Agricultural production

As far as research is concerned, the Agricultural Production department studies cultivation techniques with minimal harmful impact to the environment in the cultivation of root crops, cereals and legumes, with benefits for various agricultural regions.

The department is mainly responsible for delivering results for increasing agro-production, food security and food safety and has expertise in the field of mechanized cropping systems and plant genetic resources.The department pays attention to, among other things, describing the locally occurring and newly imported varieties of agricultural crops (agro-biodiversity) and obtaining sufficient and pure plant material.

The research focuses on five objectives:

1. Availability of genetic material from interesting crops for the development of sustainable cultivation systems for specific agricultural regions
2. Be proficient in rapid propagation methods for the production of sufficient vegetative plant material for field trials and demonstration fields
3. Development of a database with results from field experiments to evaluate the available genetic material that is subjected to a variety of cultivation techniques
4. Design sustainable cultivation systems for specific agricultural regions
5. Reports of post-harvest processing activities and the start of product development

• Cassava gene bank: On the test fields at Phedra and Tijgerkreek-West, CELOS has an ex-situ cassava field gene bank whose phenotypic characterization data are recorded in a database. These gene banks are continuously rejuvenated at the end of the growing season.
• Grass collection: On the CELOS site at the Leysweg a collection has been laid out with grasses.
• Plant propagation: We provide training on the rapid multiplication of cassava and banana.
• Cassava dry matter: On the CELOS experimental site Tijgerkreek West, the so-called cassava dry matter field experiment was recently carried out during two growing seasons. The collected data are being analyzed.
• Cultivation systems: We have developed a profile of the elements that we wish to include in a sustainable cultivation system for potentially interesting agricultural regions: an agrosilvipastoral system
• Post-harvest treatments and product development: A start has been made with research into the possibilities to process cassava plant parts and to use these as components for feeds