This data [1] represents ACi curves of twelve winter wheat varieties, which were grown under elevated and ambient CO2 concentrations within a FACE experiment and the subsequent F1 generation was exposed to ambient and elevated CO2 concentrations in a highly controlled environment using climate chambers. The 12 winter wheat genotypes (Triticum aestivum L.) were selected based on their susceptibilty to leaf rust (Puccinia triticina Eriks.) and Fusarium head blight (Fusarium graminearum Schwabe) according to the descriptive variety list of the German Federal Office of Plant Varietes (Beschreibende Sortenliste, Bundessortenamt 2024). The aim was to obtain a diverse set of varieties with the widest possible range of susceptibilities to leaf rust and fusarium head blight. Photosynthesis was measured using the novel Dynamic Assimilation Technique, thus not with the common steady-state approach. The individual wheat plants were measured twice, once under saturating soil water availability (θFC) and once under reduced soil water availability (θcsoil). θcsoil represents the gravimetric water content when the soil matric potential drops below the root matric potential, thus the onset of plant drought stress (sensu Cai et al. [2]). The photosynthesis data was used to fit ACi curves and extract the maximum Rubisco carboxylation rate [Vcmax], maximum rate of electron transport [Jmax] and dark respiration [Rd]. At both measurements we determined BBCH and plant height to quantify plant morphological development, as well as leaf water potential to quantify plant ecohydrologic status. At the end of the experiment, biomass was harvested and reported. Further, we provide environmental data of the climate chambers in use.Within the data repository, we provide comprehensive experimental data on the investigation of transgenerational memory effects on photosynthetic efficiency. We provide photosynthetic raw data as well as processed (merged) and derived (extracted ACi fit) data. Additionally, we provide the R-code to reproduce the calculation of the derived parameters.Data on transgenerational memory effects (that is, the influence of the parental environment on offspring phenotype and performance) are scarce, i.e. on the adaptive capacity of the photosynthetic apparatus. Thus, the data provided here can contribute to closing this gap. The highly controlled environment allows to closely investigate cause-effect relationships, thereby contributing to a mechanistic understanding of the transgenerational memory effects on photosynthetic efficiency and how this is altered by reduced soil water availability. By using a recently developed methodological approach, the data contributes to further investigate the quality of the method and establish it within the field of plant ecophysiology.

Crop models are valuable tools for simulating and assessing genotype-by-environment interactions. In most studies, these models are parameterized based on crop data from a few sites and years, which often limits their applicability to a broader geographic context. Therefore, we utilize countrywide multi-environment variety trial data in this study to implement a genotype-specific model parameterization for winter rye (Secale cereale L.) in Germany. We use the Crop and Environment REsource Synthesis (CERES) model originally used for wheat available in the decision support system for agrotechnology transfer (DSSAT) framework and adapt and evaluate it for rye. Calibration and evaluation involved a comprehensive agronomic trial datasets for the rye cultivar Palazzo, encompassing 194 site-years of experiments covering various cereal production regions in Germany. The parameterization followed a structured approach, encompassing phenology, growth, and yield-specific coefficients. The parameterized CSM-CERES-Rye (where CSM is cropping system model) demonstrated reasonable accuracy in simulating critical crop parameters, including aboveground biomass, leaf area index, tiller, grain number, unit seed weight, and grain yield. The model is available for diverse model-based assessments of rye cultivation, including evaluating crop management, analyzing crop rotations, and assessing rye's suitability across varied environments, making it valuable for sustainable agriculture and decision-making. Adapting DSSAT-CSM-CERES-Wheat (where DSSAT is decision support system for agrotechnology transfer, CSM is cropping system model, and CERES is crop and environment resource synthesis) for cereal rye using comprehensive data from German plant variety trials for the first time. A structured sequential method was employed for model parameterization. The model enables essential analyses, including crop management, rotations, and suitability assessments.

