News

The first meeting of the doctoral students, other scientists and some technicians of the LOEWE research area TRIO took place from July 18 to 19. The meeting started on Thursday morning with a visit to the test sites at Forschungsring e.V. near Darmstadt and the University of Giessen near Groß-Gerau. Here, the current test stand could be inspected on site and further sampling discussed. Difficulties were analyzed and solutions found in a joint exchange with the test technicians. In the afternoon, the container experiments of the Soil Science and Plant Nutrition and Climate Impact Research on Special Crops working groups at Hochschule Geisenheim University were inspected. The responsible doctoral students demonstrated their experimental procedure and explained further ideas for future experiments. This was followed by a tour of the Hochschule Geisenheim University campus with Professor Claudia Kammann and other colleagues, during which other research projects at Hochschule Geisenheim University were also shown. There was a lively exchange about the potential of robotics for managing weeds in the TRIO project with Professor Dimitrios Paraforos, head of the Chair of Technology in the Cultivation of Special Crops.

The doctoral students were then given a tour of wine production - from mashing and pressing to fermentation, storage in oak barrels, bottling and a wine tasting at the end of the day.

The second day was reserved for guest lectures and personal exchanges: Roman Kemper from the University of Bonn spoke on forms of mixed cultivation systems and their advantages and disadvantages. And then Norman Gentsch on the topic of “Covercrops as tool for microbial mediated ecosystem services in soil”. The project management meeting with representatives from all participating groups provided another opportunity for personal exchange, so that all participants of the summer meeting went home in a good mood and with many new ideas in their luggage.