretation may not be possible due to inter-correlation among the effect of micro-nutrients. The diseases had a significant yield reducing effect, in particular powdery mildew and net blotch, which occurred at highest severities. In addition, net blotch affected root development, resulting in significant shorter roots, whereas powdery mildew did not. The effect of disease on root length was of the same order of magnitude as the factor 'variety', but larger than effects of 'year'

The turnover of soil organic matter on different farm types

One of the prime factors determining soil fertility is the content of soil organic matter. A huge amount of nitrogen (N) is bound in organic matter, and the yearly mineralisation of N in the field is only a small fraction of the total organic nitrogen.The release and incorporation of organic N is of special relevance for organic farms, where the crop supply mainly depends on N mineralised from organic matter.In order to study the long-term balance between build-up and degradation of organic matter, a simple simulation model was made, calibrated on the basis of long-term data from Sweden, U.K. and Denmark. Briefly, it is a 3-pool model (Figure 1) employing first-order kinetics, which is implemented in C-TOOL. The long-term build up or breakdown of organic N is assumed to follow carbon in the ratio 1:10

Do nutrient uptakes and grain yields differ between spring barley varieties grown for organic farming as mono-crop and in mixture: Characteristics of spring barley varieties for organic farming

Manure application increased yield. Hence the study was conducted under the conditions of moderate nutrient stress and in all probability nitrogen stress. Under this condition nutrient uptakes, biomass production and grain yields did vary between Otira, Orthega, Landora, Brazil, Svani, NK96-300, Mixture 1 (Otira, Orthega, Landora) and Mixture 2 (Brazil, Svani and NK96-300). Interaction between variety and soil fertility treatments were also significant. These findings open new possibilities for selection or plant breeding for genotypes with improved capability of nutrient acquisition from soils at different soil fertility levels e.g. in organic farming. Cropping of barley varieties in mixtures seems to increase (stimulate) nutrient uptakes (N, P, S, K, Mg, Ca, Mn, Zn, Cu and Mo) and biomass production

Bladsygdomme på byg afhænger af sort, placering i sædskiftet og gødningstype

Plantesygdomme i økologisk planteproduktion har stor indflydelse på produktkvalitet og udbytte. Specielt i korn er der gode muligheder for at forebygge svampesygdomme ved hjælp af sortsresistens, idet mange års planteforædling har bidraget til at øge niveauet af resistens mod de mest betydende svampesygdomme. Dette gælder bl.a. resistens mod bladsvampe som meldug, bygrust, skoldplet og forskellige bladpletsvampe. En sorts resistensniveau mod en given svampesygdom er imidlertid ikke konstant, men kan ændre sig over tid og have forskellig effekt i forskellige dele af landet. Det skyldes primært forskelle og dynamik i de patogenpopulationer, som forårsager de pågældende sygdomme. Derudover er sygdomsniveauet i den enkelte mark afhængig af det lokale smittetryk i begyndelsen af vækstsæsonen, jordens næringsstofbalance- og frigivelse, mikrobiel aktivitet samt vind og vejr

Sortsforskelle i næringsstofoptagelse, vækst og kerneudbytter af vårbyg til økologisk dyrkning

Vårbyggens optagelse og udnyttelse af næringsstoffer, konkurrenceevne over for ukrudt samt sygdomsresistens har stor betydning for den økologiske planteavl. Opnåelse af en optimal ernæring forudsætter den rette kombination af et stort antal biologiske, fysiske og kemiske jord- og plantefaktorer. Kulturplanter, som sås om foråret, starter i reglen med en moderat mangel på fosfor og kalium (Nielsen et al., 2003). I pløjelaget findes hovedparten af det plantetilgængelige fosfor og i en vis udstrækning tillige kalium og mikronæringsstoffer, mens det plantetilgængelige kvælstof og svovl ofte er fordelt i hele roddybden

