Fundamentals of Crop Physiology in a Changing World

Fundamentals of Crop Physiology in a Changing World

To be announced

Scope

This course focusses on the fundamental knowledge and insight one must have about crops to be able to adapt agronomic practices to the changing world. Here the changing world refers to the environment, increased demands on sustainable production and food quality. We will be integrating the different physiological processes in relation to change using a systems approach, rather than studying them separately.

The toolbox in this course will be a variety of plant and crop models (e.g. Gene-based Modelling, Functional-Structural Plant Modelling, Dynamic Crop Growth Modelling, Decision Support Systems) that will be used to understand and address the fundamental challenges and questions. Moreover, we will not only see what these models have to offer but also whether they are state-of-the-art to support agronomic practice decisions in a current and future changing world. Current models are poor in predicting response to extreme events and erratic conditions. We will address crop physiology at different scales of space (field to region and the globe), time (seconds to decades), and level of integration (gene to whole plant). The overall goal of this course is to understand the effects of temperature, light, CO2 or water on the carbon source-sink relationships of plants and to improve the underlying models.

Programme

The course starts off Sunday afternoon before dinner.
Each morning starts with 3 lectures (30-45 minutes each), followed by a 30-minute discussion convened by 2-3 participants who will challenge the speaker on the presentation and the papers that the speaker submitted a-priori.
Prior to the course, participants can indicate for which speaker they want to convene the discussion. Accordingly, participants will be assigned to a convener group and receive the relevant literature.
Afternoons will be spent on working group sessions in which participants are split into 4-5 groups. Each group will receive a specific assignment related to redesigning of crop models in such a way that they can cope with change and erratic conditions.
Furthermore, each day will focus on a specific topic, linking always to the modelling of growth and physiology.

Sunday 
Afternoon:  Introduction lecture:
                    - Frank Ewert, Scientific Director at ZALF, University of Bonn, Germany 
Evening:      Dinner
                     Poster carousel (this will involve 3 - 4 rounds, where 4 - 5 posters will be presented per round)

Monday 
Morning:     Phenological Development towards the Creation of Carbon Sinks:
                   -  Melanie Correll, Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, University of Florida, USA
                   -  Rafael Ribeiro, Department of Plant Biology, University of Campinas, Brazil
                   -  Jon Lizaso, Crop Production Technology, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Spain
Afternoon:  Working group sessions (4 - 5 groups)

Tuesday 
Morning:     Carbon assimilation - light, CO2 and temperature:
                    - Alejandro Morales, Centre for Crop Systems Analysis, Wageningen University, NL
                    - Xinyou Yin, Centre for Crop Systems Analysis, Wageningen University, NL
                    - Jeremy Harbinson, Horticulture & Product Physiology, Wageningen University, NL
Afternoon:  Working group sessions (4 - 5 groups)

Wednesday 
Morning:     Source-Sink relations and interaction with temperature and water:
                    - Kenneth Boote, Department of Agronomy, University of Florida, USA
                    - Pepijn van Oort, AfricaRice and Agrosystems Research, Wageningen University, NL
                    - Pierre Martre, LEPSE, INRA, France
Afternoon:  Methodology Carousel (a set of crop models will be lined up. Beforehand you can indicate which models you want to visit (2 - 3 models, 1 hour per method))

Thursday 
Morning:     Integration and scaling through modelling:
                    - Jochem Evers, Centre for Crop Systems Analysis, Wageningen University, NL
                    - Paul Struik, Centre for Crop Systems Analysis, Wageningen University, NL
                    - Gerrit Hoogenboom, Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, University of Florida, USA
Afternoon:  Working group sessions (4 - 5 groups)

Friday 
Morning:    Final presentations of the group work projects
Afternoon: Travel back home

General information

More information

Dr. Claudius van de Vijver (PE&RC)
Phone: +31 (0) 317 485116
Email: claudius.vandevijver@wur.nl

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