Environmental Interactions: Crop Nutrition and Environmental Protection

摘要

Tris Theme draws together many aspects of the Institute's research concerning environmental protection, such as the reduction of the environmental impact of agrachernicals, the assessment of the risks posed by the release of genetically modified organisms, and the effects of environmental pollutants on soils and crops. Much of the research is aimed at understanding soil and plant processes that contribute to the inefficient use ofagrochemicals, particularly fertilisers, with the aim of improving these processes either through changes in agronomic practice or genetic modification of crops. Work in the Theme is multidisciplinary with expertise in the experimental investigation and modelling of soil nutrient cycles, the measurement of the activity andecology of soil microbes, and the molecular and physiological characterisation of nutrient uptake and assimilation pathways in plants. This account highlights progress in a number of areas within tne Theme during 1995.