Institute for Crop Science
The Institute for Crop Science at the University of Hohenheim is the amalgamation of the former Institute for Arable and Crop Production and the Institute for Plant Nutrition .
organization
The departments examine a wide range of fundamental issues relating to cultivated and useful plants and develop optimal cultivation systems for conventional agriculture as well as organic farming. In addition to classic plant cultivation and statistical questions, biomass / bioenergy production systems in particular are examined, questions relating to plant nutrition are dealt with, and the time of flowering and the quality of plant products are examined.
The institute consists of the following departments:
- General crop production
- Biostatistics
- Fertilization and soil metabolism
- Nutritional Physiology of Cultivated Plants
- Yield physiology of special crops
- Renewable raw materials and bioenergy crops
- Physiology of yield stability
- Quality plant products
- Coordination for organic farming and consumer protection
history
With Margarete von Wrangell (1877-1932), a German-Baltic was Agrikulturchemikerin elected founding director, the 1923 addition to the newly established chair of Plant Nutrition of the University of Hohenheim was appointed and was the first full professor at a German university. She mainly researched the plant availability of phosphate in the soil. In addition to field and container tests, laboratory tests with soil organisms were also carried out.
After her death in 1932, Kurt Maiwald was appointed as her successor at the institute. At the same time, the Third Reich began in 1933, in which the NSDAP exercised increasing control over science and teaching; most of the leading positions were held by party members. With regard to the impending war, self-sufficiency was once again one of the most important political goals, which was to be achieved in the course of the "producer battle", with which the rationalization of the food supply and the associated increase in agricultural production were to be achieved. In order to be able to implement this on a political level, the Reichsnährstand was founded.
After the Second World War , the food supply collapsed and it was initially the top priority to restore it. Against this background, research at the institute focused on the turnover of organic material as well as investigations into the recovery of municipal waste, including the nitrogen balance in agricultural production systems.
In the Federal Republic of Germany, agricultural productivity rose sharply through advances in plant breeding , mechanization , land consolidation and mineral fertilization , and eventually culminated in overproduction. At this time, aspects of food quality also became more important. The research focus under Gerhard Michael (from 1960) at the institute thus moved from application-oriented topics to basic research in the areas of yield physiology and the quality of harvest products (fat and protein composition); In addition, the mechanisms of plant uptake and transport of nutrients were examined at the institute. With Marschner's help, Michael also brought isotope technology to the institute. In 1973 and 1974, Helmut Beringer and Peter Martin were appointed to two new professorships at the institute.
When Michael retired in 1976, his student and longtime assistant Marschner became the new director of the institute. Marschner was meanwhile active as a professor at the Technical University of Berlin and then accepted the call to Hohenheim.
As part of the beginning of the technology age, there was not only a revolution in laboratory technology, with faster and more sensitive analysis options, but also a rapid development in computer technology. This also improved communication and made science more international. In contrast to technical progress, society also developed a growing environmental awareness at this time. In addition to heavy metal pollution of the soil and the pollution of water and air, forest death became an important problem. Research under Marschner focused on the nutrient uptake of plants and the importance of the rhizosphere. In addition, environmentally relevant topics, mycorrhiza research and international contacts and cooperation with China , West Africa and Turkey played an important role for the institute. Marschner brought together various research groups at the institute. These were headed by Professors Walter J. Horst, Norbert Claassen, Volker Römheld and Sven Schubert. Marschner died unexpectedly in 1996 as the last appointed director of the institute.
It took a few years with two appointment procedures until Nicolaus von Wirén was appointed as his successor in 2001 and was elected managing director. At this time, molecular biology was established in plant nutrition. Von Wirén decided on this focus by studying ammonium, iron and urea transport in plants on a molecular biological level.
During this time, Römheld covered more practice-oriented topics such as fertilization and above all rhizosphere processes. In 2004, Torsten Müller came to the institute as a new professor and finally took over tasks from Römheld, who retired in 2008, with the field of “Fertilization with soil chemistry” (later “Fertilization and soil substance balance”). Müller also sees his research focus more in application-related topics from the fields of fertilization and soil substance balance, including trace gas analysis, as well as in process modeling.
In 2009 von Wirén left the institute to pursue his research at the IPK Gatersleben and Uwe Ludewig was appointed as successor for the department “Nutritional Physiology of Cultivated Plants”. Under Müller's management, the two departments of the institute became part of the current Institute for Crop Science through a merger with other departments. Ludewig also uses molecular biology technologies and aims to include basic and application-related topics in his research. The focus is on ammonium, phosphorus and micronutrient nutrition.
Günter Neumann, who has been working at the institute since 1995, has been an adjunct professor since 2011. He mainly deals with rhizosphere processes and bioeffectors . In 2013 Christian Zörb received the call for the specialist field "Quality of Plant Products" in which quality aspects of fertilization are also dealt with.
Well-known teachers, graduates and sponsors of the institute
- Margarete von Wrangell (1877–1932), German-Baltic agricultural chemist, first director of the institute and first professor in Germany
- Klára Bradáčová, Czech plant physiologist involved in the Biofector project
- Walther Brouwer (1895–1979), crop scientist
- Kurt Maiwald (1899–1960), agricultural chemist
- Georg Gliemeroth (1907–1982), crop scientist
- Gerhard Michael (1911–2004), agricultural chemist in the field of plant nutrition
- Horst Marschner (1929–1996), plant physiologist, specializing in mineral metabolism
- Walter Aufhammer (* 1938), crop scientist
- Volker Römheld (1941–2013), agricultural scientist, professor of plant nutrition
- Torsten Müller (* 1961), agricultural scientist for soil chemistry and fertilization
- Nicolaus von Wirén (* 1962), agricultural biologist specializing in the nutritional physiology of cultivated plants
- Uwe Ludewig (* 1967), agricultural scientist, particularly in plant physiology
- Günter Neumann (* 1958), agricultural scientist, especially plant physiologist, specialist in rhizosphere research.
- Markus Weinmann (* 1974), a plant physiologist in particular in the project Biofector engaged
literature
- Ulrich Fellmeth , Harald Winkel (Ed.): Hohenheimer Themes, special volume (PDF; 4.2 MB) The academic teachers at the University of Hohenheim 1968 to 200 , Stuttgart-Hohenheim 2008, ISSN 0942-0509 .
- Helena Hamann: The history of the Institute for Plant Nutrition at the University of Hohenheim. Master thesis, Inst. F. Crop Science, University of Hohenheim 2011, 102 pp.
- Ernst Klein: The academic teachers of the University of Hohenheim (Agricultural University) 1818-1968 ; Publications of the Commission for Historical Regional Studies in Baden-Württemberg, Series B Research, Volume 45; W. Kohlhammer Verlag Stuttgart 1968.
- Manfred G. Raupp: Problems of the agricultural market in Germany ; in Der Landbaumann , Agricultural School Hohenheim, 1971
- Harald Winkel (Hrsg.): Festschrift for Günther Franz history and natural science in Hohenheim. Thorbecke publishing house, Sigmaringen 1982, ISBN 0-7181-2842-7 .