Department of Horticulture

A nationwide university with 21 locations in Denmark

In 2009, featured in top 100 universities in the world (63/17,000)

In 2008, ~10,000 staff and ~35,000 students

University is organised into:

6 Faculties = Health Sciences, Humanities, Social Sciences, Theology, Science, Agricultural Sciences

2 University Schools = Business, Education

NERI = National Environmental Research Institute

What is Aarhus University?

The Faculty of Agricultural Sciences has approx. 900 employees

Including approx. 375 scientists

Staff are located at 10 research stations and centers

With an annual turnover of ca. 100 M Euro p.a.

7 Departments

Faculty of Agricultural Sciences

Genetics & Biotechnology

Animal Health, Welfare & Nutrition

Agroecology & Environment

Food Sciences

Horticulture

Integrated Pest Management

Agricultural Engineering

Department of Horticulture

Staff: Leadership Team (3)Scientists (17)PhD students (6) & Postdocs (3)Administration (8)Lab Technicians (5) & Technicians & Gardners (25)

Glasshouses: 7000 m2

Laboratories: In vitro, Biotechnology, Sensory, Texture, Photosynthesis, Seed & Root, Glasshouse Technology

Outdoor growing area: 100 ha (incl. 15 ha organic)

Future challenges

• Increase awareness of the environment

• Increased pressure around use of pesticides

• Increased cost linked to water & nutrients

• Increase quality to meet consumer expectations and to remaincompetitive

• Increased need for healthy food options

• Increasing need to use new technologies

U N I V E R S I T Y O F A A R H U S

Faculty of Agricultural Sciences

• Important to develop projects aligned toindustry needs

• Important to take a team approach to ensure outcomes are implemented

• Important for us to bring together expertsfrom a range of areas to ensure we havethe best project team

• Important to ensure we are doing researchthat will secure the industries into thefuture

Underpinning and applied research

What do wework on?

Not these!

Quality

Fruit

Vegetables

Ornamental plants

Landscape plants

Medicinal plants

Plant basedfoods

Areas ofexpertise

BREEDING TOOLS

SUSTAINABLE PRODUCTION & POST PRODUCTION TECHNOLOGIES

STRESS & ADAPTATION

QUALITY & HEALTH

Fruit

Vegetables

Ornamental plants

Landscape plants

Medicinal plants

Plant basedfoods

Deliver new products &

cultivars

Deliver solutions to change

Deliver sustainable practises = light

footprint

Deliver quality plant based

products

Underpin consumer health &

wellbeing

What are the outcomes?

Project Plant hotel

Leaders Karen Koefoed Petersen

Partners Aarhus & Copenhagen Universities & private partners

Finances 1 year plus 3 years at €630 K

Danish Food Industry Agency

Aimed at increasing the flexibility for growers for handling

plant product between the production and marketing

phases and to be able to handle increased production

levels to meet peak sales dates.

Focused on margarite daisy, pot roses, asters, campanula.

Storing plants for varying times & varying light conditions.

Evaluating plant quality and plant health.

Project Vitamin D in white mushrooms

Leaders Hanne Lakkenborg Kristensen

Partners AU & DTU, Egehøj Champignon A/S

Finances 2 years at €200 K

Danish Food Industry Agency

To increase the likelihood for consumers to increase intake of vitamin D.

The project is to identify the potential to increase the level of vitamin D during the production phase of champignon mushrooms.

The project looks at practical solutions to increase vitamin D content, and uniformity of vitamin D.

AU role in this project is to work closely with theproducer to enable them to deliver a differentiated mushroom product that will provide validatedhealth benefits to consumers.

Project Artemisia annua (A. annua)

Leaders Martin Jensen & Kai Grevsen

Partners Aarhus, Southern Denmark, & Copenhagen Universities, DHI, Nutridoc and Biosynergy A/S

Finances 4 years at € 1.9 M (budget: 2.7 M)

Danish Council for Strategic Research

A. annua contains compounds, which have potential in treatment of parasitic and bacterial diseases.

AU are responsible for:

• Developing optimal cultivation & harvest methods for Danish conditions. Determining the optimal genetic plant material.

• Establishing new knowledge on the biology and function of glandular trichomes and how this affects the synthesis capacity of artemisinin.

Project outcomes:

• Scientifically validated products based on A. annua• New sustainable agricultural Danish production

of A. annua as a high value crop.

Project Wild Danish Blueberries (Vaccinium myrtillus)

Leaders Martin Jensen & Kell Kristiansen

Partners Aarhus University & Danish Forest and Nature Agency

Finances 2.5 years at €70 K

Danish Genetic Resource Project

Wild blueberries tend to have a higher content of health promoting compounds that the larger fruited cultivars (V. corymosum).

