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In order to ensure that the soil contributes to increased crop yields, its nutritional status has to be monitored, conserved sustainably, and amended with the right amounts of nutrients by the farmer, with advice from experts who understand soils, tillage practices, and yield projections. The Soil and Water Management division undertakes research and offers advisory services to the public on various aspects of soil health which include soil and plant chemistry, soil microbiology, soil physics and soil survey and land management.
Develop appropriate soil and water management technologies and packages for various crop value chains through:
The units offer analytical services for agricultural materials including soils, fertilisers, lime, water and plant tissue.
Testing soil and plant tissue equips the farmer with information to support their field management so as to optimise production.
Fertiliser, lime and Irrigation water are tested for quality to ensure that they are suitable for use on crop fields.
The Feriliser Lab is responsible for certifying all fertilisers on the Zambian market. The fertilisers are tested for their adherence to the standards.
Promotes plant nutrition through incorporation of beneficial microbes. This is done through identifying, isolation, characterizing, and multiplying of effective and promising strains of various microbes which can work symbiotically with roots of particular plants. Success stories include production of soybean (Rhizobia) and Maize (Azospirillum & Azotobacter) inoculant.
Soil Microbiology unit also offers microbiological analytical services such as microbial count and soil respiration.
Involved in research activities aimed at developing soil management techniques that enhance soil and water conservation, improve soil productivity by manipulating the soil physical properties and providing sound advice to irrigation related matters.
Analytical services offered by Soil Physics Unit include; soil texture, bulk density and water holding capacity.
Other services include; Infiltration tests, Irrigation system designing and evaluation irrigation effeciency.
The Soil Survey Unit provides an inventory and assessment of soil resources in order to facilitate their efficient utilisation. During soil surveys, large amounts of data, of various types and in various formats are collected, and these are used to produce soil maps, crop suitability maps or for other land use mapping.
Soil survey services are provided at Mount Makulu and other regionally based stations i.e Kabwe Research Station and Copperbelt Research Station.
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