Rye is a small-grain cereal with an extensive and well-branched root system that is particularly suitable for grain production in marginal environments where other grain cereals, especially wheat, cannot thrive well. However, no significant genetic gain could be achieved to improve plant height and lodging resistance in the last 30 years in rye. Thus, the relatively low grain-to-straw ratio currently hinders rye from becoming more integrated into cereal crop rotations. Here, we report first results on the effects of the gibberellin-sensitive dwarfing gene Ddw1 on the root system and aboveground traits of rye under field conditions. We assessed root traits of semidwarf and tall genotypes in two field environments at the time of anthesis using soil coring, the core-break method and root scans. Semidwarfs revealed no negative but slightly positive effects on rooting depth, total root length, root length density, and cumulative root length distribution. While plant height was significantly reduced, no increase in harvest index and grain yield was observed in semidwarf prototypes. We conclude that rye does not lose the advantages of its deep and widely branched root system with the introgression of Ddw1, especially not on marginal sites.

Summary Scientific facts about the relationships between the goals are indispensable for the rational social discourse on solving the various conflicting goals on the way to sustainable crop production. Therefore, the German Society for Agronomy has compiled scientific findings on the topics of biodiversity, climate relevance and climate resilience, nutrient management, crop protection, soil protection and production of renewable raw materials, and identified the existing need for research. After an executive summary that highlights the findings, the subject areas are explained in detail. The purpose of this paper is not to make recommendations for policy-making, but to support the public debate by providing factual information.

Ende 2019 wurde das Diskussionsppapier zur Ackerbau­strategie 2035 des Bundesministeriums für Ernährung und Landwirtschaft (BMEL) vorgestellt. Das Julius Kühn-Institut (JKI) war intensiv in die Vorarbeiten eingebunden und hat das BMEL bei der Erarbeitung des Diskussionspapiers zur Ackerbaustrategie aktiv unterstützt. Die Ackerbau­strategie beschreibt sechs Leitlinien, welche die Rahmenbedingungen für einen nachhaltigen Ackerbau darstellen. In insgesamt 12 Handlungsfeldern werden Herausforderungen und Zielkonflikte aufgezeigt, und entsprechende Ziele und Maßnahmen benannt. Im Folgenden werden einige Inhalte der Ackerbaustrategie vorgestellt. Zudem wird aufgezeigt, wie die Ressortforschung – und das JKI im Speziellen – die Umsetzung der Ackerbaustrategie bereits heute wie auch in Zukunft aktiv unterstützt.

To examine the extent to which heat stress during grain filling impacts on the development and yield of winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), a 3-year field experiment was conducted on a loess soil with high water holding capacity in the North German Plain. Thirty-two mostly European winter wheat cultivars were exposed to heat stress in a mobile foil tunnel with maximum air temperatures of 45.7, 45.4, and 47.2 degrees C in 2015, 2016, and 2017, respectively. The 14-day post-anthesis heat stress treatment caused an average 57.3% grain yield reduction compared to a close-by non-stressed control. The proportion of green crop area after the heat stress phase varied from 7% to 98% in 2016 and from 37% to 94% in 2017. The green crop area percentage did not significantly correlate with grain yield, indicating that the delayed senescence of stay-green phenotypes offers no yield advantage under terminal heat stress. The water soluble carbohydrate (WSC) concentration of the stems at crop maturity varied between 6 and 92 g/kg dry matter, showing that the genotypes differed in their efficiency at using the stem carbohydrate reserves for grain filling under heat stress. The stem WSC concentration correlated positively with the beginning of anthesis (r = 0.704; p < .001) but negatively with the grain yield (r = -0.431; p < .05). For heat tolerance breeding, the stem reserve strategy, i. e. the rapid and full exhaustion of the temporary carbohydrate storage therefore seems more promising than the stay-green strategy.

