In view of the increasing expansion of organic farming in the EU, which aims to reach 25 % of agricultural land by 2030, it is important to evaluate and optimize the sustainability and productivity of organic farming systems. This thesis investigates the environmental and agronomic effects of biogas digestate in organic farming systems. The focus is on the temporal high resolution determination of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, in particular nitrous oxide (N2O) and ammonia (NH3) emissions, as well as the investigation of crop yields and nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) in a long-term field experiment.
This study investigates the short- and long-term effects of the use of digestate in organic farming systems in combination with different tillage intensities and intercropping on yields, NUE as well as N2O and NH3 emissions.