Doctoral student Fatima El Khosht

I´m an agronomist (soil/crop, dvs. mark/växt inriktning). I have worked as a research assistant at SLU, both after my graduation (2011) and almost one year prior to my PhD employment in 2022. Between these two periods I took a teachers degree (gymnasielärare biologi och naturkunskap) and have worked as a natural science teacher (NO- och tekniklärare på högstadiet).

I think it is important to develop sustainable agricultural systems that can deliver sufficient crop yields and preserve soil health which I hope to contribute to through my position.

I aim to highlight benefits of rotational grass-legume leys to cropping systems and to present a new method to introduce leys to crop rotations along with its possibilities and/or restrictions.

Perennial leys have the potential to deliver several ecosystems services, e.g. soil conservation, nutrient provision, weed and pest suppression but are currently often restricted to low productive soils. With more knowledge on the benefits that may be acquired from adding leys to cropping systems along with more options to introduce them to crop rotations may hopefully increase the will to cultivate leys also on high productive soils. This would in turn contribute to more sustainable cropping systems with less input requirements. 

My work in SustAinimal allows me to develop my knowledge on agricultural systems, including crop production, soil science and through this project also animal production. Moreover it gives opportunities to practice skills to communicate research findings which I think is important.