Soil water content and matric potential are central hydrological state variables. A large variety of automated probes and sensor systems for state monitoring exist and are frequently applied. Most applications solely rely on the calibration by the manufacturers. Until now, there has been no commonly agreed-upon calibration procedure. Moreover, several opinions about the capabilities and reliabilities of specific sensing methods or sensor systems exist and compete. A consortium of several institutions conducted a comparison study of currently available sensor systems for soil water content and matric potential under field conditions. All probes were installed at 0.2 m b.s. (metres below surface), following best-practice procedures. We present the set-up and the recorded data of 58 probes of 15 different systems measuring soil moisture and 50 further probes of 14 different systems for matric potential. We briefly discuss the limited coherence of the measurements in a cross-correlation analysis. The measuring campaign was conducted during the growing period of 2016. The monitoring data, results from pedophysical analyses of the soil and laboratory reference measurements for calibration are published in Jackisch et al. (2018, https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.892319).

Even in the temperate climates of Europe, increasing early season drought and rising air temperature are presenting new challenges to farmers and wheat breeders. Sixteen winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) genotypes consisting of three hybrids, six line cultivars and two breeding lines from Germany as well as five line cultivars from France, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary and the Ukraine (referred to as "exotic" lines) have been included in this study. The genetic materials were evaluated over three growing seasons under a range of soil moisture regimes at the three North German sites Braunschweig (irrigated and drought-stressed), Warmse (rainfed) and Sollingen (rainfed). The average grain yields in the twelve growth environments (water regime x season combinations) ranged from 6.1 to 13.5 t ha(-1). The exotic lines showed little evidence of specific phenological adaptation to drought although they are frequently faced with water scarcity in their countries of origin. The hybrids and German lines exhibited higher regression coefficients (b(i)) to environmental means than the exotic lines, indicating particular adaptation to favourable growing conditions. The phenotypical correlations of grain yield between the various environments were high, ranging for instance from 0.6 to 0.8 for the irrigated and drought-stressed environments at Braunschweig. It is thus expected that in the foreseeable future continued selection aiming at high yield potential will suffice as a means to counter the expected increase in droughts.

Ein optimiertes Aussaatmuster mit gleichmäßigen Abständen zwischen den Pflanzen erhöht den nutzbaren Stand­raum je Einzelpflanze und reduziert intraspezifische Konkurrenzeffekte. Neben höheren und stabileren Erträgen sind auch Vorteile hinsichtlich Ressourcennutzungseffizienz, Stresstoleranz und Unkrautunterdrückungsvermögen zu erwarten. Aktuell wird Getreide vorwiegend in Drillsaat ausgebracht, was nicht dem pflanzenbaulichen Optimum entspricht, jedoch eine hohe Flächenleistung ermöglicht. Alternativ ist für die Getreideaussaat reihenabhängige Einzelkornsätechnik verfügbar, welche bereits deutliche Vorteile hinsichtlich eines gleichmäßigeren Saatbilds zeigt. Den gleichmäßigsten Standraum je Einzelpflanze erreicht man mit einer Gleichstandsaat im Dreieckverband, welche bei Getreide technisch noch nicht realisierbar ist. Um die erwarteten Vorteile der Gleichstandsaat bei Getreide zu überprüfen, werden am Julius Kühn-Institut Versuche zur Gleichstandsaat bei Winterweizen durchgeführt, um Fragestellungen hinsichtlich Ertrag, Ressourcennutzungseffizienz, Stresstoleranz etc. zu beantworten. Parallel dazu sind die Anpassung einer Einzelkornsämaschine sowie die Entwicklung eines mobilen autonomen Systems geplant, die eine Aussaat im Dreieckverband ermöglichen.

