Sabine Seidel

Research Focus

As a crop scientist with a high level of understanding of systemic relationships in agroecological systems, I have devoted myself to interdisciplinary research in the fields of sustainable crop science, soil science, modeling, climate change protection and adaption, and novel digital tools. My research interests include:

• Development and testing of innovative diverse (organic) cropping systems (e.g. identify promising partners and field designs in intercropping)
• Quantification of ecosystem (dis)services including yield and greenhouse gases (measurements and observations)
• Model-based improvement of the understanding of (Gx)G×E×M interactions (focus: water, N, roots) in cropping systems
• Identification of promising crop traits and field designs for future climates
• Short- and long-term soil organic carbon, soil water and nutrient dynamics
• Simulation of the water dynamics from the soil through the soil, root, shoot and stomata into the atmosphere using agro-ecosystem models.
• Roots: field observations and modelling root growth with focus on the effect of nutrient deficiency and/or drought stress on root growth
• Digital Farming / Development and application of AI tools in agriculture (e.g. detecting pollinators in images and videos), digital twin development

After studying agricultural sciences at the Technical University of Munich and completing my doctorate on crop modelling and irrigation at the Chair of Hydrology at the Technical University of Dresden, I have been a PostDoc at the Institute of Crop Sciences and Resource Conservation, Crop Sciences Group, University of Bonn since 2016. From May 2020 to spring 2025, I was research group leader at the Chair of Crop Science as part of the PhenoRob cluster of excellence (DFG). The research group entitled “Optimizing crop mixtures for a sustainable and climate-resilient crop production by combining field experiments and crop models” strengthens PhenoRob especially at the interface of crop modeling, ecology, crop and soil science. I actively participate in the PhenoRob cluster of excellence in four out of six core projects. My research within PhenoRob includes 1. data analytics, simulation of sensor signals (sEIT), and process-based forecasting of root and crop growth, soil dynamics and impacts of potential interventions, 2. robot-based selective weeding for improved biodiversity, 3. optimization of crop mixtures for a sustainable and climate-resilient crop production by combining field experiments and crop models (my research group), 4. phenotyping over scales combining destructive on-site measurements such as root and shoot obervations with UAV-based cameras, and 5. non-destructive diagnosis of nutrient deficiencies using deep learning algorithms. Before leading the research group I worked as a PostDoc at the same Chair in the BMBF funded project “Soil3 – Sustainable Subsoil Management” which aims to explore how and to which degree the subsoil can be managed to secure or even increase plant yields by improving the overall nutrient and water use efficiency of crops.

Full publication list: https://nise81.com/corp/sabine/publications