Thesis subject
Deciphering the role of soil biodiversity in sustainable farming practices
Farming practices are in need for change due to the many negative side-effects induced by conventional agriculture. One largely unexplored possibility of increasing sustainable farming practices is embedded in soil biodiversity including the microbiome and various animals. We aim to fill this gap focusing on various aspects of soil biodiversity (microbiome, nematodes, etc.), in diverse sustainable management practices like intercropping and optimised rotational practices.
In this promising and multi-faceted field you can find your thesis and work towards better understanding soil biodiversity in different modern agricultural practices, and how soil biodiversity might help to improve crop growth. For that you will perform field and/or greenhouse experiments in ambient and global change conditions, and use a range of techniques including microbiome analyses by high-throughput sequencing, qPCR and bioinformatics.
Overall, your work will help to better understand the relationship between soil biodiversity and sustainable farming practices, enhance and preserve soil biodiversity, and, in turn, guide better sustainable agricultural practices.