The NovelGreen project aims to identify key traits in crop varieties that are essential for effective intercropping, ensuring optimal nitrogen (N) utilization and reducing nitrate leaching and nitrous oxide emissions. Intercropping cereals with legumes can yield substantial outputs with minimal fertilizer input, as legumes are self-sufficient through nitrogen fixation. However, the current adoption of such practices is limited due to the lack of breeding for varieties that promote positive interactions with neighboring plants, which means the theoretical yield benefits are not always realized.

NovelGreen seeks to enhance the ideotype concept by introducing a new physiological trait (nitrogen concentration in organs) in addition to the traditional phenological and morphological ideal traits. This will form the basis for optimizing variety breeding. The project will identify new traits related to improved nitrogen uptake and utilization efficiency (NUE), thereby reducing the need for fertilizer application.

The project is divided into two phases:

1. Phase 1: field trials with intercrops will generate new knowledge about phenological, morphological, and physiological traits, their variability, and interactions under field conditions.
2. Phase 2: crop modeling will be used to identify new combinations of traits with high NUE, high yield, and high nitrogen content in grains, utilizing the biological trait variation from Phase 1.

NovelGreen supports the EU's Green Deal objective of reducing artificial fertilizer use by 20% by 2030 and minimizing nitrogen losses from our cropping systems.

More information

Project name: Novel Intercrop Traits for Effective Green Transitioning of Agriculture (NovelGreen)

Funding: DFF-Research Project 1 (Thematic Research) Thematic: Free Green Research 2024

Recipient: Uttam Kumar, Aarhus University Granted Amount: 3,167,712 DKK

Contact: Uttam Kumar, Department of Agroecology, Aarhus University. Mail: uttam.kumar@agro.au.dk