Call for Producer Participation: Developing the Saskatchewan Assessment of Soil Health (SASH) Tool

May 27, 2021

You are invited to join the network of volunteer farmers participating in our research project aimed at developing a soil health testing tool for Saskatchewan producers.

RESEARCHERS: Dr. Kate Congreves (Project leader), Dr. Zelalem Taye (Postdoctoral Fellow), Department of Plant Sciences, University of Saskatchewan.

FUNDED BY: Sask Wheat and SaskCanola

PARTICIPANT PROFILE: Producers across Saskatchewan. Enroll using the link below to be added to the network of volunteers participating in the research project aimed at developing a soil health testing tool for Saskatchewan producers.

FILLING THE FORM: The online registration takes 1-2 minutes of your time. You will be asked to answer demographic questions, producer association, rural municipality, and crop district you belong to. You can also email us at zmt059@mail.usask.ca with your details to participate in this project.

CLICK HERE TO ENROLL

Source : saskwheat

Video: Root Exudates, Soil Biology, and How Plants Recruit Microbes | Field Talk Friday

Field Talk Friday | Dr. John Murphy | Root Exudates, Soil Biology, and How Plants Recruit Microbes

Most of us spend our time managing what we can see above ground—plant height, leaf color, stand counts, and yield potential. But the deeper you dig into agronomy, the more you realize that some of the most important processes driving crop performance are happening just millimeters below the surface.

In this episode of Field Talk Friday, Dr. John Murphy continues the soil biology series by diving into one of the most fascinating topics in modern agronomy: root exudates and the role they play in shaping the microbial world around plant roots.

Roots are not passive structures simply pulling nutrients out of the soil. They are active participants in the underground ecosystem. Plants constantly release compounds into the soil—sugars, amino acids, organic acids, and other molecules—that act as both energy sources and signals for soil microbes.