Atmospheric CO2 enrichment affects C3 crops both directly via increased carbon gain and improved water use efficiency and indirectly via higher temperatures and more frequent climatic extremes. Here we investigated the response of spring wheat (Triticum aestivum L. cv. Triso) to CO2 enrichment (550 vs. 380 mu mol/mol) and heat, applied as a constant +4 degrees C increase or a typical heat wave either before or after anthesis, or as two typical heat waves before and after anthesis. We applied a climate chamber approach closely mimicking ambient conditions. CO2 enrichment increased above-ground biomass and yield by c. 7 and 10%, but was not able to compensate for adverse heat stress effects, neither before nor after anthesis, with few exceptions only. Yield depression due to heat stress was most severe when two heat waves were applied (-19%). This adverse effect was, however, compensated by CO2 enrichment. Applying heat stress before or after anthesis did not exert different effects on yield for both +4 degrees C warming and heat wave application. However, +4 degrees C depressed yield more than a heat wave at ambient CO2, but not so at elevated CO2. Thus, the interactive effects were complex and prediction of future wheat yield under CO2 enrichment and climate extremes deserves more attention.

Ziel war es, den Einsatz eines vollstandig programmierbaren Multispektralkamerasystem zur Fernerkundung in der Weizenzuchtung zu prufen. Die Untersuchungen wurden in den Jahren 2016 und 2017 durchgefuhrt. Verwendet wurde dafur ein Multispektralkamerasystem, bestehend aus einer Farbkamera und zwei monochromen Kameras mit schmalen Wellenlangenbandfiltern (650 nm und 850 nm) ausgestattet. Aus den multispektralen Bildern wurden der normalisierte differenzierte Vegetationsindex (NDVI) und der bodenkorrigierte Vegetationsindex (SAVI) berechnet. Das gesamte Multispektralkamerasystem wurde in die Tragerplattform ThunoCopter, einem MK OktoXL 6S12 von MikroKopter, mechanisch und elektronisch integriert und in einem Weizenversuch zu unterschiedlichen Entwicklungsstadien zwischen dem Ende der Fahnenblattentwicklung und dem Beginn der Kornreife eingesetzt. Die Versuchsanlage umfasste 60 Genotypen unterschiedlicher Herkunft sowie vier Referenzgenotypen in dreifacher Wiederholung an drei Standorten. Die Auswertungen ergaben, dass in 2016 zwischen dem im Juni gemessenen NDVI und dem Kornertrag ein signifikanter Zusammenahng vorlag, der mit Berucksichtigung der Blattstellung verbessert werden konnte. Auch lag zwischen dem gemessenen NDVI zu Beginn der Abreife und dem bonitierten Tag des Ahrenschiebens an allen drei Standorten ein signifikanter Zusammenhang vor (Sollingen 2016: R2 = 0, 48***). Beide Zusammenhange konnten die Untersuchungen aus 2017 bestatigen.

Ein Blick in die Zukunft erfordert moglicherweise ein Neudenken der bisherigen Produktionstechnik im Ackerbau. Bisher wurden pflanzenbauliche Produktionssysteme durch die Verfahrenstechnik fur die Bewirtschaftung bestimmt; zukunftig konnte der umgekehrte Weg von Vorteil sein. Neue technologische Fortschritte aus den Bereichen Precision und Digital Farming zeigen Moglichkeiten auf, die Anspruche der Kulturpflanze weitaus kleinraumlicher und effizienter zu bedienen. Vor allem aber konnte die Technik der autonomen Kleinmaschinen Chancen bieten, perspektivisch eine nachhaltige Intensivierung im Pflanzenbau zu erreichen. Verschiedene pflanzenbauliche Produktions- und Anbausysteme mussen in diesem Zusammenhang Berucksichtigung finden, analysiert und bewertet werden.

