Short project description

Interspecies interactions of crop plants are increasingly discovered to alter plant performance and plant biochemistry of the interacting species. Thereby, the biochemical plant responses are highly species and cultivar specific. Particularly, chemical crosstalk in the rhizosphere of neighboring species can affect the biosynthesis of plant compounds, which are essential for plant resistance to pathogens and herbivores.

This project is testing the phytochemical response of combining different important crop species and the impact on defense against herbivores, both on insect performance level and on the level of metabolite concentrations. This project will provide pioneering results to improve crop production strategies by combining crop species in intercropping approaches aiming for optimal induction of defense metabolites.

Our facilities of state-of-the-art analytical chemistry (LC-MS/MS) provides the opportunity for targeted and untargeted metabolite screening of many known and unknown compounds, respectively.

There is the possibility to get proficient in analytical chemistry and natural product chemistry with high agricultural and biochemical relevance. Further, experiments in lab/greenhouse/field settings can be part of the MSc project.

The work performed may have potential to lead to a scientific manuscript.