PRAIRIE VIEW, Texas (December 1, 2022) — Dr. Ram Ray, Ph.D., associate professor in the Cooperative Agriculture Research Center at Prairie View A&M University (PVAMU), was awarded $191,663 by the United States Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture (USDA-NIFA) for an Automated Soil CO2 Flux Monitoring System — equipment that is crucial to his research.
Dr. Ray and his team are excited about the opportunity this funding provides the PVAMU Cooperative Agriculture Research Center.
“This was my first equipment grant,” said Ray, “I will have this equipment to conduct research for several years. It will help automatically monitor soil carbon dioxide (CO2) in a real-time. Since this research equipment is critical for me to quantify the carbon sequestration potential for the select crop, it will help me grow in this research field. In addition, it will help to collaborate with several other researchers with similar research interests within and outside the institutions.”
The equipment grant award includes two co-principal investigators from the Agriculture Nutrition & Human Ecology department at PVAMU: Peter Ampim, Ph.D., assistant professor; and Nelson Daniels, Ph.D., program specialist.
In order to effectively quantify greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and address climate change issues, researchers need to monitor soil carbon under different agricultural management practices. The Soil CO2 equipment will continuously measure soil CO2 at the testbed and align with the measurement of atmospheric CO2 using existing Flux Tower. Soil and atmospheric CO2 measurements will help characterize and quantify carbon sequestration and greenhouse gas (GHG).
Ram Ray, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Cooperative Agriculture Research Center (CARC)
“This equipment will strengthen the research, extension, and education capacity of the College of Agriculture and Human Sciences, and College of Arts and Sciences at PVAMU, and College of Technology at the University of Houston,” said PVAMU Vice President of Research & Innovation Magesh Rajan, Ph.D., P.E., MBA. “The projects this equipment will support will greatly enhance the caliber of research and development initiatives at PVAMU for years to come.”
“Our project builds on the USDA-NIFA Capacity Building Grants and Evans Allen funds which led to the research testbed recently established on the PVAMU farm,” said Ray. “I look forward to having excellent research collaborations and opportunities with the multidisciplinary faculty and researchers within PVAMU and other institutions globally.”
The major goal of an ongoing first Capacity Building Grant (CBG) project is to evaluate the impacts of the rate of application of fertilizer and irrigation on soil health and the second one is to develop a high-performance nanocomposite soil conditioner and evaluate it on the farm. Also, the CBG project’s goal is to educate limited resource producers and help them understand the potential impact of agricultural management on soil health. The primary objectives of equipment are to continuously measure soil CO2 emission during the growing period of select two major crops (sorghum and corn) and improve research, extension, and education capacities of the PVAMU in natural resources and environmental areas.
“I strongly believe that this grant which helps to get other research and teaching grants, will provide a tremendous opportunity to support PVAMU’s teaching, research, and innovation,” said Ray.
The Automated Soil CO2 Flux Monitoring System will support research, outreach, and education activities at both PVAMU and the University of Houston.
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