Die Messung der Bodenfeuchte und des Matrixpotenzials als zentrale bodenhydrologische Zustandsvariablen kann mit einer Vielzahl von Messgeraten und Technologien erfolgen. Ein Konsortium von 8 Institutionen hat eine Vergleichsstudie auf einer speziell homogenisierten Testflache eines schluffigen Sandes durchgefuhrt. Die Experimentalflache von ca. 60 m² war naturlichen meteorologischen Bedingungen ausgesetzt und wurde von Vegetation freigehalten. 57 Sensoren von 15 verschiedenen Systemen zur Messung der Bodenfeuchte und 50 Sensoren von 14 verschiedenen Systemen zur Messung des Matrixpotenzials wurden in einer gitterformigen Anordnung in 0,2 m Tiefe installiert. Die meisten Sensoren erfassten zusatzlich die Temperatur. Die Ergebnisse der Studie zeigten: (1) Die meisten Wassergehaltssensoren ergaben plausible Daten, jedoch bestanden erhebliche Abweichungen in Hinblick auf die gemessenen Absolutwerte. (2) Bei Matrixpotenzialsensoren konnte die schnelle Reaktion auf Niederschlagsereignisse nur von Tensiometern aufgezeichnet werden. Alle indirekten Verfahren reagierten langsamer, (3) ein Vergleich der im Freiland beobachteten Relation zwischen Bodenwassergehalt und Matrixpotenzial mit Labormessungen an ungestorten Stechzylinderproben zeigte systematische Abweichungen. Mit den Ergebnissen aus der Vergleichsstudie wollen wir zu einer kritischen Diskussion der intrinsischen Annahmen bodenhydrologischer Messungen und zur Entwicklung alternativer Techniken zur Beobachtung der Zustande und Prozesse im Boden beitragen.

Durch die mit dem Klimawandel einhergehende höhere Durchschnittstemperatur und häufigere Frühjahrs- und Sommertrockenheit wird das Wasser zu einem zunehmend limitierenden Faktor für die landwirtschaftliche Pflanzenproduktion. Am Institut für Pflanzenbau und Bodenkunde des Julius Kühn-Instituts (JKI) wurden in den letzten Jahren mehrere Experimente mit dem Produktionsfaktor Wasser durchgeführt. Die wichtigsten Ergebnisse einiger ausgewählter Experimente werden in dieser Veröffentlichung kurz beschrieben: (I) Wasserbedarf von Energiemais, (II) Einfluss der Wasserversorgung auf die interspezifische Konkurrenz beim Mischanbau, (III) Vergleich der Trockentoleranz von Mais und Sorghumhirsen, (IV) Extremszenario zu Trockenstress bei Wintergetreide, (V) Temperatur des Pflanzenbestandes als Bioindikator für den Wasserstatus und (VI) Wasseraufnahme, Wassernutzungseffizienz und Biomasseertrag von Durchwachsener Silphie.

Winter rye (Secale cereale L.) will be especially affected by drought induced yield losses in Central and Eastern Europe in the future because it is predominantly cultivated on low-fertile soils with a poor water-holding capacity. In order to examine the performance of winter rye under different drought conditions, field experiments were carried out during the years 2011, 2012, and 2013 near Braunschweig, Germany. Two sets of genotypes were tested under severe, mild, pre-anthesis, and post-anthesis drought stress in rain-out shelters as well as under rainfed and well-watered conditions. The grain, straw, and total above ground biomass yields, harvest index, grain yield components, leaf area index (LAI), and phenological characteristics were examined, as well as phenotypic correlations between grain yield and further characteristics. Drought induced grain yield reduction ranged from 14 to 57%, while straw yield and harvest index were lesser affected by drought than the grain yield. Under drought conditions, fully ripe was reached up to twelve days earlier than under non water-limited conditions. Pre-anthesis drought mainly reduced spikes m(-2) and kernels spike(-1) while drought during grain filling reduced the 1000-kernel weight (TKW) only. The grain yield was positively associated with straw yield, spikes m(-2), and kernels spike(-1) under water limited conditions while the TWK was only positively associated with grain yield under drought during grain filling. Consequently, high pre-anthesis biomass as well as high numbers of spikes m(-2) and kernels spike(-1) are especially important for obtaining high grain yields under water-limited conditions. Focusing on these traits is, therefore, recommendable for developing drought tolerant rye genotypes. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.