NPLK16000U CANCELLED Advanced Crop Physiology
Advanced Crop Physiology is an E-learning course offered by two of the partner universities in the Euroleague for Life Sciences Network: University of Copenhagen in Denmark and Lincoln University in New Zealand.
Through distance learning it is open for MSc students, PhD students, BSc(Hons) students and continuing education students from all over the world with a relevant background in agriculture, horticulture, plant science, plant biology and plant biotechnology.
The aim of the course is to provide students with the full theoretical framework for understanding advanced crop physiology and make them capable of applying crop physiology at the field level for optimizing crop yield and quality, thereby contributing to providing food and nutrition security in a world with increasing global population and demand for arable land. As an integrated part of the course students will work with local meteorological data to determine the effects of temperature, light, water and nitrogen on the development, yield and quality of arable crops in their own countries.
In the first week of the course the E-learning platform and the basic concepts of crop physiology are introduced. During the next four weeks crop development and nutrition is thoroughly examined by looking into the effects of temperature, vernalization and photoperiod on crop growth, investigating nitrogen assimilation in cereals and legumes, and discussing how to optimize nitrogen efficiency. The next four weeks are dealing with the effects of light interception and water stress on dry matter production, and the radiation use efficiencies and water use efficiencies of different crops are compared. In the following two weeks the focus is crop harvest index and crop quality and the course ends with a week providing an outlook to the future perspectives for applications of crop physiology.
The aim of the course is to give a solid understanding of crop
physiology and provide the knowledge and tools to devise strategies
for optimizing radiation use efficiency, water use efficiency and
nitrogen use efficiency to increase crop harvest index and improve
crop quality. After completing the course the student should be
able to:
Knowledge:
- Define key concepts in plant and crop physiology
- Identify different crop development stages
- Describe how temperature, light interception, water availability
and nitrogen availability affect crop development
- Outline different methods for measuring light interception, water
availability and nitrogen availability
Skills:
- Determine thermal time, vernalization, photoperiod, radiation use
efficiency, water use efficiency and nitrogen use efficiency for
different crops
- Calculate a soil water budget and soil nitrogen budget for
different crops
- Summarize the quality characteristics of food, fodder and fiber
crops
- Apply plant and crop physiology to increase crop harvest index
and improve crop quality
Competences:
- Discuss relevant aspects of crop development, light interception,
water use, and nitrogen assimilation
- Devise strategies for optimizing crop production by integrating
concepts, methods and models based on crop
physiology
The learning resources for the course consist of a textbook (Hay & Porter 2006, The physiology of crop yield. 2nd edition, Blackwell Publishing Ltd, Oxford) together with several videos and slideshow presentations with audio as well as selected scientific articles, reports and other material, which will be made available online.
- Category
- Hours
- Exam
- 8
- Exercises
- 164
- Preparation
- 192
- Project work
- 48
- Total
- 412
- Students from the Faculty of Science, University of
Copenhagen should register via Self
Service at KUnet
- Students from other faculties at the University of Copenhagen and
from other Danish universities as well as PhD students from Danish
universities should
register as a credit student
- Students from Lincoln University or other universities in New
Zealand should register for the
course at Lincoln University
- Other applicants not enrolled at any university and students from
other universities abroad should register as a continuing education
student either at the
University of Copenhagen or
Lincoln
University
- Credit
- 15 ECTS
- Type of assessment
- PortfolioWritten examinationPortfolio
Written examination
Students will be assessed on the basis of i) a portfolio of submitted assessment tasks submitted on the given times and ii) a final written exam.
i) Portfolio: During the course students must submit 6 assessment tasks .
ii) Final written exam: At the end of the course within one week the students will get two home assignments on 24 hours each (estimated workload 4 hours).
Weight: 60% portfolio of assessment tasks; 40% final written exam. - Exam registration requirements
At least 75% of the academic discussions, self-tests and calculation exercises must be completed.
- Aid
- All aids allowed
- Marking scale
- 7-point grading scale
- Censorship form
- No external censorship
One internal examinator.
- Re-exam
Written examination
All written assignments must be submitted 2 weeks before the re-examination. Team assignments must be submitted as individual assignments.
Criteria for exam assesment
See learning outcome.
Course information
- Language
- English
- Course code
- NPLK16000U
- Credit
- 15 ECTS
- Level
- Full Degree Master
- Duration
- 2 blocks
The course starts in the last week of February and ends in the last week of June.
- Placement
- Block 3 And Block 4
- Schedule
- E-learning modules with weekly and bi-weekly deadlines
- Course capacity
- 90
- Continuing and further education
- Study board
- Study Board of Natural Resources and Environment
Contracting department
- Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences
Course responsibles
- John Roy Porter (3-6e76744474706972326f7932686f)
Lecturers
Christian Bugge Henriksen