Laboratory of agrochemistry of mineral and biological nitrogen

Head of the Laboratory

Alexey Anatolyevich Zavalin, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Doctor of Sciences in Agriculture, Professor, Honorary Worker of Science and Technology of the Russian Federation. Author of more than 450 scientific papers, two patents, about 25 scientific monographs. He has trained 45 doctors and candidates of Science.

The main research areas:

The relevance of basic research is to improve the patterns of nitrogen nutrition of plants by using mineral fertilizers and biological nitrogen fixed in crops symbiotic and associative bacteria, the evaluation of the transformation of nitrogen fertilizers and biological in the "fertilizer – soil – plant" to increase return fertilizers yield increase and optimize the supply crops with nitrogen, providing the specified quantity and quality of crop production.

Fundamental research of the nitrogen flow control system under changing anthropogenic load on agroecosystems is of interdisciplinary importance:

• development of scientifically-based parameters of the ratio of mineral and biological nitrogen;
• assessment of the impact of climate change and human economic activity on the state of the nitrogen regime of soils, the direction of soil processes of nitrogen transformation and the regulation of its cycle;
• determination of the intensity of the nitrogen cycle processes;
• development of a model of crop productivity and plant nitrogen uptake of fertilizers and soil.
• identification of spatio-temporal patterns of action and the role of biological products in increasing the efficiency of the use of mineral fertilizers by plants;
• study of patterns and trends in the behavior of mineral and biological nitrogen in agroecosystems when using fertilizers and biological products;
• identification of the tightness, form and direction of the relationship between the complex of agrochemical indicators of soils and the effectiveness of biological products and nitrogen fertilizers used on spring wheat and barley using mathematical modeling methods;

The main achievements of the Laboratory's work:

The results of fundamental research are the basis for the formation of the range and volume of application of nitrogen fertilizers, engage in farming additional sources of biological nitrogen for formation of the yield of important agricultural crops, preservation of soil fertility and environmental sustainability of agricultural lands. The use of the obtained knowledge gives grounds for optimizing the structure of sown areas with saturation with legumes, allowing the maximum involvement of biological nitrogen in agriculture, which can meet the need for this element of other crop rotation crops, increasing the accumulation of organic matter and humus in the soil.