Soil Fertility
Soil fertility research within the Agronomy Department is wide-ranging. More than 50 active research projects are ongoing in any given year, at locations throughout the state and on many different soil types.
In general, there are four basic focus areas of most soil fertility research projects, with many projects involving two or more of these focus areas:
- Agricultural production (crops and forages) and nutrient use efficiency
- Environmental quality
- Nutrient management, including manure and by products
- Product evaluation
In addition to the applied and basic research conducted in the field, greenhouse, and laboratory, the Agronomy Department also operates a full-line Soil Testing Laboratory that analyzes soil and plant tissue samples for producers in Kansas and neighboring states. Part of the research mission for the soil fertility faculty is to constantly monitor and update the calibration of soil test and tissue test data with crop production.