Grain legume integrated project

The GLIP project is a large multinational project (61 partners) striving to develop new strategies to enhance the use of grain legumes crops in food and animal feed. Grain legumes such as peas, chickpeas, beans and lupins have a significant role to play in European agriculture because of their value as an important source of vegetable protein for human and animal alike and their beneficial impact on the environment. However, the inclusion of legumes in the European cropping systems is still rather low in regard to their beneficial functions towards sustainable and multifunctional agroecosystems. The Danish role in the project is to challenge the need to the better exploit advantageous ecological services of legumes, when integrated in cropping systems while optimizing their potential profitability for the farmer. The main activity will be grain legume sole- and inter-cropping field trials addressing N2-fixation potentials (and thereby artificial fertilizer substitution). Specific activities involves:
• determine within a farmers field the variability regarding symbiotic N2-fixation using 15N stable isotope natural abundance techniques
• determine the effects of residues, their quality and catch cropping on soil N dynamics and nitrate leaching.
The increasing international emphasis on developing environmentally sustainable agroecosystems for food, fibre and fuel production, with less reliance on non-renewable resources, positions legumes in an important role. Legume-based cropping systems may play a significant role in reducing global warming, especially when taking into account the potency of N2O emissions and potential adoption of less meat-intensive diets. However, because of the high temporal variability in yield and biological N2-fixation of grain legumes, their potential to supply soil N can vary greatly.
GLIP involves 61 partners and it is suggested to go to the homepage for detailed information.