Falko Feldmann

Falko Feldmann (* 1959 in Goslar ) is a German biologist and phytomedicist . In the Julius Kühn Institute (JKI), he is the coordinator for matters of approval and authorization of plant protection agents and technologies more , including international cooperation on questions of European plant protection legislation. At the same time he is the managing director of the German Phytomedical Society (DPG) and is involved in associations and committees relevant to crop protection. For his international engagement he was u. a. awarded with the medals of honor of the Czech Phytomedical Society (CSR) and Slovak Phytomedical Society (SRS). On a voluntary basis, he is involved in Lebenshilfe Braunschweig eV for the inclusion of people with disabilities.

Live and act

Feldmann studied biology at the Technical University of Braunschweig with a diploma in botany, zoology, microbiology and soil science. The expertise on mycorrhizal fungi already shown in the diploma thesis was further deepened by a research stay in Gainesville (Florida) , at the Universidade Federal de Viçosa, Brazil, and at the rubber research center of EMBRAPA, Manaus, in the Amazon region in Brazil . With his dissertation : The Mycorrhiza of the rubber tree Hevea spec. Müell. Arg .: Occurrence at natural sites and in plantations, effect on resistance reaction and utilization in plantations , he received his PhD in 1991 from the University of Braunschweig. rer. nat. PhD .

From 1991 to 1996 he worked as a C1 professor at the Institute for Applied Botany at the University of Hamburg and as coordinator of a German-Brazilian project for the recultivation of abandoned production sites in the Amazon region. At the same time, in his group he further developed the biotechnical requirements for the successful use of inoculum of mycorrhizal fungi in horticulture in Europe.

From 1996 to 2001 he was a scientist at the Institute for Plant Culture in Solkau and was involved in a number of research projects, e . B. for application-oriented production and practical use of mycorrhizal fungi in plant cultivation, for fiber nettle production, in vitro production of woody plants or the cultivation of threatened medicinal plants.

In 2001 Feldmann joined what is now the Institute for Plant Protection in Horticulture and Forestry at the Julius Kühn Institute in Braunschweig and worked there as a scientist, initially in departmental research at the BMEL, and later in coordinating the evaluation and registration of plant protection products and their active substances Alternatives. He was also responsible for questions relating to the certification of production processes in horticulture and agriculture and agricultural ethics.

At the same time, Feldmann has been the managing director of the Deutsche Phytomedizinische Gesellschaft eV since 2003. B. the JKI and the Humboldt University. The regular conferences include the international symposia on Plant Protection and Plant Health in Europe (PPPHE), the International Urban Plant Conferences (IUPC) and the international German Plant Protection Conference. In addition, numerous conferences on special topics and working groups of the DPG are supported. He is the publishing director of the DPG-Verlag Braunschweig (publication of Phytomedicine and Spectrum Phytomedicine).

His scientific achievement consists in the first quantitative-genetic description of the line-inherent variability of the effectiveness of mycorrhizal fungus inoculum and the development of a method to control selection-related losses in effectiveness in the course of mushroom multiplication (Directed Inoculum Production Process, DIPP). In addition, he highlighted the key function of arbuscular mycorrhizal symbioses in the recultivation of degraded sites on the tropical soils of the Amazon region. His method could be used for the sustainable re-cultivation of abandoned areas and thus make a decisive contribution to avoiding further deforestation. His organizational efforts in networking for the Deutsche Phytomedizinische Gesellschaft eV are geared towards the interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary integration of the most diverse phytomedical topics for science, advice and plant cultivation practice.

Engagements (selection)

• Participation in the development of national and international regulations, guidelines and standards, in particular also in the harmonization of plant cultivation guidelines in the European Union
• Development of quality control systems for crop production as the basis of an agricultural ethics management
• Integration of biological plant protection methods and other alternatives to plant protection products in plant protection concepts in horticulture (incl. German representative for mycorrhizal technology in the management committee of COST Action 870, participation in FA 1103)
• Coordination of cooperative research projects with foreign partners in the field of integrated pest management and symbioses
• Advising as a short-term expert for inquiries from home and abroad in the field of integrated pest management (including research or Twinnig projects), certification and approval of pesticides
• Organization of numerous conferences in the entire field of phytomedicine, usually together with various partners of the DPG such as B. the JKI, the University of Hohenheim and the Humboldt University . The regular conferences include in particular the international symposia on Plant Protection and Plant Health in Europe (PPPHE), the International Urban Plant Conferences (IUPC) and the international German Plant Protection Conference. In addition, conferences on special topics are supported.
• Voluntary work in the field of inclusion of people with disabilities at the round table together in Braunschweig and other local bodies in Braunschweig.
• On the occasion of the General Assembly of the DPG 2018 at the University of Hohenheim , he and Volker Zinkernagel were awarded the Slovak Medal of Honor of the Slovak Phytomedical Society for their international commitment.

Memberships (selection)

• Deutsche Phytomedizinische Gesellschaft eV (DPG): managing director, deputy working group leader of the DPG working groups microbial symbioses, phytomedicine in urban green and phytomedicine in the tropics and subtropics
• Working Group for Tropical and Subtropical Agricultural Research (ATSAF): Section leader “Biotic Stresses” on the Tropentag
• International Association for the Plant Protection Sciences (IAPPS): Congress Managing Director International Plant Protection Congress 2015
• Lebenshilfe Braunschweig: Extended Board
• Round table together in Braunschweig: Spokesman for the inclusion group of the city of Braunschweig
• Member of the Braunschweig eV Disability Advisory Board (BBS)

Publications (selection)

• Integrated crop production - a future-oriented concept for sustainable action in crop production. In: U. Meier (Ed.): Agrarethik. Agrimedia. 2012, ISBN 978-3-86263-078-3 , pp. 191-210.
• with C. Grotkass: Directed inoculum production - shall we be able to design AMF populations to achieve predictable symbiotic effectiveness? In: H. Gianinazzi, H. Schuepp, JM Barea, K. Haselwandter: Mycorrhiza Technology in Agriculture: from Genes to Bioproducts. Birkhäuser, 2002, pp. 261-279.
• The Strain - Inherent Variability of Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Effectiveness: II. Effectiveness of single spores. In: Symbiosis. 25, 1998, pp. 131-143.
• with E. Idczak, G. Martins, J. Nunes, L. Gasparotto, H. Preisinger, VHF Moraes and R. Lieberei: Recultivation of degraded, fallow lying areas in central Amazonia with equilibrated polycultures: Response of useful plants to inoculation with VA -mycorrhizal fungi. In: Applied botany. 69, 1995, pp. 111-118.
• Further mentions on the Feldmann-Lifesience literature list

Web links

• Falko Feldmann-Lifescience
• Falko Feldmann and the German Phytomedical Society
• Falko Feldmann at the Julius Kühn Institute

Individual evidence

1. ^ Website of the Institute for Plant Culture