Weizen

RhizoWheat - Rhizosphere processes and yield decline in wheat crop rotations

Project number: 031B0910A

Contact: Prof. Dr. Henning Kage, Dr. Nora Honsdorf, Kiel University, Agronomy and Crop Science group, Hermann-Rodewald-Str. 9, 24118 Kiel

Mail: honsdorf@pflanzenbau.uni-kiel.de

Project team: Research Centre Jülich, Kiel University, Verein der Zuckerindustrie e.V., Institut für Zuckerrübenforschung (IfZ), Julius Kühn-Institut (JKI) Federal Research Centre for Cultivated Plants

Duration: 01/03/2020 – 29/02/2024

Project aim

The project aims to elucidate and quantify key rhizosphere processes governing yield decline of double (triple) cropped wheat and to establish a model framework enabling the prediction of yield decline as a function of initial soil inoculum and environmental factors.

Motivation

Wheat yield increase ceased in many countries although breeding progress is still linear. Increasing portions of a second and third wheat in a crop rotation provide a possible explanation. The yield decline of double cropped wheat is often attributed to the detrimental effect of soil-borne pathogens, particularly Gaeumannomyces graminis var. tritici (take-all). Recent findings, however, indicate a broader shift of the rhizosphere microbiome as a consequence of wheat as a pre-crop. This shift may be involved in increased root senescence leading to yield decline. This supports the hypothesis that yield decline happens in some years without typical take-all symptoms.

Expected results

A model framework enabling the prediction of yield decline as a function of initial soil inoculum and environmental factors.