Plants and Plant Products (department)
Extension Arable Crops (research group)
Susanne Vogelgsang (group leader)
Jürg Hiltbrunner (scientist)
Tiziana Vonlanthen (research assistant)
Agroscope Reckenholz, Zürich
Development of ecological plant protection methods, focusing on pathogens and insects. Conducting field trials within a national trial network for corn (silage and grain use) and soybean.
Research themes: Breeders are very active and successful in creating new varieties, which must be tested regularly in Swiss growing conditions to ensure they are better suited to farmers. In accordance with the Seeds and Planting Material Ordinance of 11 November 2020 (Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research), Agroscope carries out variety testing for maize and soybeans on behalf of the Seed and Planting Material Service of the Federal Office for Agriculture. The results of the variety testing form the basis for the inclusion of new varieties in the National Variety Catalogue and the List of Recommended Varieties. Trials are conducted across major cropping areas from western to eastern Switzerland.
Map of Switzerland showing the current sites of grain (yellow) and silage maize (green).
Use of phenotyping: Phenotyping offers promising opportunities to improve the objectivity of variety evaluation. New phenotyping approaches are of interest to enable the collection of additional traits, as well as to increase the efficiency and precision of field assessments.
Potential services in plant phenotyping: Orthogonal multi-site trial networks for soybean, grain maize and silage maize can be provided to validate protocols and models with ground-truth data (e.g. yield, plant height). In addition to the mandatory traits defined in the Ordinance, further traits (e.g. growth stage, soil cover, nitrogen use efficiency, drought tolerance) can be investigated in dedicated research or pilot projects. As part of ongoing and planned activities for maize and soybean, innovative phenotyping methods, including sensor-based and remote sensing approaches, are currently being developed and tested under field conditions. These activities may involve dedicated calibration or methodological trials alongside official variety trials, enabling the evaluation of new technologies and the generation of high-quality reference data.
Suggestions for additional traits and phenotyping approaches are welcome, and their feasibility can be discussed on a project basis.