Peter Maenhout

Institute for Agricultural and Fisheries Research | ILVO

Belgian endive is grown in a two-step cultivation process that involves growing of the plants in the field, cold storage of the taproots, and a second growth period in dark conditions called forcing to yield the witloof heads. In this study, the changes in the carbohydrate content and the secondary metabolite composition were studied in different t...

Carbon sequestration in agricultural soils is an important strategy to mitigate climate change which gained renewed attention in the EU soil strategy for 2030. Stimulation of soil organic carbon (SOC) sequestration can be achieved via soil management strategies. However, these strategies may stimulate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions such as nitrous...

Degradability of organic matter (OM) in soil depends on its spatial location in the soil matrix. A recent breakthrough in 3D-localization of OM combined dual-energy X-ray CT-scanning with OsO 4 staining of OM. The necessity for synchrotron-based µCT and the use of highly toxic OsO 4 severely limit applications in soil biological experiments. Here,...

Knowledge about the response of root biomass and root system architecture (RSA) to soil conditions would increase efficiency in selecting high performance crop varieties and predicting the impact of rotations on long-term soil organic matter (SOM) stock. We evaluated the effect of variety and site on maize (Zea mays L.) root growth. Two-dimensional...

Increasing interest in plant-root phenotyping has stimulated the development of X-ray μCT-based root/soil segmentation protocols. However, most scanning and CT volume processing protocols were only applied for detection of simple and small juvenile roots. We tested a new methodology for its ability to extract large mature maize roots from X-ray μCT...

Mineral nitrogen (N) availability to heterotrophic micro-organisms is known to impact organic matter (OM) decomposition. Different pathways determining the N accessibility depend to a large extent on soil structure. Contact between soil mineral and OM substrate particles can facilitate N transport toward decomposition hot spots. However, the impact...

Over the past decade analysis of multiple field experiments has proven that belowground biomass contributes twice more than aboveground biomass to build-up and preservation of soil organic matter (SOM). Alongside, a consensus has emerged that model based predictions are particularly ill-parameterized for amount and degradability of belowground biom...

To understand the roles of nematodes in organic matter (OM) decomposition, experimental setups should include the entire nematode community, the native soil microflora, and their food sources. Yet, published studies are often based on either simplified experimental setups, using only a few selected species of nematode and their respective prey, des...