Regional emission metrics for short-lived climate forcers from multiple models

For short-lived climate forcers (SLCFs), the impact of emissions depends on where and when the emissions take place. Comprehensive new calculations of various emission metrics for SLCFs are presented based on radiative forcing (RF) values calculated in four different (chemical-transport or coupled chemistry–climate) models. We distinguish between emissions during summer (May–October) and winter (November–April) for emissions in Europe and East Asia, as well as from the global shipping sector and global emissions. The species included in this study are aerosols and aerosol precursors (BC, OC, SO2, NH3), as well as ozone precursors (NOx, CO, VOCs), which also influence aerosols to a lesser degree. Emission metrics for global climate responses of these emissions, as well as for CH4, have been calculated using global warming potential (GWP) and global temperature change potential (GTP), based on dedicated RF simulations by four global models. The emission metrics include indirect cloud effects of aerosols and the semi-direct forcing for BC. In addition to the standard emission metrics for pulse and sustained emissions, we have also calculated a new emission metric designed for an emission profile consisting of a ramping period of 15 years followed by sustained emissions, which is more appropriate for a gradual implementation of mitigation policies. For the aerosols, the emission metric values are larger in magnitude for emissions in Europe than East Asia and for summer than winter. A variation is also observed for the ozone precursors, with largest values for emissions in East Asia and winter for CO and in Europe and summer for VOCs. In general, the variations between the emission metrics derived from different models are larger than the variations between regions and seasons, but the regional and seasonal variations for the best estimate also hold for most of the models individually. Further, the estimated climate impact of an illustrative mitigation policy package is robust even when accounting for the fact that the magnitude of emission metrics for different species in a given model is correlated. For the ramping emission metrics, the values are generally larger than for pulse or sustained emissions, which holds for all SLCFs. For SLCFs mitigation policies, the dependency of metric values on the region and season of emission should be considered

A spin- and angle-resolving photoelectron spectrometer

A new type of hemispherical electron energy analyzer that permits angle and spin resolved photoelectron spectroscopy has been developed. The analyzer permits standard angle resolved spectra to be recorded with a two-dimensional detector in parallel with spin detection using a mini-Mott polarimeter. General design considerations as well as technical solutions are discussed and test results from the Au(111) surface state are presented

Nitratudvaskning fra økologiske og konventionalle planteavlsbedrifter - simuleringer med FASSET bedriftsmodellen

Med udgangspunkt i regnskabsdata fra Fødevareøkonomisk Institut (FØI) og data fra Centrale Registre (CR) blev importen af kvælstof (N) i gødning til marken til konventionelle og økologiske planteavlere estimeret til hhv. 129 og 51 kg N ha-1 år-1. Desuden blev der med udgangspunkt i den aktuelle afgrødefordeling opstillet et generelt sædskifte for hver af de to systemer. Det opstillede sædskifte for den økologiske planteavl havde en høj andel af vårsæd og desuden 20% kløvergræs, mens den konventionelle planteavl var domineret af kornafgrøder primært i form af vintersæd. Med baggrund i disse model-sædskifter blev N-balancen på markniveau beregnet ved anvendelse af FASSET modellen. Dette inkluderede også N-udvaskning og ændring i jordens Npulje. Alle beregninger blev foretaget for tre jordtyper, der repræsenterer variationen i danske jordtyper. Disse tre jordtyper blev ydermere delt op i lav og høj frugtbarhed, repræsenteret ved et lavt og højt indhold af organisk N i jorden. Modelresultaterne viste, at den økologiske planteavl havde en højere markbalance end den konventionelle planteavl (61 mod 40 kg N ha-1 år-1). Men da indbygningen i jordens N-pulje samtidig var højere for de økologiske brug, gav dette ikke anledning til forskelle i niveauet for udvaskning (36 kg N ha-1 år-1 for begge). De økologiske bedrifter øgede deres jordfrugtbarhed ved årligt i gennemsnit at indbygge 13 kg N ha-1 i jorden, mens de konventionelle reducerede frugtbarheden ved i gennemsnit at tære 6 kg N ha-1 år-1 på jordens indhold af organisk N. Dette kan primært tillægges forskelle i afgrødevalg. Desuden blev en række driftsmæssige tiltag analyseret, herunder efterafgrøder, halmnedmuldning, reduceret gødningstilførsel og ændringer i sædskiftet. Disse analyser viste, at etablering af efterafgrøder er det klart mest effektive virkemiddel til at reducere N-udvaskningen, med en effekt på sædskifteniveau på ca. 9 kg N ha-1 år-1. Det fulde potentiale ved dyrkning af efterafgrøder vil dog ikke kunne udnyttes i praksis, da der af hensyn til bekæmpelse af især rodukrudt, er nødvendigt med en stubbearbejdning i efteråret, der kan give anledning til en betydelig øget N-udvaskning. Andre tiltag, som f.eks. halmnedmuldning, havde mindre effekt på N-udvaskningen, men en markant effekt på jordens indhold af organisk N. Således øgede halmnedmuldningen ved den økologiske planteavl jordens indhold af organisk N med 14 kg N ha-1 år-1 mere end i basis-scenariet. På basis af simuleringerne blev det konkluderet at der ikke er nogen forskel i udvaskningsniveauet mellem økologisk og konventionel planteavl. Da N-udvaskningen fra konventionel planteavl blev simuleret at være faldet 4 kg N ha-1 år-1 som følge af implementeringen af VMP II blev det vurderet, at der har været ca. 4 kg N ha-1 år-1 mere N-udvaskning fra konventionel planteproduktion i forhold til niveauet for økologisk planteavl før VMP II