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1. Overview

2. Salient Achievements

3. Activities

4. Salient Facilities

5. Collaboration

Soil and environment are dynamic components of ecosystem integrity and crop productivity. Soil provides anchorage to plants and also serves as a reservoir for essential nutrients, whereas water is deemed a vital component of all living organisms. Major threats to soil and environment include climate change, soil degradation, water scarcity, greenhouse gas emissions and declining soil health. Therefore, this division aims to develop products and technologies for sustainable utilization of natural resources, as well as to improve crop productivity through screening of salt-tolerant germplasm, efficient nutrient and water managements and phytoremediation of salt-affected soils. This division has expanded its scope with paradigm shifts in academic programs along with research activities. The traditional domain is further strengthened by adopting interdisciplinary approach that integrate soil, water and environmental sciences. R&D activities of the Division are primarily focused to key areas of research such as bio-saline agriculture technology to produce valuable biomass from salt-affected soils and slow-release fertilizers suitable for sustainable nutrient supply as well as having biofortification potential of food crops. Smart agriculture technology is aimed to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions from arable soils and to enhance crop productivity. The division is striving to excel in the development of climate smart fertilizers and agronomic strategies to enhance fertilizer use efficiencies, and bringing the barren lands under cultivation through adoption of bio-saline agriculture technologies.

The division has following five research groups:

1. Saline Agriculture

2. Crop Stress Management

3. Soil Fertility

4. Soil Health

5. Soil Hydrology

Salient Achievements

• Developed well-composted manure and an efficient phosphate fertilizer, ‘NEM-Phosphate’ with added benefits of organic manure, selenium and silicon impregnation for higher crop productivity under changing climate scenario

• Developed locally produced ‘soluble NPK fertilizer’, highly suitable for crops grown under drip irrigation system. Additionally, boron coated urea is capable of improving nitrogen use efficiency and productivity of oilseed crops

• Devised strategies for simultaneous foliar application of micronutrients (zinc, selenium and iodine) for biofortification of cereal crops

• Developed Coated-urea products, such as Urease inhibitors urea and Nano-fortified urea, which have been found to reduce nitrogen losses in different cropping systems using 15N isotope tracer technique

• Introduced salt-tolerant grasses (kallar, para and rhodes), trees (Acacia, Eucalyptus, Jaman, Jujuba), field crops (wheat, barley, sorghum, brassica) and vegetables (spinach, turnip) for cultivation on salt-affected lands

• Established Bio-saline Research Station (BSRS)-1 in Lahore on 60 acres and BSRS-2 at Pacca Anna, Faisalabad on 400 acres for demonstration of bio-saline agriculture technology to farmers.  About 10,000 acres of salt-affected land were rehabilitated by the cultivation of salt tolerant trees, grasses and crops. This technology was further extended to more than 25,000 acres of salt-affected land in four provinces of Pakistan under ‘Saline Agriculture Farmer Participatory Development Project (SAFPDP)’

• Phosphoric acid was demonstrated as an efficient phosphate fertilizer for wheat, rice and maize production on alkaline calcareous soils. The developed fertilizer technology was demonstrated through farmer’s field days at various locations across Punjab in collaboration with Agricultural Machinery Research Institute (AMRI) Faisalabad

• Production technology of direct seeded basmati rice was refined and disseminated on 6,000 acres in rice growing areas of Punjab though multi-location field trials at farmers’ field

• Developed a complete formulation containing salicylic acid, potassium and zinc for controlling Kinnow fruit drop and improvement in quality and productivity of fruit

• Contributed to the development of various crop varieties with tolerance to biotic and abiotic stresses.

• Contributed to various IAEA expert missions for hands-on training on analytical techniques and developed technologies

• Pressmud, a by-product of sugar industry, was identified as a good alternate to mineral phosphate fertilizers (DAP, SSP) on salt-affected soils. The use of PM on agricultural lands could reduce fertilizer cost, improve soil physico-chemical traits and improve yield of crops

Activities

• Effective utilization of salt-affected soils and brackish water

• Cope with abiotic stresses (drought, heat, salinity and heavy metals) to crops under changing climate scenario and the development of climate smart fertilizers

• Effective management of soil fertility using 100% soluble NPK fertilizer and nutrient-enrich compost from crop residues for higher production of vegetables, nurseries and home gardening

• Bio-fortification technology for enhancing quality of food crops for the consumption of humans

• Boron Coated Urea as means of improving nitrogen use efficiency and crop productivity

• Management of crop residues in rice-wheat cropping system to enhance farm productivity and mitigate smog problem

• Focus on strategies to reduce pilferage of toxic heavy metals to fresh water and hence conserve agricultural soils

• Climate smart agricultural practices to reduce the yield gap of major crops in the country in collaboration with IAEA

• Evaluating bio-sorption potential of rice straw for wastewater treatment

• Development of state-of-the-art laboratory equipped with sophisticated instruments for analysis of soil, water, fertilizer and plant samples

Salient Facilities

With the cooperation of IAEA, a state-of-the-art laboratory has been established. The lab is equipped with sophisticated instruments including multielement atomic absorption spectrometer, gas chromatograph, spectrophotometer, flame photometer, root scanner, temperature-controlled growth cabinet, EC and pH meters. Owing to the availability of these instruments, the division is offering services to various industries, exporters and academia. The determination of physical and chemical properties of soils and elemental analysis of plants, fertilizers and food materials are a regular part of the analytical services of the division. More importantly, this division is facilitating analysis of fertilizer products in relation to plant growth and nutrient supplying capacity of soil. Various training courses and farmers field days are organized for human resource development and transfer of the developed technologies to the end users.

Collaboration

• International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)

• Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of UN

• International Waterlogging and Salinity Research Institute (IWASRI)

• Asian Development Bank (ADB)

• Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (PARC)

• National Agriculture Research Centre (NARC)

• Ayub Agricultural Research Institute (AARI)

• Punjab Agricultural Research Board (PARB)

• Pakistan Science Foundation (PSF)

• Higher Education Commission (HEC)

• Pakistan Institute of Engineering and Applied Sciences (PIEAS)

• University of Agriculture, Faisalabad (UAF)

• Nuclear Institute of Agriculture (NIA)

• Nuclear Institute for Food and Agriculture (NIFA)

• Government College University Faisalabad

• Fauji Fertilizer Company (FFC)

• Engro Pakistan and Microbial Biotechnologies (MBT)