Short project description

The majority of humanity’s food calories are derived from annual grains, which require re-planting for each harvest. This results in regular disturbance of the soil and fallow periods between annual crops, both of which pose major challenges for soil health. Recently, a perennial cereal rye variety created in Germany in the 1980s through traditional breeding methods has been ‘rediscovered’, and has shown promising yields in Denmark.

Rye has long been valued for its natural weed suppression via the release of allelopathic compounds, which inhibit the successful germination of weed seeds in the soil. It is unknown whether the perennial cereal rye will offer the same favourable weed suppressive abilities (or better) compared to annual rye. Organic producers in particular could benefit from perennial rye as a low-input strategy for weed management.

This project will complement a larger field-based study investigating weed dynamics in perennial and annual cereal rye organic cropping systems. The project will compare the timing, amount, and identity of allelopathic compounds released by annual cereal rye and perennial cereal rye. Samples can be taken from plants grown in a greenhouse setting and/or from the field, depending on the student’s interests and timing of project. Compounds will be analysed using a state-of-the-art high-performance liquid chromatography- mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS). 

This project will support student learning about ecologically-based weed control, natural plant-produced compounds, greenhouse-based experiments, field-based experiments, and HPLC-MS analyses. It is expected that the analyses from this project will result in a peer-reviewed paper. 

Is field work part of the topic (yes/no)?

Yes

Is lab work part of the topic (yes/no)?

Yes

I coding part of the thesis topic (yes/no)?

Not explicitly