Clones will be collected to establish a clonal seed orchard and future commercial plantings.

Evaluation of differences, productivity, taste, secondary metabolites, novelty and quality

Project Wild Plant Relatives: Biodiversity

Leaders Gitte Bjørn

Partners Aarhus University

Finances Danish Food Industry Agency – Genetic Resources

Objective of the project is to identify and secure biodiversity in Denmark.

Aims to identify and locate 100 different species at 10 locations throughout Denmark.

Diverse species including grasses, roses, vegetables, fruit and cereals.

This project will:

•GPS locate and identify the the wild species developing a database.

•Conserve and secure wild species in their natural environment and to collect seeds for genebanks.

Project Sustainable future for Danish fruit

Leaders Michelle Williams, Karen Koefoed Petersen, Marianne Bertelsen & Hanne Lindhard

Partners Aarhus, Copenhagen, South Denmark & Aalborg Universities, consultants & growers

Finances 4.0 years at €3.3 M (started 2009)

Danish Food Industry Agency & PlanDanmark

9 projects on:

• Watering strategies in root pruned pears

• Nutrient strategies in root pruned apples

• Watering and nutrition strategies in strawberries

• Nutrient strategies in organic strawberries

• Zero-pesticides

• Intensive organic apple production

• Smartfresh in apples and pears

• Hot water treatments

• Dynamic CA storage

Internationalisation at AU

• Ensure internationalisation is a core activity within the University

• Focus is on research and education and to provide knowledge andadvise to authorities (FAO & EU) on eg climate, pesticides, GMO

• Build on existing collaborations on thematic areas to develop consortiafor future funding, staff mobility, PhD exchanges, joint conferences

• AU initiatives include include funding to support travel, summer courses,programs for international students, networking, increased activity forregional funds, Research Support Services

• Initial focus on Europe, North America, Australia, China

Project Intelligent Energy Handling in Greenhouses

Leaders Carl Otto Ottosen & Niels Erik Andersen

Partners AgroTech, Aarhus & SDU University, Senmatic and Hjortebjerg

Finances 3 years at € 4.300 K

South Denmark Region, EU

This project is led by AgroTech.

Will deliver the first example of a semi closed greenhouse with an ability to store surplus energy in short or long term storage in subterraneuswater lagunas. The project will intregrate the newestversion of the dynamic climate management IntelliGrow.

AU role is:

• to optimise plant production based onphysiological responses of the plants, especiallyin relation to supplemental light

• to monitor the effects of heat extraction onclimate and technology in commercial greenhouses.

Project N-Toolbox

Leaders Kristian Thorup-Kristensen

Partners AU, Newcastle University, Wageningen/Louis Bolk Inst., and Universidad Politécnica de Madrid

Finances EU, FP7

This project is led by Newcastle University

The project is to deliver a ”toolbox” of methods for farmers to reduce their fertilizer N use and the N losses from their arable and vegetable crop production.

AU role is primarily in improving the root simulation parts of the NDCIA model, model validation based on existing data, and a demonstration trial.

A main outcome is an improved version of the NDCIA model, which is a user friendly N advisory model, working with dynamic N simulation and aimed at direct use by farmers and consultants.

Project Plants and diabetes

Leaders Ole Callesen, Kai Grevsen, Merete Brødsgaard

Partners Aarhus University, University of Southern Denmark, Christian-Albrecht University of Kiel

Finances € 2M (3 year project)

EU - Interreg IIIA

Main objective:

• Identify bioactive plant compounds that hold a preventive effecttowards type 2 diabetes

• Develop high valued niche crops for the agriculture in Denmark and Northern Gernmany

Project outcomes:

• Identified a number of plants withpotential anti-diabetic effects

• Guidelines for the production of plants to ensure optimal contents of bioactive compounds

Project ISAFRUIT

Leaders Ole Callesen (Coordinator) and Niels Bredmose (ExecutiveManager

Partners 60 (16 countries)

Finances 57 months at €21.4 M (2006 - 2010)

EU

Project aim is to increase the consumption of fruit byEuropean consumers

The project is organised into 7 pillars:

• Consumer driven and responsive supply chains

• Fruit and human health

• Improving appeal and nutritional value ofprocessed fruit

• Improved post-harvest chain management

• Improved pre-harvest chain management

• Genetics of fruit quality and deliveringimproved fruit cultivars

• Dissemination and transfer of knowledge

Det Jordbrugsvidenskabelige Fakultet - Forskningscenter ÅrslevDet Jordbrugsvidenskabelige Fakultet - Forskningscenter Årslev

Department of HorticultureAarhus University T. +45 89 99 33 00Kirstinebjergvej 10 F. +45 89 99 34 90DK-5792 Aarslev, Denmark michelle.williams@agrsci.dk