Horst Pätzold

Horst Pätzold (2001)

Horst Pätzold (born January 5, 1926 in Koppelow, now part of Hoppenrade ; † August 2, 2018 in Rostock ) was a German crop scientist who taught for almost 30 years at the Agricultural Faculty of the University of Rostock and at universities in the Third World . His research focus and area of ​​study was the grassland in Europe and the grassland in the (sub) tropics.

Life path

Paetzold was the second son of a Mecklenburg Gutspächters in Koppelow in Güstrow born, grew up in Book Horst in Ribnitz up and put 1943 on secondary school in Rostock the High School from. He had to interrupt his further training in the same year because of his integration into the Reich Labor Service and subsequent drafting into the Wehrmacht . From 1944 to 1945 he was a soldier on the western and eastern fronts. In 1945 he was first captured by the Americans and until the end of 1947 worked as a prisoner in France in agriculture and as an interpreter. In 1948 he passed the agricultural assistant examination and from 1948 studied agriculture at the University of Rostock . He finished his studies in 1951 with a diploma. This was followed by an assistantship at the Institute for Arable and Crop Production at the University of Rostock until 1955. Pätzold received his doctorate in 1954 and his habilitation in 1960.

In 1963 he was appointed lecturer, in 1965 appointed professor with teaching assignment and in 1969 he received the chair for feed production at the agricultural faculty of the University of Rostock. From 1969 to 1972 Pätzold worked as a university lecturer in Algeria. This was followed by several foreign assignments until 1986 ( Guinea , Mali , Egypt , Iraq , Kuwait , Cuba and Madagascar ).

During and after reunification, Pätzold campaigned as a member of an initiative group for the renewal of the University of Rostock. From 1990 to 1992 he was the first president of the council at the University of Rostock.

In 1991 he retired. In retirement, Horst Pätzold published works on political science and historical topics from the recent past.

Teaching and Research

Pätzold was active in university teaching for almost 3 decades at home and abroad. He accompanied numerous diploma theses, 13 dissertations and 4 habilitations.

The main focus of his teaching activities were grassland theory, grassland management, pasture planning and grassland improvement as well as tropical and subtropical agriculture. In addition, he did teaching on vegetation science, grassland locations, grassland assessment, hay and silage assessment as well as pasture management and pasture yield determination.

Research in the temperate latitudes:

• Net photosynthesis in Gramineae u. Clover species
• Performance testing of the main types of grass
• Yield potential of the most important grassland locations
• Fen management
• Forage continuity and performance duration in seedgrass cultivation
• Frequency of cuts and forage quality
• Comparison of grazing with year-round barns for dairy cattle
• Feed consumption and animal performance in young cattle of different breeds
• Effectiveness of the irrigation or the groundwater level on the yield
• Plowing or reseeding

Research in the tropics and subtropics:

• Suitability of grass and legume species for cultivation in North Africa
• Feed continuity in the steppes and savannas of Africa
• Milk and meat production in the Sahel zone
• The role of nomadism

Historical research:

• Role of crop rotations
• Clover grass and field grass
• Effect on soil fertility
• Root research on grasses

Pätzold reported on the results of his research work in over 100 articles in scientific journals. He was also a co-author of other standard works from the time of the GDR, such as O. Möller, M. Seiffert, E. Wojahn.

honors and awards

• 1986: Wilhelm von Humboldt Medal
• 1994: Honorary Senator of the University of Rostock

Major works (selection)

• Crop plants of the tropics and subtropics, Vol. 3 "Grasland und Feldfutterbau", 379 pages, S. Hirzel-Verlag Leipzig 1st edition 1978, 2nd edition 1986 (publisher G. Franke)
• Co-author of "The Biology and Utilization of Shrubs", Editor: Cyrus Mc Kell, Acad. Press Inc. San Diego, New York, London 656 pp., Article: Shrublands of the USSR in Asia (pp. 199–223)
• 1968 "Research results on the specific yield potential of the most important grassland locations in the north of the GDR and the resulting consequences for use.", Wiss. Z. Univ. Rostock, Mathematical and Natural Sciences. Row, H. 8, 781-783
• 1971 “Nutrition et croissance des graminées fourragères en differènts climats sous l'aspect particulier de l'azote”, special edition, Inst. Nat. Agronomique, Alger, 157-178
• 1977 "Problems and possibilities of continuous forage production in arid subtropical regions", XII. Intern. Grassland Congress, Leipzig, Proceedings Acad. VLg., 655-657
• 1982 "Possibilities for improving forage production in savannahs and in arable forage" Wiss. Z. WPU Rostock 31. Math.-Naturwiss. Row, H. 7, 129-132
• with P. Foth, 1990 "Relationships between vegetation science and soil types on deep fen". Rust. Agricultural Science Articles, special issue: Basics of site-appropriate melioration, 44–48

Books and brochures

• The situation of universities and university start-ups in the new federal states - a problem-oriented balance sheet . From “The future of research and teaching in the New Länder”, Konrad.-Adenauer-Stiftung, H. 20, Bonn 1992, pp. 8-14
• The turning point at the University of Rostock - an attempt at a critical balance . Research and teaching 6/96, Bonn 1996, pp. 308-312
• Against forgetting. Victims of the SED rule from Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania remember the years 1945–1989 . Editor of the State Commissioner for Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania for the documents of the State Security Service of the former GDR, Schwerin 1997
• with Werner Müller (Ed.): CVs in the shadow of power - interviews with contemporary witnesses from the north of the GDR . State Center for Political Education Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Schwerin 1997
• with G. Meinl: The research institutes Dummerstorf and Groß-Lüsewitz 1945–199 1. VERS Rostock 1998
• The difficult path to freedom at the universities of the GDR . Contributions for the newspaper “Die Welt” on the 10th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall for the magazine archive (6 pages) 1999
• Niches in the grass - a life in two dictatorships. Contributions to German and European history . Autobiography. Publishing house Dr. Krämer, Hamburg 2004 (4th edition)

Literature about Horst Pätzold

• Theophil Gerber: Horst Pätzold in: "Personalities in agriculture and forestry, horticulture and veterinary medicine: Bibliographic Lexicon", Verlag Nora, 3rd edition 2008
• Renate Bockholdt: Laudation on the 75th birthday of Prof. Dr. agr. habil. Horst Pätzold, Honorary Colloquium of the Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences at the University of Rostock, February 3, 2001.
• Kersten Krüger: Horst Pätzold contemporary witness report (paetzold.mp3) , Rostocker Studien zur Universitätsgeschichte, Vol. 1, University of Rostock, 2007, pp. 107-136

Web links

• Literature by and about Horst Pätzold in the catalog of the German National Library
• Literature about Horst Pätzold in the state bibliography MV
• Entry on Horst Pätzold in the Catalogus Professorum Rostochiensium