Odette Weedon

• Dr. agr. Department of Ecological Plant Protection
• Wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiterin at University of Kassel

Background and aims Intercrops offer multiple advantages over sole crops. The aim of our study was to characterize root growth and interactions in spring wheat/faba bean intercrops to better understand belowground interactions that govern resource capture. Materials and methods A field experiment was conducted with one faba bean cultivar and two s...

The performance advantages of intercropping (IC) such increased protein contents and yield gains have been widely studied. Far less investigations are available studying the role of different classes of plant traits to explain intercropping performance. Plant traits can have a dual role in IC influencing the performance of the IC system and being i...

Background and Aims: Intercrops offer multiple advantages over sole crops. However, little is known about the mechanisms that govern the belowground interactions between mixed species. The aim of our study was to characterize root growth and interactions in spring wheat-faba bean intercrops for different sowing densities and spring wheat cultivars,...

A winter wheat composite cross population (CCP), created in the UK in 2001, has been grown in Germany, Hungary, and the UK since 2005 (F5 generation). In 2008/09 (F8), a cycling pattern for the populations was developed between partners to test the effects of rapidly changing environments on agronomic performance and morphological characteristics....

The aim of this study was to investigate the potential of heterogeneous composite cross populations (CCPs) to increase sustainability and resilience of wheat cropping systems, a so far largely neglected approach. For this purpose, 10 CCPs originating from one CCP created in 2001 and having evolved under different environmental conditions since the...

Species mixtures and heterogeneous crop populations are two promising approaches for diversified ecological cropping systems with increased resilience and reduced dependency on external inputs. Inter- and intraspecific diversity were evaluated in combination using 15 wheat (Triticum aestivum) entries, including line cultivars and heterogeneous popu...

Compared to sole crops, intercropping—especially of legumes and cereals—has great potential to improve crop yield and resource use efficiency, and can provide many other ecosystem services. However, the beneficial effects of intercrops are often greatly dependent on the end use as well as the specific species and genotypes being co-cultivated. In a...

To increase the resilience of agroecological farming systems against weeds, pests, and pathogens, evolutionary breeding of diversified crop populations is highly promising. A fundamental challenge in population breeding is to combine effective selection and breeding progress while maintaining intraspecific diversity. A hydroponic system was tested...

The aim of this study was to investigate the potential of highly heterogeneous bulk populations ("Composite CrossPopulations", CCP) to increase sustainability and resilience of wheat cropping, a so far largely neglected approach. For this purpose, 10 CCP, generated in 2001, based on the same set of 20 older varieties, but evolved under different en...

In order to really understand the role of biodiversity in crop health, it is important to consider diversity on numerous levels. These include not only interspecific and intraspecific diversity of plants and rhizosphere and soil microbial diversity, but also phyllo- and endobiom diversity. Our research for crop health management in organic agricult...

High fertiliser inputs for good yields and baking quality of wheat may cause nitrogen runoff. Cereal-legume mixtures have a range of advantages in terms of land and nitrogen use efficiency and protein content. We experimentally evaluated 15 contrasting wheat genotypes for their performance in mixture with pea and in monoculture without mineral N-fe...

To better harness advantages of species mixtures for temperate arable cropping systems it is crucial to understand key factors influencing mixture performance. We evaluated traits of 15 wheat genotypes from Hungary and Western Europe in mixture with a pea cultivar and in pure stands for their genotype-based variation, growth dynamics and plasticity...

Twelve winter wheat composite cross populations (CCPs), based on three genetic backgrounds and maintained at the University of Kassel, Germany, under both organic and conventional management, were assessed for yield performance and stability in comparison to two commercial varieties over eight and 10 experimental years. A number of stability parame...

This poster presents preliminary experimental results showing plasticity of wheat cultivars in wheat-pea mixtures.

Traits conferring competitiveness of wheat plants are crucial for weed tolerance and weed suppression (Andrew et al., 2015) and therefore hold the potential for reduced chemical or mechanical weed management. Moreover, competitive ability is also a key trait of crop plants for their suitability within species mixtures as an approach for diversifica...

