LTER-Austria - Austrian Society for Long-term Ecological Research
Groß-Enzersdorf | Website
Short Description
The Experimental Farm Groß Enzersdorf is a research and teaching facility of BOKU University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna. It was founded in 1902 as a donation to the university by the Austrian emperor; it is a typical arable farm of 140 ha arable fields in Gross-Enzersdorf, Lower Austria. The farm is run in conventional agriculture, but 26 ha are converted to organic farming since more than 20 years. Another 35 ha acreage in Tulln, Lower Austria, plus 6 ha of experimental garden in the city of Vienna, 21. district, are additionally managed by the farm and available for experiments with arable crops, vegetables and fruit species.
Contact Person
Helmut Wagentristl
Research Services
The whole farm beyond can be used for any kind of soil, plant or atmosphere observations in experimental settings, representing a typical Pannonian agricultural environment. It is equipped with complete sets of agricultural machinery for large scale farming operation as well as for small experimental plots. On the farm there is also a weather observation station installed by the Austrian Zentralanstalt für Meteorologie und Geodynamik (ZAMG) / GeoSphere Austria (GSA).
Methods & Expertise for Research Infrastructure
The experiments include two long-term field experiments that are focussed on long term effects (i) of crop rotation and fertlization since 1906, and (ii) of soil tillage treatments since 1996.
The treatments of the factor rotation are (a) permanent rye cultivation or (b) a 3field crop rotation of rye, spring barley and a fallow field.
The levels of fertilization are (a) an unfertilized control, (b) mineral fertilizer, (c) organic fertilizer (manure) or (d) a combination of mineral and organic fertilizers. The plot size is 20 x 16 m. Unfortunately at that time when the experiment was started, statistical aspects were not considered, thus no replications were established.
The treatments of the factor tillage are (a) conventional tillage (plough), (b) reduced tillage deep, (c) reduced tillage shallow (both cultivator), (d) no tillage or (d) a variable tillage scheme depending on crop and soil condition.
The two crop rotations include variable crop sequences according to recent experimental questions. The plot size is 25 x 40 m. The experiment is in a Randomized Complete Block Design with 4 replicates.