Institut für Kulturpflanzenwissenschaften

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Acrocomia spp.: Neglected crop, ballyhooed multipurpose palm or fit for the bioeconomy? A review
(2021) Vargas-Carpintero, Ricardo; Hilger, Thomas; Mössinger, Johannes; Souza, Roney Fraga; Barroso Armas, Juan Carlos; Tiede, Karen; Lewandowski, Iris
Acrocomia spp., a genus of wild-growing palms in the neotropics, is rapidly gaining interest as a promising multipurpose crop. Diverse products can be derived from various components of the palm, the oils being of highest interest. Acrocomia shows similar oil yield and fatty acid composition to the African oil palm (Elaeis guineensis). It is, however, able to cope with a wider range of environmental conditions, including temporary water scarcity and lower temperatures, thus potentially a more sustainable alternative to its tropical counterpart. Acrocomia’s research history is recent compared to other traditional crops and thus knowledge gaps, uncertainty, and challenges need to be addressed. This review attempts to assess the acrocomia’s preparedness for cultivation by highlighting the state-of-the-art in research and identifying research gaps. Based on a systematic literature search following a value web approach, it (a) provides a comprehensive overview of research topics, (b) shows the development of publication activities over time and the drivers of this development, and (c) compiles main findings to assess the acrocomia’s preparedness for commercial cultivation. Our results confirm its multipurpose characteristic as a potential feedstock for manifold sectors. Research has continued to increase over the last decade, especially on A. aculeata and is driven by the interest in bioenergy. Increasing knowledge on botany has contributed to understanding the genetic diversity and genus-specific biology. This has enabled applied research on seed germination and propagation toward domestication and initial plantation activities, mostly in Brazil. Main research gaps are associated with genotype–environment interaction, planting material, crop management, and sustainable cropping systems. Overall, we conclude that acrocomia is at an early phase of development as an alternative and multipurpose crop and its up-scaling requires the integration of sustainability strategies tailored to location-based social-ecological conditions.
Agrivoltaic system impacts on microclimate and yield of different crops within an organic crop rotation in a temperate climate
(2021) Weselek, Axel; Bauerle, Andrea; Hartung, Jens; Zikeli, Sabine; Lewandowski, Iris; Högy, Petra
Agrivoltaic (AV) systems integrate the production of agricultural crops and electric power on the same land area through the installation of solar panels several meters above the soil surface. It has been demonstrated that AV can increase land productivity and contribute to the expansion of renewable energy production. Its utilization is expected to affect crop production by altering microclimatic conditions but has so far hardly been investigated. The present study aimed to determine for the first time how changes in microclimatic conditions through AV affect selected agricultural crops within an organic crop rotation. For this purpose, an AV research plant was installed near Lake Constance in south-west Germany in 2016. A field experiment was established with four crops (celeriac, winter wheat, potato and grass-clover) cultivated both underneath the AV system and on an adjacent reference site without solar panels. Microclimatic parameters, crop development and harvestable yields were monitored in 2017 and 2018. Overall, an alteration in microclimatic conditions and crop production under AV was confirmed. Photosynthetic active radiation was on average reduced by about 30% under AV. During summertime, soil temperature was decreased under AV in both years. Furthermore, reduced soil moisture and air temperatures as well as an altered rain distribution have been found under AV. In both years, plant height of all crops was increased under AV. In 2017 and 2018, yield ranges of the crops cultivated under AV compared to the reference site were −19 to +3% for winter wheat, −20 to +11% for potato and −8 to −5% for grass-clover. In the hot, dry summer 2018, crop yields of winter wheat and potato were increased by AV by 2.7% and 11%, respectively. These findings show that yield reductions under AV are likely, but under hot and dry weather conditions, growing conditions can become favorable.
Long-term trends in yield variance of temperate managed grassland
(2023) Macholdt, Janna; Hadasch, Steffen; Macdonald, Andrew; Perryman, Sarah; Piepho, Hans-Peter; Scott, Tony; Styczen, Merete Elisabeth; Storkey, Jonathan; Macholdt, Janna; Professorship of Agronomy, Institute of Agriculture and Nutritional Sciences, Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle (Saale), Germany; Hadasch, Steffen; Biostatistics Unit, Institute of Crop Science, University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart, Germany; Macdonald, Andrew; Protecting Crops and Environment, Rothamsted Research, Harpenden, UK; Perryman, Sarah; Computational and Analytical Sciences Department, Rothamsted Research, Harpenden, UK; Piepho, Hans-Peter; Biostatistics Unit, Institute of Crop Science, University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart, Germany; Scott, Tony; Protecting Crops and Environment, Rothamsted Research, Harpenden, UK; Styczen, Merete Elisabeth; Section of Environmental Chemistry and Physics, Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark; Storkey, Jonathan; Protecting Crops and Environment, Rothamsted Research, Harpenden, UK
The management of climate-resilient grassland systems is important for stable livestock fodder production. In the face of climate change, maintaining productivity while minimizing yield variance of grassland systems is increasingly challenging. To achieve climate-resilient and stable productivity of grasslands, a better understanding of the climatic drivers of long-term trends in yield variance and its dependence on agronomic inputs is required. Based on the Park Grass Experiment at Rothamsted (UK), we report for the first time the long-term trends in yield variance of grassland (1965–2018) in plots given different fertilizer and lime applications, with contrasting productivity and plant species diversity. We implemented a statistical model that allowed yield variance to be determined independently of yield level. Environmental abiotic covariates were included in a novel criss-cross regression approach to determine climatic drivers of yield variance and its dependence on agronomic management. Our findings highlight that sufficient liming and moderate fertilization can reduce yield variance while maintaining productivity and limiting loss of plant species diversity. Plots receiving the highest rate of nitrogen fertilizer or farmyard manure had the highest yield but were also more responsive to environmental variability and had less plant species diversity. We identified the days of water stress from March to October and temperature from July to August as the two main climatic drivers, explaining approximately one-third of the observed yield variance. These drivers helped explain consistent unimodal trends in yield variance—with a peak in approximately 1995, after which variance declined. Here, for the first time, we provide a novel statistical framework and a unique long-term dataset for understanding the trends in yield variance of managed grassland. The application of the criss-cross regression approach in other long-term agro-ecological trials could help identify climatic drivers of production risk and to derive agronomic strategies for improving the climate resilience of cropping systems.

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