120511 External Growth Factors

Details

Department of Agricultural Sciences   0 %
Earliest Possible Year
Duration1 semester
 
Credits15 (ECTS)
Course LevelBSc
 
Examinationevaluation of project report


Aid allowed

Description of Examination: pass/fail, internal examiner

Description of Examination:
 
Organisation of Teachingweek 48-51 and 2-6 in 2003
 
Block Placementoutside schedule
 
Teaching LanguageEnglish
may be conducted in Danish/Swedish
 
Optional Prerequisites120111 Introduction to Horticulture
120211 Plant Physiology and Chemistry
120311 Genetics, Botany and Breeding of Horticultural Plants
120411 Plant Protection in Horticulture
120611 tages sideløbende
 
Course Objectives
The course aims at giving the students basic understanding of the external growth factors including climate (light, heat, water) and the growth media (soil and other growth substrates), which are determining growth, quantity and quality of horticultural plants. It gives an integrated understanding of interactions between growth factors and various horticultural plants including annual and perennial, economic and ornamental plants in greenhouse and outdoor in different global ecozones.
 
Course Contents
The external factors, i.e. climate (light, heat, water) and growth media (primarily soil) that determine and affect growth, quantity and quality of horticultural plants are the subject of the course. Individual growth factors and their effects on the plants as well as the interactions between environment and plant are examined in order to show how growth factors can be manipulated in various directions and how the plant can be affected by the growth factors.
The following issues will be considered in the course:
· Plant growth: Plant growth factors; micro and macro nutrients; nutrient uptake; growth, yield, quality, competition and tolerance; sustainable plant production.
· Light: Quality and intensity of light; light and canopy photosynthesis; radiation energy; greenhouse effect.
· Heat: Soil heat and temperature; micro and macro climate; various climates; acclimatisation; frost effects.
· Air: CO2 effects; soil air composition; air exchange.
· Water: The water cycle; soil water (content and availability); precipitation (distribution in time and space); water uptake by plants; water and nutrient transport in the rooting zone; hydrology; water balance and need; irrigation; drainage; aquaculture.
· Growth media: Soil composition and formation; global soil types and soil classification; other growth media (peat, stone wool, vermiculite etc.).
· Soil components: inorganic fraction (primary and secondary minerals, clay, silt, sand, gravel); organic fraction (carbon cycle, humus and humus formation, peat); texture and structure; soil organisms (earthworms, bacteria, fungi etc.); soil quality and pollution.
· Soil and root zone processes: Ion exchange reactions (acidic and base cations, pH, acidification, liming, pH and nutrient availability, salinization, salt problems and tolerance, uptake of anions and cations by plants); weathering (mineral stability and free energy, weathering rate and acid neutralization); adsorption (phosphate bonding, phosphorus cycle, mychorrhiza, heavy metal sorption, pesticide sorption and mobility); redox processes (aerobic and anaerobic, Nernst equation, iron and manganese in soil, nitrogen cycle, sulphur cycle, soil microbiology).
 
Teaching And Learning Methods
Teaching and learning tools will include lectures, problem-solving exercises, laboratory exercises, excursions and project work. Lectures will be used to provide overview and coherence. Excursions to various kinds of rural and urban horticulture are used to show relations between theory and practice. Exercises on problem solving and laboratory exercises relating to plant growth will be used to support and improve the learning process. The project to be performed in groups of 4 students will include literature and practical/laboratory work on a larger practical horticultural problem in order to instruct the students in handling more complex forms of horticulture and to train them in group work and presentation (written, oral and other forms of presentation). Subject (Biology, Chemistry)
 
Course Litterature
A course compedium on external growth factors in horticulture
Borggaard, O.K. (2002): Horticultural Soil Chemistry
 
Course Coordinator
Ole Kragholm Borggaard, okb@life.ku.dk, Department of Natural Sciences/Soil and Environmental Chemistry, Phone: 35332419
 
Study Board
Study Committee DSH
 
KVL_Resources
Department of Horticulture, SLU (50%) Department of Chemistry, KVL (27%) Department of Agricultural Sciences, KVL (23%)
Course Scope
lectures66
theoretical exercises55
practicals60
Excursions10
project work75
examination4
preparation180

450