1 - Drought tolerance of mixed cropping systems of wheat and herbal plants - physiological interactions between species

PD Dr. Michael Frei

As part of the joint project TRIO (Transformative Mixed Crop Systems for One Health), which is funded by the Hessian State Offensive for the Development of Scientific and Economic Excellence (LOEWE), we are looking for a PhD student for four years. The TRIO project is concerned with the climate resilience of mixed crops of wheat and spice plants (caraway, fennel, coriander). The universities of Kassel, Justus Liebig University Giessen and Hochschule Geisenheim University are involved in the project. The position offered here is based at the Institute of Crop Production and Yield Physiology at JLU and will primarily deal with questions of drought stress resilience in mixed crops in comparison to pure wheat crops.

Your tasks at a glance:
- Scientific supervision of field trials on mixed crops of wheat and spice plants
- Collection and evaluation of growth and yield data
- Measurements of photosynthetic performance and gas exchange
- Experimental analysis of the water balance in field crops
- Plant physiological investigation of drought stress reactions including transcriptome aanalyses
- Data evaluation and preparation of publications

For Further Information click here.

Our transdisciplinary and very internatonal research steam investigates sustainalbel crop production witha focus on the adaptation of crops to abiotic stress. This includes climate-related stresses (e.g. drought or heat), which are becoming increasingly important for crop production in the course of global change. In addition, environmental pollution affects plant production, for example in the form of the air pollutant ozone. A third important cause of abiotic stress is mineral imbalances in soils, i.e. deficiencies and toxicities. These stress factors reduce agricultural yields and impair product quality. We look at crop stands at the field level, but we also want to understand basic tolerance mechanisms at the individual plant and molecular level. We consider our scientific approach as translational research, in which we use fundamental scientific advances, for example in plant molecular biology, phenotyping and digitalization, to develop application-oriented solutions and thus constribute to sustainable plant production.

Requirements

- Very good written and oral language skills in English, German skills are an advantage
- Driving license class B (essential, candidates without driving license will not be considered)
- Very good organizational skills
- Enjoyment of scientific work
- Initial experience in field trials