Microbiome connections in the circular productions systems (KB-34-002-030, KB-34-002-007)

In a circular production system, where materials are being transferred through different ecosystems, the microbiome will connect these different ecosystems. Microbes will circulate across these different ecosystems, acquiring both beneficial and detrimental features. It is of importance to have a resilient system, thus also the different ecosystems in a circular food production model, here soil/plant/animal, should be intrinsically resilient as well. Meaning that each separate ecosystem must remain healthy and able to recover from perturbations, consequently reducing the use of pesticides and antibiotics. 

  

The microorganisms  of an ecosystem can be influenced by external factors (the environment) which in turn may influence the way they behave towards the host (see paper https://doi.org/10.1094/PBIOMES-05-21-0031-P), therefore, they are a suitable target for increasing health and resilience. Microorganisms will link different ecosystems, i.e. soil, plant, and animal, in a circular production system. Accordingly, this project will focus on the microbiome(s) as a connecting system which can be influenced and have a positive effect on the ecosystem. In this project we aim to initiate to unravel parts of how to maintain a resilient microbiome among all the ecosystems in the circular food production system, and positioning microbiome research as a driver to answer the following questions:  

 

(1) How diverse are microbiomes within and between different ecosystems? 

(2) Which microbes are transferred between ecosystems and are there potentially beneficial 
microbes and/or functions included? 

(3) How can soil microbes aid in the climate mitigation ? 

(4) How can re-using waste-streams change the microbiome composition in the ecosystem of interest? 

(5) How animal diet affect microbiome-mediated carbon sequestration? 

 

Here we will focus on two different circular systems, namely soil/plant/animal feed and the insect chain as an alternative protein source for feed and food.