Drought stress mitigation through sustainable management: interactive effects of drought, insect pollination and intercropping on faba bean plant traits and yield

• Applicant: Dr. Nicole Beyer
• Subject Area: Ecology of Land Use ; Plant Cultivation, Plant Nutrition, Agricultural Technology
• Term: since 2022
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 512603796

Climate change is one of the greatest challenges, humankind must face. Many ecosystems and agricultural production systems are heavily impacted. Adverse climatic conditions, such as drought greatly impair plant performance, decrease crop yields, disrupt plant-pollinator interactions and thus threaten provisioning and regulating ecosystems services, such as food provision and pollination. To secure stable crop yields in the future, it is of utmost importance to develop and adopt sustainable agricultural management practices that protect farmland biodiversity, reduce inputs, and mitigate drought stress on crops. Diversification measures, such as intercropping have proven to be a promising option. However, it is unknown how drought and intercropping interactively affect floral crop traits, associated pollinator behavior and resulting crop yields. The main objective of this project is to investigate how environmental factors, i.e. drought and insect pollination combined, affect crop yield and whether intercropping can mitigate negative drought impacts on plant traits with cascading effects on insect pollinators and pollination services. Pollinator exclusion cages and rainout-shelters will be installed over faba bean (Vicia faba L.) sole stands as well as winter faba bean-winter wheat intercropping systems on an experimental field. The interaction between drought stress and insect pollination on floral and yield traits of the faba bean will be investigated and the potential of intercropping as drought mitigation practice will be evaluated. Furthermore, landscapes in different climatic regions in Germany will be selected along a landscape heterogeneity gradient. The combined effect of intercropping, climate, pollinator densities and functional trait composition of pollinator communities along the landscape heterogeneity gradient on plant performance will be assessed. Finally, in a controlled pot experiment, the role of the availability of the essential but often overlooked macronutrient magnesium for faba bean performance under drought conditions and the interrelationships with insect pollination will be examined. Based on the results of this proposed project, a better understanding of the direct and indirect effects of climate change and biotic interactions in different cropping systems will be gained. The findings will contribute to the development of novel cropping practices that promote biodiversity and strengthen resilience to climate change, thus enhancing future food security.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants