Research
Research at the Department includes applied, strategic and basic aspects and one of its strengths is in finding common ground between the basic and the applied. The Department is multidisciplinary and its research is internationally renowned. Its research is also nationally important as it brings benefits to agriculture, horticulture and the industries based on them. The quality and extent of the research continues to strengthen through networking both at home and abroad.
At the Department, research is conducted in Agrotechnology, Biotechnology, Plant Production Biology and Animal Science. Fieldwork is done at the Viikki Research Farm and the Muddusjärvi Research Station.
The research strategy of the Department is based on five focus areas:
From genomes to practice
- The connections of beneficial and detrimental characteristics of useful plants and
livestock, pests, pathogens and useful organisms to genes and their combinations
- Application of the aforementioned knowledge to the improvement of plants and livestock
and the diagnostics and prevention of pathogens.
Energy efficiency in agricultural and horticultural production
- Use of fossil and renewable energy in agriculture
- Production system energy analyses
- Production methods requiring less energy
Well-being of animals and people
- Nutrition needs of animals and species-specific behaviour
- Automatic management of production circumstances
- Prevention of diseases and prolongation of the production age of animals
- Production control and planning methods
Fields and water systems
- Changes in land use and diversity in the environment
- Efficiency of nutrient and water use in plant production
- Field cultivation machinery and automation
- New cultivation methods reducing environmental load
- Cultivation use of natural ecosystem services
Overall management of plant protection
- Organism and plant biology and especially the interaction between them
- Resistance of plant species to pathogens and pests, invasive introduced species and the
balance between pests and their competitors
- The use of adjustment and automation technology in plant production.
Research highligts: Centres of Excellence in research
At the moment, two Centres of Excellence in Research (Academy of Finland funded research programmes) are located at the Department:
In addition, the Biocentrum Helsinki (UH's umbrella organization for top-level research) is funding one of the research projects at the Department: Functional Genomics of Organogenesis in Plants.