Award details

Microbial function in nitrogen and carbon transformations

Reference	BBS/E/C/00004176
Principal Investigator / Supervisor	Professor Keith Goulding
Co-Investigators / Co-Supervisors	Dr Saran Sohi
Institution	Rothamsted Research
Department	Rothamsted Research Department
Funding type	Research
Value (£)	664,999
Status	Completed
Type	Institute Project
Start date	01/04/1999
End date	31/03/2008
Duration	108 months

Abstract

To meet the requirements for economically and environmentally sustainable agriculture, soils have to fulfil multiple functions simultaneously. These include the physical requirements for crop production, supply of nutrients, maintenance of biodiversity and biological processes, regulation of water quality and atmospheric composition. Organic matter content and the activity of the soil microbial population influences virtually all soil properties and functions. A key objective of Programme 444 Carbon Cycling is to identify the mechanisms by which organic carbon influences soil functions and to provide the fundamental understanding required for manipulation. Research ranges from detailed studies on the ecology of methane oxidising bacteria to regional scale scenario studies on the potential for sequestration of carbon in soil through land use change. This project uses of state-of-the-art physical, chemical and spectroscopic methods to identify specific forms of organic matter in soil that can be related at a fundamental level to microbial function and diversity and tests possible strategies to manipulate soil-plant-microbe interactions.

Summary

unavailable

Committee	Closed Committee - Agri-food (AF)
Research Topics	X – not assigned to a current Research Topic
Research Priority	X – Research Priority information not available
Research Initiative	X - not in an Initiative
Funding Scheme	X – not Funded via a specific Funding Scheme

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