Research
Better models of the soil/water/air system are being developed in the project “European hydro-climate extremes: mechanisms, predictability and impacts”. The project, which is led by Jülich agrosphere researcher Prof. Stefan Kollet, is financed by the German-Russian “Helmholtz-RSF Joint Research Groups” funding programme and is intended to show heavy rain or droughts, for example, more accurately.
Algae are to be a raw material for the large-scale production of pharmaceuticals, food and cosmetics. This is the aim of the IDEA project, in which research institutions and industrial partners from Belgium, the Netherlands, France, Ireland and Germany work together and which is funded with around € 2.6 million from the “European Interreg North-West Europe” programme.
The raw material crop Sida hermaphrodita produces a lot of biomass, even on soils that are hardly suitable for agriculture. In a study published in the journal “Frontiers in Plant Science”, plant researchers from Jülich and the University of Lüneburg showed how Sida can be efficiently fertilised with fermentation residues from biogas plants, and soil quality can be improved.
A consortium involving Jülich researchers is investigating the significance that interactions between plant roots and soil have for water circulation and substance flows. The German Research Foundation (DFG) is funding the Priority Programme for research into the rhizosphere with € 6 million.
PHOTOS: Forschungszentrum Jülich/Sascha Kreklau
