It takes mere seconds to compact a soil, but years or even decades for it to recover. Biological activities by plant roots and soil organisms (earthworms) as well as physical effects like drying out and rewetting phases, and freezing-thawing cycles are vital for natural regeneration. Exactly how recovery happens is being investigated in a long-term field trial. For this, an observational infrastructure with hundreds of soil probes – the Soil Structure Observatory (SSO) – was set up in 2014 together with ETH Zurich. After the initial compaction event, a fallow, a permanent grassland and a crop rotation with and without tillage were set up. This allows to analyse e.g. the influence of plants and tillage on recovery.
Milkers frequently suffer from musculoskeletal disorders, especially in the area of the shoulders and arms. Agroscope therefore investigated whether appropriate working heights can reduce workload in the milking parlour. For this, the angle of flexion of various joints during milking was recorded in one experiment, whilst a second experiment recorded muscle contractions at three different heights. The study showed that although a lower working height in the milking parlour has no effect on forearms or upper arms, it significantly reduces strain on the shoulders.
Monitoring the spatial and temporal plant availability of nitrogen (N) in agroecosystems is a key step to improve the synchronization between N fertilizer application and crop N demand, consequently reducing the risk of N emissions to the environment. Using a winter wheat N fertilization dataset from six site-years, we linked dynamic nitrate data measured in the soil solution to standard soil and crop analyses data and multispectral imagery acquired by an unmanned aerial vehicle. Wheat N uptake was determined as remotely estimated N uptake (REN) from the spectral data with a power regression model (mean absolute error = 17 kg N ha− 1). The nitrate-N in the soil solution (NSS), extracted by means of suction cups, was measured with an ion-selective electrode. The REN proved to be suitable for monitoring the accumulation of N in the plants along the season. The NSS was characterized by low values and found of limited use as a direct indicator for potentially plant-available N. The N balances resulted in N surplus in the range of 43–100 kg N ha− 1 over the six site-years. The most important contribution to the N balances was the soil N supply (67–143 kg N ha− 1; mineralization and atmospheric input). Including this factor in the fertilization strategy was investigated post-season by calculating the ‘adjusted N fertilization norm’, reflecting the current best fertilization practice in Switzerland. The approach suggested lower N fertilization rates in the fields with higher N surplus. However, such static empirical strategies do not allow to react to in-season changes. Sensor-based monitoring could help to overcome this shortcoming
On behalf of Micarna SA, Agroscope analysed the environmental impacts of beef, pork and poultry production. With beef production, feed intensity was crucial. In the case of pork and poultry production, the quantity of feed used per kg of meat had the greatest influence on environmental impacts. The use of European soya with its shorter transport distances had a positive effect.