Research projects Soil Fertility

Ongoing research projects

• Microplastics in soils: identification, dynamics and transfer risks to other ecosystem compartments (MSc. Nick Krekelbergh, MSc. Yin Liu,  MSc. Patria Novita Kusumawardani)

• BamBIndo: Bamboo for biochar: an opportunity for scientific, societal and environmental change in Indonesia
• NuReDrain: Nutrient (N,P) recovery from agricultural waters using filtration systems (dr. ir. Stany Vandermoere, dr. ir. Hui Xu, MSc. Junwei Hu)
• Simulating 50 years of land management and groundwater flow to explain today’s nitrate concentrations (ir. Jeroen De Waele)
• Determination of regional attenuation factors for nitrate leaching to groundwater and surface water (ir. Jeroen De Waele)
• Upscaling and prototype development of phosphorus filters for agricultural drainage water (dr. ir. Hui Xu)
• The mechanisms and collective role of soil microfauna in soil nitrogen cycling (MSc. Junwei Hu)
• Biogeochemical cycles in paddy soil under water-saving irrigation (ir. Heleen Deroo)
• Optimisation of N fertilisation in organic vegetable cultivation by means of a better estimation of the N release from base fertilization and from soil organic matter (MSc. Pezhman Salehi Hosseini)
• Biochar as soil conditioner in coconut plantations: effects on nutrient availability and plant-growth promoting soil biota (MSc. Gertrude Scynthya Nirukshan)
• Investigation of SOC dynamics across a broad range of forest-steppe to arid-steppe grassland ecosystems: effects of climate change and overgrazing (MSc. Tamir Enkh-Amgalan)
• Predicting Potential Nitrogen Mineralization from Intensively Managed Agricultural Fields: The Influence of Measuring Methodologies (MSc. Oka Ardiana Banaty)
• Indirect effect of soil texture on exogenous organic matter mineralization through moisture (MSc. Haichao Li)
• Impact of organic matter inputs on their degradability in soil and on stability of native soil organic matter (MSc. Orly Mendoza)
• Holistic assessment of the potential of indigenous earthworm species for vermicomposting and improving soil and plant health in Ethiopia (MSc. Zerihun Getachew Gebrehana)
• Micro- and mesofauna - microflora - plant interactions: extending the soil “microbial loop concept” of nutrient cycling and plant growth (MSc. Ummehani Hassi)
• Eco-friendly multidisciplinary approaches for controlling and harnessing Marabú (Dichrostachys cinerea) in central eastern Cuba
• Marabou (Dichrostachys cinerea) infestation in Central-eastern Cuba: impacts on soil quality and strategies for sustainable reclamation (MSc. Zenia Gonzalez Giro)
• Agricultural drought: Will capillary rise from groundwater be among pertinent drivers of heterotrophic activity and carbon cycling in our soils? (ir. Astrid Françoys)

Finished research projects

• SoilVeg: Improving soil conservation and resource use in organic cropping systems for vegetable production
• AgroCycle: Sustainable techno-economic solutions for the agricultural value chain
• Agrimax: Agri & food waste valorisation co-ops based on flexible multi-feedstocks biorefinery processing technologies for new high added value applications
• Life+ project DEMETER (VLM-UGent-NMI): Sustainable and integrated soil management to reduce environmental effects
• Influence of soil 3D architecture on soil organic matter stabilization as revealed by the combination of X-ray CT and biological approaches (ir. Peter Maenhout)
• Contribution of below ground biomass carbon to the stable soil organic matter pool (dr. ir. Hui Xu)
• Abiotic variables controlling N mineralization and greenhouse gas emissions from a continuously and intermittently flooded paddy soils depth profile (MSc. Masuda Akter)
• Evolution of chemical soil quality in temperate forests under decreasing atmospheric deposition (ir. Arne Verstraeten)
• Biochar as an amendment for sustainable soil fertility of highly weathered dry land soils on Jaffna Peninsula, Sri Lanka (MSc. Kanagaratnam Jegajeevagan)
• Interactions between free living nematodes, microbes and plants: effects on soil nutrient cycling and microbial properties (dr. Mesfin T. Gebremikael)
• Nutrient balances, soil quality and soil productivity in organic rice and vegetable crop rotations in West and Central Java, Indonesia (MSc. Okky Amalia)
• Soil carbon and nitrogen dynamics under catch crops following winter cereals (ir. Jeroen De Waele)
• Bioindicators for evaluating farm management effects on soil quality in agroecosystems from Santa Clara, Cuba (MSc. Hector Hernandez Arbolaez)
• Influence of organic matter on phosphate sorption in sandy soils (ir. Lisa Mabilde)
• The potential of Faidherbia albida (F. albida) for improving soil quality and yield levels of maize under dry land agriculture in Zambia (MSc. Jones Yengwe)
• Methane emissions from paddy rice soils under alternative irrigation management (ir. Sofie Pierreux)