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Development, in-house validation and practice evaluation of a biotest with garden cress for assessing plants reactions after treatments with the biodynamic horn manure preparation

Project


Project code: 2813OE006
Contract period: 01.01.2015 - 30.06.2017
Budget: 70,800 Euro
Purpose of research: Applied research

The question of the influence of high diluted compounds on life organisms is of particular relevance today. In medicine, allergic phenomena are an increasing problem and in environmental science the toxicity by high diluted pollutants is demonstrated. In plant physiology the sensitivity towards bioactive compounds as phytohormones or semiochemicals was described up to very low concentrations. This knowledge throws new light on the application of the biodynamic preparations in agriculture. A characteristic of these preparations is indeed that they are brought out in very low concentrations. They are admitted for the biological agriculture through the regulation EU VO 834 (28/06/2007) and are used predominantly on farms of the Demeter Association. However, they can be used in principle for all farms: in particular, they are applied for quality improvement in a lot of vineyards that are no member of the Demeter Association. Effects of high diluted compounds are not simple to study, particularly in natural conditions like in field-grown tests because of the multiple factors affecting the reproducibility of the results. Therefore, standardized biotests were developed under lab conditions. Their biggest advantage lies in their repeatability. Till present, however, such biotests were hardly considered for the biodynamic research. In own preliminary tests the potential of a lab test to establish the effectiveness of the horn manure preparation with practice-usual concentrations was researched. This biotest with garden cress (Lepidium sativum L.) was developed originally for the examinations of high diluted compounds in the medicine. The results of these preliminary investigations showed statistically significant influences of the horn manure preparation. These influences were stable during months and the sensitivity of the biotest was therefore proved. But the repeatability of these influences was not guaranteed in other time periods. The objectives of the project are the further development of the biotest particularly regarding its reproducibility, to validate it as a lab test for the horn manure preparation through the directives USP 1033 and, at last, to evaluate for a practice-oriented question.

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