PhD fellowship in Soil Fertility phosphorus

Opportunity summary

Employment type: FULLTIME. The Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences (PLEN) invites applicants for a PhD fellowship in Soil Fertility. The project is part of the research project “Can microbial phosphorus mobilization be primed? Organic fertiliser effect on biological soil phosphorus cycling (PRIME-P)”, which is financed by the NovoNordisk Foundation. Start date is 1 January 2027 or as soon as possible thereafter. The project Biobased fertilisers (BBF) exist in many forms (sewage sludge, compost, animal manures etc.) with different chemical properties, elemental composition and nutrient concentrations influencing their behaviour upon addition to soil. Unlike mineral phosphate fertilisers, many BBF contain significant amounts of organic phosphorus (P) and calcium phosphate forms, which are not directly available to plants. Soil microorganisms play a crucial role in the mineralization of organic P and the solubilisation of inorganic P, making microbial-driven soil P transformations essential for plant P availability when using BBF. Because of the relatively large carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) contents of BBF, soil organic matter may be signicantly modified, thereby affecting soil microbial activity. The objective of the PhD project is to determine how additions of different BBF affect soil organic matter over time and influence microbial P mobilisation1 …

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