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Scientific facts about the relationships between the goals are indispensable for the rational social discourse on solving the various conflicting goals on the way to sustainable crop production. Therefore, the German Society for Agronomy has compiled scientific findings on the topics of biodiversity, climate relevance and climate resilience, nutrient management, crop protection, soil protection and production of renewable raw materials, and identified the existing need for research. After an executive summary that highlights the findings, the subject areas are explained in detail. The purpose of this paper is not to make recommendations for policy-making, but to support the public debate by providing factual information.

BACKGROUND: Wild relatives of wheat (Triticum spp.) harbor beneficial alleles for potential improvement and de novo domestication of selected genotypes with advantageous traits. We analyzed the nutrient composition in wild diploid and tetraploid wheats and their domesticated diploid, tetraploid and hexaploid relatives under field conditions in Germany and compared them with modern Triticum aestivum and Triticum durum cultivars. Grain iron (Fe) and zinc (Zn) concentrations, phytate:mineral molar ratios, grain protein content (GPC) and antioxidant activity were analyzed across 125 genotypes. RESULTS: Grain Fe and Zn concentrations in wild wheats were 72 mg kg−1 and 59 mg kg−1, respectively, with improved bioavailability indicated by Phytate:Fe and Phytate:Zn molar ratios (11.7 and 16.9, respectively) and GPC (231 g kg−1). By comparison, grain Fe and Zn concentrations in landrace taxa were 54 mg kg−1 and 55 mg kg−1, respectively, with lower Phytate:Fe and Phytate:Zn molar ratios (15.1 and 17.5, respectively) and GPC (178 g kg−1). Average grain Fe accumulation in Triticum araraticum was 73 mg kg−1, reaching 116 mg kg−1, with high Fe bioavailability (Phyt:Fe: 11.7; minimum: 7.2). Wild wheats, landraces and modern cultivars showed no differences in antioxidant activity. Triticum zhukovskyi stood out with high grain micronutrient concentrations and favorable molar ratios. It was also the only taxon with elevated antioxidant activity. CONCLUSION: Our results indicate alteration of grain quality during domestication. T. araraticum has promising genotypes with advantageous grain quality characteristics that could be selected for de novo domestication. Favorable nutritional traits in the GGAA wheat lineage (T. araraticum and T. zhukovskyi) hold promise for improving grain quality traits. © 2024 The Authors. Journal of The Science of Food and Agriculture published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Chemical Industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

De novo domestication—the modification of domestication genes in crop wild relatives via genome editing—is an approach for harnessing the beneficial genetic diversity of crop wild relatives. A prerequisite for de novo domestication is phenotyping to identify genetic materials suitable for cultivation in the respective environment. Taxa from the wheat genepool (Triticum aestivum, Triticum durum, Triticum monococcum) are a staple food; these taxa comprise wild relatives of different ploidy levels. The diploid Triticum boeoticum and Triticum urartu and the tetraploid Triticum dicoccoides and Triticum araraticum harbor desirable traits such as high grain quality and abiotic and biotic stress tolerance. Hence, they are candidates for de novo domestication. Here, we grew 111 wild wheats and 38 landraces originating predominantly from the Fertile Crescent and six modern wheat cultivars in a field in Giessen, Germany, to evaluate their environmental adaptability to the central European climate and to identify potential candidates and target traits for de novo domestication. We demonstrate that several wild taxa are suitable for cultivation in the central European environment and that they have distinct characteristics that need to be modified during de novo domestication. The normalized difference vegetation index and the thermal time to heading and flowering indicated excellent adaptability of some wheat wild relatives to central European conditions. The values of yield parameters such as grain weight per plant, number of tillers, and thousand kernel weight were lower in the wild wheats than in the landraces. Therefore, these traits should be targeted for improvement during the de novo domestication of wild wheats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Wastewater from sewage treatment plants contains high levels of nutrients, which can be used for plant nutrition. Classical wastewater treatment plants use complex microbial consortia of autotrophic and heterotrophic microorganisms for biological wastewater treatment. Certain autotrophic microalgae (e.g., species of the genera Chlorella, Scenedesmus, and Pediastrum) accumulate nutrients from wastewater very effectively. Aims: We investigated the potential of microalgae biomass obtained from a prototype wastewater treatment plant as a source of nutrients for crops, focusing on nitrogen. Methods: We provided wheat plants with different levels of algae biomass equivalent to 60, 120, and 180 kg N per hectare or with mineral fertilizer (N, P, and K) equivalent to the amounts contained in the algal biomass. Physiological and phenotypic traits were measured during growth, including vegetation indices, photosynthetic performance, growth, and nitrogen use efficiency (NUE). In addition, the adundances of Bacteria, Archaea and fungi and genes of ammonium oxidizing Bacteria and Archaea were determined in the rhizosphere of differently fertilized plants. Results: Microalgal application at fertilizer levels of 120 and 180 kg N ha–1 showed significantly improved physiological performance, growth, yield and nutrient uptake compared to the unfertilized control. Nevertheless, their yields and NUE were lower than with the application of equal amounts of mineral fertilization, while the adundance of rhizosphere microbes and ammonia‐oxidizing microorganisms were not significantly affected. Conclusions: Microalgae from wastewater treatments form a suitable source of organic fertilizer for wheat plants with only moderate reductions in N use efficiency compared to mineral fertilizer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]