Effective Population Sizes (Ne) of three winter wheat composite cross populations (CCPs) that had been maintained under organic and conventional conditions from the F7 to the F12 were analysed. The number of plants (N) needed to maintain an Ne of 5000 for each population was calculated based on the mean variation in the number of gametes per parent...

Early vigour traits of wheat composite cross populations (CCPs) based on high yielding (Y) or high quality (Q) or Y*Q varietal intercross evolving under organic or conventional conditions in parallel populations were studied hydroponically. To eliminate storage and year effects, frozen F6, F10, F11 and F15 seeds were multiplied in one field, result...

Early vigour traits of wheat composite cross populations (CCPs) based on high yielding (Y) or high quality (Q) or Y*Q varietal intercross evolving under organic or conventional conditions in parallel populations were studied hydroponically. To eliminate storage and year effects, frozen F 6 , F 10 , F 11 and F 15 seeds were multiplied in one field,...

Heterogeneous Composite Cross populations may enable winter wheat producers to cope with increasing biotic and abiotic stress due to climate change. An economic farm model based on a cost benefit analysis was established to compare net return and production risk of organic winter wheat production with CCP and pure line varieties. The organic produc...

Genetically diverse Composite Cross Populations (CCP) are a promising strategy to cope with changing environmental conditions and the increasingly erratic occurrence of biotic and abiotic stressors. Although legislative hurdles for the trade of CCP seeds in the EU could be changed soon, uncertainty remains concerning the adoption and acceptance of...

Genetically diverse Composite Cross Populations (CCP) may be a strategy to cope with increasingly erratic biotic and abiotic stress in crop production. An economic farm model based on cost-benefit analysis was established to compare performance and production risk of CCP and pure line varieties in organic winter wheat production. The organic produc...

Breeding for organic systems may be done as pure line or population breeding. Early vigour, critical to organic systems, was compared for different winter wheat breeding origins in a hydroponic system, as well as in the field. Entries were: the F15 of composite cross populations (CCPs), based on high yielding (Y), high quality (Q) or Y*Q varietal i...

150 words) 8 Disease and pest management in organic agriculture are based on a whole set of 9 interlinked system management methods, including in certain cases, the use of organic 10 pesticides including biocontrol organisms. In order to achieve the greatest possible 11 natural biological control within a growing system, there is a need to apply a...

High levels of within-crop diversity, such as composite cross populations (CCPs) of wheat are expected to buffer against biotic and abiotic stresses. Increased in-field diversity provides higher stability and flexibility and allows for continuous adaptation over time (Finckh 2008). In diverse CCPs, early vigour is of special importance for performa...

Increasing yield instability due to climate change could be mitigated by higher inter-and intra crop diversity. During the course of the INSUSFAR project, several questions regarding the impact of more diverse crops on agricultural systems are adressed. To answer these questions, varieties, mixtures, and composite cross populations of wheat will be...

Seedling root and shoot growth in hydroponics and allelopathic activity using a bioassay have been studied in very diverse populations of winter wheat grown under either organic or conventional conditions for a number of generations and subjected only to natural selection. The study was conducted on seeds from generation 6 (F6) and 11 (F11) from th...

Three Composite Cross Populations (CCPs) of winter wheat were created in 2001, one from crossing high baking quality parents (called QCCP), one based on high yielding parents (YCCP), and one created from both parent sets combined (YQ). All three CCPs were grown for several years in the UK and in Germany under conventional and organic cropping manag...

Thirteen winter wheat composite cross populations originating from one population but with differing histories over six years and three reference varieties were compared for yield, disease occurrence, as well as phenotypic diversity. The populations performed similarly and often better than the reference varieties in terms of yield and had lower in...

Alternative breeding approaches in organic agriculture have started to address pressing issues such as the lack of appropriate plant varieties particularly suited to cope with higher biotic and abiotic stresses, generally found in low-input and organic production systems. This challenge, coupled with the additional pressure of loss of plant genetic...