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A vibrant team is actively working and consistently pursuing the group’s research endeavors. This group is generally focusing on production of cereals and increasing nitrogen use efficiency with lower environmental footprints. Novel formulation of nitrogen fertilizer is also underway to achieve higher NUE in field crops whereas monitoring and mitigation of adverse effects of metal pollutants in soil-plant system is another area of research. This group also possess well established labs for provision of analytical services for the determination of micronutrients and metal pollutants in soil, plant, water and food samples.

Ongoing Research Activities

• Strengthening climate smart cereal production towards sustainability and food security

• Assessing and mitigating agro-contaminants to improve water quality, soil health and crop productivity

• Development of novel nitrogen fertilizer formulation for improving crop productivity and nutrient use efficiency

• Detection of metal contamination in food samples is necessary export regulations of the country. The group is extending analytical facilities for detection of metal contaminants in export consignments of rice and meat

Research Achievements

• Identified urease inhibitor NBPT as the best management practice for increasing fertilizer N recovery in plant and reducing N loss under summer crops like cotton and maize

• Developed Boron Coated Urea with 15% higher NUE, contributing to an approximate 10% increase in crop yield 

Future Directions

• Commercialization of Boron Coated Urea to enhance crop yield and curtail environmental N losses

• Introduction and adaptation of integrated approaches for management of crop residues in rice-wheat cropping system at the farmer field to enhance farm productivity and mitigate smog problem

• Rehabilitation of heavy metal-contaminated degraded lands through the cultivation of non-edible industrial crops with economic benefits in the region

Funded Projects

• IAEA-CRP-26676 project titled “Enhancing production of rice and wheat with lower environmental footprints”, 2024-2026 (PKR 2.3 Million)

• IAEA-RAS-5091 project titled “Assessing and mitigating agro-contaminants to improve water quality and soil productivity in catchments using integrated isotopic approaches”, 2022-2025 (In-Kind Support)

• IAEA-RAS-5093 project titled “Strengthening climate smart rice production towards sustainability and regional food security through nuclear and modern techniques” 2022-2025 (In-Kind Support)

Collaborations

• International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)

• Ayub Agricultural Research Institute (AARI)

• Punjab Agricultural Research Board (PARB)

• Pakistan Institute of Engineering and Applied Sciences (PIEAS)

• University of Agriculture, Faisalabad (UAF)

• Fauji Fertilizer Company (FFC)