Projects
Smart land management for bio-based economies: simultaneous optimization of biomass production and other ecosystem services in Forest. Ghent University
The versatility of biomass (food, fiber, materials, energy), the functional role of biomass in ecological processes and the fact that climate change is linked to issues of food, materials and energy security, degradation of ecosystems and loss of biodiversity require new (smart) forms of land management which can be tested and optimized through practical experiments. In its recent study 'A roadmap form moving to a competitive low carbon ...
Drought tolerance in Festulolium hybrids: physiological and (cyto)genetic characterization Research Institute for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food
To face climate changes, can we breed grasses that are more tolerant to longer periods of drought? The current assortment of fodder grasses (mainly Lolium) provide high yields of nutritious forage but they are sensitive to drought stress. Festuca grasses are more resilient to drought stress but the cows don’t like the way they taste. Can we use interspecific hybridisations ...
Feed evaluation for cattle, pigs and small husbandry Research Institute for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food
What is the feeding value of roughage and concentrates for ruminants, pigs, poultry and rabbits? Can we predict the value of feed in practice in the lab by using or developing convenient, reliable, fast and inexpensive techniques? Feed composition and quality is continuously changing as a result of plant breeding, growing, harvesting and preservation techniques, production processes, climate ...
Remote sensing of the forest transition and its ecosystem impacts in mountain environments. KU Leuven
Monitoring and evaluation of spatially managed areas Research Institute for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food
Does marine spatial planning exist, what is the quality of this spatial planning, to what extent does spatial planning differ between the European countries, and, most importantly, is there a harmonisation between the various users of the sea? Within the European MESMA project (Monitoring and evaluation of spatially managed marine areas, 2009-2013), the current marine spatial plans?—?if existing ...
SmartKas: profitable ecophysiological and energetic plant culture in an intelligently controlled greenhouse environment Ghent University
Growing tomatoes in U+2018conditioned greenhousesU+2019 reduces energy costs, but also creates new climatic conditions. In the SmartKas project the reaction of tomato plants on the changing microclimate is monitored with plant sensors. These data are coupled via a mechanistic and integrated plant model to obtain insights in the overall plant reaction and to detect sub-optimal conditions for production.
Novel Tree breeding strategies Ghent University
The challenges facing forest geneticists and tree breeders include recognition of changing demands on forests for a wider range of high value forest products and increasing interest on tolerance to pest and diseases and sustainability of forest ecosystems under climate change.
NOVELTREE is designed to enable significant genetic improvement of the composition and characteristics of forest products to satisfy the needs (quality, quantity, ...