Forschungsfläche "Wendhausen" des Julius-Kühn-Instituts

The agroforestry system near Wendhausen (Lehre) was established in 2008 as part of the “Agroforestry-Energy I” research project.

It consists of 9 tree strips (12 x 225 m) with fast-growing poplars, 5 narrow (48 x 225 m) and 3 wide (96 x 225 m) arable fields. To the south of this are 3 reference fields without trees (3 ha each), and to the northwest is a short-rotation plantation serving as a reference area for energy wood (0.5 ha). In the agroforestry system, in addition to the 3 different clonal mixtures, there are 3 different variants: an aspen variant (4 rows of poplars + a central row of aspens), an ecological variant (4 rows of poplars + 2 outer rows of native shrubs), and a control variant (6 rows of poplars). The tree strips are harvested in a 3- or 6-year rotation cycle. The arable land is managed conventionally. The current crop rotation is silage corn – spring barley – winter rapeseed.