Maria Borlinghaus
- Position:
- joint PhD Student (with SRUC)
- Home Page:
- http://www.biochar.ac.uk/staff.php?id=27
PhD Title
Implications of biochar on UK barley systems: a biological perspective
PhD Supervisor
Dr Oliver Knox, Dr James Fountaine, Dr Saran Sohi
Summary
The plant disease triangle describes that the presence and severity of a plant disease is determined by the dynamic interaction of a susceptible crop (host), a causal agent (pathogen), favourable environmental conditions and time.
Management practices that modify these variables influence the incidence and severity of diseases. Suppressive effects on foliar and soil-borne fungal diseases on high maintenance crops following biochar to soil amendments could be demonstrated in previous studies, however no data is available on biochar plant pathogen interactions in a cereal system.
Barley is the second most important crop in UK after wheat, the main cereal crop in Scotland. Rhynchosporium commune is one of the most destructive pathogens of barley worldwide, causing leaf blotch disease which can decrease yield by up to 40% and reduces grain quality, especially in wet seasons and in high humidity areas.
This project aims to investigate the impact of biochar on barley health, performance and production of spring barley and to assess the effects and mechanisms of biochar on the susceptibility of spring barley to pathogens with a particular focus on R. commune. A series of laboratory, glasshouse and field based assessments are undertaken and the results will be used to develop an informed opinion of the impacts of biochar deployment in UK arable barley production with inference to other cereal systems.
This PhD is a joint cross-institutional and multi-interdisciplinary project between the Soil Science Research group of the UK Biochar Research Center (School of GeoSciences, University of Edinburgh) and the Crop and Soil System Research group of the Scotland's Rural College (SRUC).
Conferences
. 16-18 Dec 2012 - Presidential Meeting, Norwich, England (Poster): Studies on the in-vitro and in-vivo antifungal activity of biochars (John Colhoun poster competition winner).
. 9-16 Sept 2012 - 1st International Biochar Summer School, Potsdam, Germany (Poster): Biochar and its effects on barley disease
. 2 April 2012 - School of Geosciences PG Conference& 21-22 March 2012 - SRUC PG Conference, Edinburgh (Poster): Using biochar as a potential environmental management tool in barley production systems
. 25-26 May 2011 - 3rd UK Biochar Conference, Edinburgh (Poster): Using biochar as a potential environmental management tool in barley production systems
. 6-7 April 2011 - SRUC PG Conference, Edinburgh (Presentation): Implications of biochar on UK barley systems: a biological perspective
. 23-24 March 2011 - British Society of Soil Science Postgraduate Conference, York, UK (Presentation): Biochar for environmental management with focus on barley production systems
. 19-23 September 2010 - SOM, Presqu'ile de Giens, France
. 9-10 July 2010 - Biochar Symposium, Bayreuth, Germany
. 28-29 April 2010 - 2nd UK Biochar Conference, Rothamsted
. 3-8 April 2010 - EGU, Vienna (Poster)