2023-03-17 Nitro-Ag Poem (AI-generated)
In fields of green where crops do sway,
A nitrogen tale we tell today.
A world that hungers, yet wastes away,
A call for change we must convey.
Over a hundred million tons of N,
In pursuit of harvest, a global sin.
With half the nutrient lost to air and sea,
The price we pay, oh, can’t you see?
In the dance of life, microbes play,
A role so vital, in soil they lay.
They cycle nitrogen with great finesse,
Yet agroecosystems fail to impress.
For models of old, assumptions made,
That microbes’ ways were rigid, unswayed.
But evidence grows, their ways diverse,
In varied conditions, their roles rehearse.
Unlocking the secrets of the microbial heart,
Will pave the way for a brand-new start.
In the depths of the soil, our answers dwell,
To harness efficiency, a story we’ll tell.
Through lab and field, we’ll search and find,
The N cycling processes, diverse and combined.
Microbial activity, environment, and more,
Their intertwined dance, we shall explore.
Our quest to optimize the use of N,
To reduce the cost, yet yield to win.
A two-fold impact, our goal to achieve,
The temporal dynamics of N, we’ll conceive.
Five work packages to guide our way,
From field to plot, and data to weigh.
A journey of passion, of science and art,
The Nitro-Ag tale, let us impart.
By June of twenty-twenty-four,
Our mission complete, a new world we’ll explore.
Dr. Georgios Giannopoulos at the helm,
A sustainable future, to overwhelm.
2023-01-10 BSc and MSc students successfully submit their research work for EGU 23
BSc students mr Georgios Kourtidis, miss Katerina Bouzaki, and MSc students miss Korina Koukoutsi and miss Elpida Pasvadoglou, successfully submitted their abstracts for EGU 23 General Assembly; the annual meeting of the European Geosciences Union.
2022-10-01 Crop yields, Fertilization rates, Nitrogen uptake and Nitrogen use efficiency (NUE)
WP1 dataset has been amended with crop yields, fertilization rates, nitrogen uptake and nitrogen use efficiency (NUE). Along with basic soil properties and apparent nitrogen transformation rates, these exciting new data will help us understand the controlling factors towards greater nitrogen use efficiency.
2022-09-16 Nitro-Ag Principal Investigator, Dr Georgios Giannopoulos, at University of Freiburg Science Slam Forum
Nitro-Ag Principal Investigator, Dr Georgios Giannopoulos, represented University of Thessaloniki at the University of Freiburg (Germany) for the Early Career Researchers Science Slam Forum.
2022-01-22 Soil incubations for soil GHG flux and nitrogen kinetics
A large mesocosm study has been initiated to study and decipher the impact of organic amendments and fertilizers on soil greenhouse gasses and nitrogen dynamics.
2021-11-25 Collecting organic amendments and fertilizers
Several organic amendments and fertilizers have been selected, and their impact on soil nitrogen dynamics will be assessed in a mesocosmos study.
2021-11-01 Determining basic soil properties
Basic soil properties of the collected soil samples were determined applying classical soil lab methods:
- Soil sampling and methods of analysis. Second Edition. Edited by. M.R. Carter. & E.G. Gregorich. Canadian Society of Soil Science. p. 1263
- Methods of soil analysis: Part 2 Microbiological and biochemical properties, Agronomy Monograph 5.2. Soil Science Society of America.
- Methods of soil analysis: Part 2 Chemical and microbiological properties, Agronomy Monograph 9. Soil Science Society of America.
2021-09-10 Soil incubations for CO2 flux
2021-08-26 Airdrying soil samples
2021-06-23 Field sampling day
