Suppressive Composts in Organic Gardening Systems (2002-2003)

Cooperations

Funding

BMVEL, Federal Organic Farming Program

Duration

10 / 2002 until 12 / 2003

Participants in FÖL

  • Bernd Kleikamp
  • Christian Bruns

In the present project, cultivation-independent detection systems for the characterization of microorganisms in composts will be applied, based on biochemical and molecular biological methods. The aim is to develop detection systems for known key genes or for corresponding microorganism communities that have shown a high antagonistic potential in composts (e.g. Trichoderma, Streptomyces spp. and Pseudomonas spp.), which can be used for quality control of suppressive composts on the one hand and for monitoring the production process on the other hand. This will provide important basic data for the development of a quality assurance strategy for suppressive composts. The project is divided into 3 steps. In step 1, composts are defined in terms of raw material and composting process. The composts will be characterized for their abiotic, biotic and suppressive properties using standard procedures. In step II, composts are subjected to characterization using biochemical and molecular fingerprinting methods. In step III, the data obtained are tested with regard to their informative value for describing the suppressive quality of the composts.