Rudolf Heitefuss

Rudolf Heitefuss

Rudolf Hermann Erich Heitefuß (born November 8, 1928 in Braunschweig ) is a German phytomedicist . He is honorary chairman of the German Phytomedical Society and is one of the leading pioneers for integrated pest management in Germany.

Life path

Rudolf Heitefuß, son of a deaf and dumb teacher, attended secondary school in Braunschweig until 1944. After a year of military service as an air force helper, he completed an agricultural apprenticeship from 1945 to 1948. He then returned to secondary school in Braunschweig and passed the final exam in the spring of 1950. In the following eighteen months he worked at the Research Institute for Agriculture in Braunschweig-Völkenrode , first as a volunteer on an estate, then at the Institute for Plant Cultivation and Seed Production.

From the spring of 1951, Heitefuss studied agriculture at the University of Göttingen . After graduating as a qualified farmer, he worked there as a doctoral student with Walter Heinrich Fuchs at the Institute for Plant Pathology and Plant Protection on Host-Parasite Relationships. In 1957 he received his doctorate at the Faculty of Agriculture at the University of Göttingen with the dissertation “Investigations into the pathological physiology of Peronospora parasitica Gäum. on Brasica oleracea ”. This was followed by two years of research on a Fulbright scholarship at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, Wisconsin, USA .

In 1959 he returned to the Göttingen Institute for Plant Pathology and Plant Protection. In 1964 he qualified as a professor with the text "Investigations on the physiology of the temperature-controlled degree of tolerance of wheat in Puccinia graminis tritici ". Until 1971 he worked at the institute as a senior assistant. In 1971 he was appointed Scientific Councilor and Professor. In 1972 he was appointed to the chair of the Institute for Plant Pathology and Plant Protection at the University of Göttingen as the successor to Walter Heinrich Fuchs. Here he worked for over twenty years until his retirement in 1994. U. a. he was significantly involved in the Göttingen Graduate School "Agriculture and Environment". As an emeritus, he continues to work in his field in a variety of ways.

Research and Teaching

The central concern of Heitefuss's research activity was the development of the scientific basis for integrated pest management with the aim of making the results of agricultural practice available for review and use. The thematic focal points of his research work included investigations into the influence of mineral nitrogen fertilization on disease resistance in cereals , the development of warning systems and forecasting methods for fungal diseases in cereal cultivation, the development of damage thresholds in weed control , the reduction of environmental pollution when using pesticides, and Studies to record and evaluate the interrelationships between cultivated plants and bacterial and fungal parasites.

The main theme of Heitefuß was not only to carry out research work in the “ivory tower” of the university, but also to always take current concerns and questions of agricultural practice into account. For him, the connection between science and practice was the key to environmentally conscious phytomedicine. Many of his research projects were carried out in close cooperation with plant protection authorities, chambers of agriculture and farmers.

During his tenure as a university lecturer, Heitefuß supervised around 200 diploma theses and more than 100 dissertations . The training of competent phytomedicists was a matter close to his heart. He achieved particular merits with the establishment of a postgraduate course in “Phytomedicine” for graduate agricultural engineers and graduate biologists. This extremely successful special course, which has existed since 1983 and with which the academic title of a master's degree could be acquired, had to be abandoned in 2000 with the introduction of modularized bachelor and master courses.

Heitefuß put the results of his research work and the basic ideas about the goals and tasks of integrated pest management down in over 250 publications . One of his books and writings is the textbook “ Plant Protection. Basics of practical phytomedicine ”should be emphasized. In collaboration with specialist colleagues, he published a book based on practical needs and illustrated with color tables under the title “ Plant diseases and pests in agriculture ” (first edition 1984). The work " Integrated Agriculture ", which he published together with Rolf Diercks in 1990, is still considered a standard work in the specialist agricultural literature.

Noteworthy for the history of the development of the field of phytomedicine is the work he published in 2005, “ Problems and Perspectives of Plant Protection in Environmentally Friendly Agriculture ” - an anthology with his most important lectures and fundamental essays from three decades. From 1979 to 2000 Heitefuß was the responsible co-editor of the “Phytopathologische Zeitschrift” (now “Journal of Phytopathology”) and from 1974 to 1996 a member of the editorial board of the “Zeitschrift für Pflanzenkrankheiten und Pflanzenschutz”.

honors and awards

Because of his expertise, Rudolf Heitefuß was offered the chairmanship of numerous scientific institutions. From 1983 to 1991 he was chairman of the committee for plant protection of the German Agricultural Society , from 1984 to 1991 chairman of the scientific advisory board of the Federal Biological Research Center for Agriculture and Forestry and from 1986 to 1989 chairman of the senate commission for plant protection, plant treatment and stored product protection products of the Germans Research community, then until 1994 the "Senate Commission for the Assessment of Substances in Agriculture".

From 1975 to 1981 Rudolf Heitefuß was the first chairman of the German Phytomedical Society , which elected him honorary chairman in 1995. In 1996 he was awarded the Otto Appel Memorial Coin . He was also awarded the Professor Niklas medal in silver , the Max Eyth medal in silver and the Thaer Thünen medal in silver . On January 30, 2006, he received the Federal Cross of Merit (1st class) .

Major works

• Plant protection. Basics of practical phytomedicine. Georg Thieme Verlag, Stuttgart 1975; 2nd edition ibid 1987; 3rd edition, ibid. 2000.
• Encyclopedia of Plant Physiology, New Series, Vol. 4. Edited by R. Heitefuss and PH Williams. Springer-Verlag, Berlin 1976.
• Plant diseases and pests in agriculture. (with Klaus König and Alfred Obst). DLG-Verlag, Frankfurt (Main) 1984; 2nd edition ibid 1987; 3rd edition ibid 1993; 4th edition (further co-author: Manfred Reschke) Verlag Union Agrar Frankfurt (Main) 2000.
• Integrated crop protection. AID brochure Volume 32, Bonn 1985.
• Integrated farming. Systems of environmentally conscious plant production. Basics, experiences, developments. Edited by Rolf Diercks and Rudolf Heitefuß. Bayerischer Landwirtschaftsverlag Munich 1990; 2nd edition Verlag Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart 1994.
• Integrated crop production. Report on the priority program "Development of an integrated system of plant production taking into account economic and ecological aspects of plant protection in wheat". Edited by Rudolf Heitefuss with the assistance of Friedhelm Döpke. DFG research report VCH Verlagsgesellschaft, Weinheim 1990.
• Ecotoxicology of plant protection products. Status report of the "Senate Commission for the Assessment of Substances in Agriculture". Initiated and edited by Rudolf Heitefuß. Publication by the German Research Foundation. VCH Verlagsgesellschaft, Weinheim 1994.
• Resistance of Crop Plants against Fungi. Edited by H. Hartleb, R. Heitefuss and H.-H. Hoppe. Gustav Fischer-Verlag, Jena and Stuttgart 1997.
• Healthy plants - healthy food. Plant protection is consumer protection. Edited by Rudolf Heitefuss and Fred Klingauf. Verlag Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart 2004 = Series of publications by the German Phytomedical Society, Vol. 7.
• Problems and perspectives of plant protection in an environmentally friendly agriculture. Speeches and essays from three decades. Institute for Plant Pathology and Plant Protection at the University of Göttingen 2005.
• Plant production in transition - change in plant protection. Main topic of the 56th Plant Protection Conference in Kiel. Edited by A. von Tiedemann, R. Heitefuß and F. Feldmann. DPG Spectrum Phytomedicine; Publishing house of the DPG (German Phytomedical Society) Braunschweig 2008.

literature

• Fred Klingauf : Professor Dr. Rudolf Heitefuß retires. In: News sheet of the German Plant Protection Service . Vol. 46, 1994, pp. 178-179.
• H.-H. Hoppe: On the 70th birthday of Prof. Dr. Rudolf Heitefuss. In: Journal of Plant Diseases and Plant Protection. Vol. 105, 1998, pp. 553-554 (with picture).
• Eckard Beer : Federal Cross of Merit 1st class to Prof. em. Dr. Rudolf Heitefuss awarded. In: News sheet of the German Plant Protection Service. Vol. 58, 2006, pp. 91-92 (with picture).

Web links

• Literature by and about Rudolf Heitefuß in the catalog of the German National Library

Individual evidence

1. ^ Board of the German Phytomedical Society