Seminar: Roots for sustainability

On 12 June we will have a visit from an international group of scientists working on plant roots and their significance for the exploitation of water and nutrients from the soil by plants and crops.

The approaches of the four and their research groups are very different, but they all target the goal of developing sustainable and productive systems by improved understanding of plant roots and their ability to exploit also deep soil layers. There is a main focus on crop production systems, but Philippe Hinsinger from INRA in France and especially Alain Pierret from IRD in Laos also work on natural plant communities.

The four scientists will visit us because they are members of the advisory board for our five-year project DeepFrontier funded by the Villum Foundation and they will participate in our project meeting on the following two days.

Program

13.00-13.10:    Welcome/Introduction – Niels Halberg (ICROFS) and Kristian Thorup-Kristensen (Crop Science)

13.10-13.45:    John Kirkegaard, CSIRO, Australia

Roots to suit crop production for the driest continent on earth 

13.45-14.20:    Tim Crews, The Land Institute, USA

The potential for newly domesticated perennial crop species to deliver ecosystem services

14.20-14.40:    Coffee/tea and cake

14.40-15.25:    Alain Pierret, IRD, Laos

Fine root traits and ecosystem services; lessons learned from the Ecosfix project 

15.25-16.00:    Philippe Hinsinger, INRA, France

Root and rhizosphere functions down to several meters depth in a Eucalypt plantation on a deep, poor oxisol in Brazil - impact of rainfall reduction 

John Kirkegaard, CSIRO, Australia

John Kirkegaard is chief scientist on Farming systems at CSIRO in Canberra, Australia. John has worked mainly with developing crops and farming systems for the dryland agriculture of Australia. As part of this work, he has studied root development, its significance for water use, and strategies for improved water use based on the understanding of root growth and function. John has been a visiting professor at PLEN in 2012, and is a recently appointed member of the Australian Academy of Science

(http://people.csiro.au/K/J/John-Kirkegaard)

Tim Crews, The Land Institute, USA

Tim Crews is Director of research at the Land Institute in Kansas, USA. The Land Institute work on fundamental developments in agricultural systems in order to “change agriculture from being an ecological liability to an asset”. A main activity is to develop perennial crops, a development which could contribute strongly towards a more sustainable agriculture. They study larger and much deeper root systems developed by perennial plants, also in cooperation with our DeepFrontier project

(https://landinstitute.org/about-us/staff/tim-crews/) 

Alain Pierret, IRD, Laos

Alain Pierret have worked primarily with soil biophysics, and root-soil interactions. During the last 10 years he have mainly worked in the rainforest areas of Laos, where he have studied deep rooting (down to more than 30 meters) of crops, plantation trees and natural vegetation. Studies include the effect of deep root activity on general hydrology and ultimately on climate conditions of the areas

(https://iees-paris.ufr918.upmc.fr/index.php?page=fiche&id=65)

Philippe Hinsinger, INRA, France

Philippe Hinsinger is vice director at Eco&Sols at INRA in Montpellier in France. Philippe and his group work with many aspects of root research, but they have worked especially on rhizosphere effects of roots, chemical as well as biological and how this affect weathering of soil minerals and nutrient release from them.

http://www.umr-ecosols.fr/index.php/en/eco-sols/annuaire/fiches-annuaire/41-hinsinger-philippe