On July 20th 2017 a workshop of sustainable intensification under drought and low phosphorus stresses organized by Root Biology Center of South China Agricultural University (SCAU), Lancaster University and CSIC was held in Joint Institute for Environmental Research & Education (JIE). Professor Ian Dodd, from Lancaster Environment Centre of Lancaster University, Professor Francisco Perez-Alfocea from CSIC, with other Lancaster staff members attended this workshop. The director of Root Biology Center, Professor Jiang Tian hosted this workshop. Researchers from Henan University, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University (FAFU) and Chinese University of Hong Kong(CUHK) were invited to attend as well. Over ten keynote speeches from different groups were given and this enhanced the understanding of their academic works. This workshop was productive and brought in collaborations between Lancaster University and Root Biology Center including recruiting post-docs jointly.

Group photo for the workshop

Discussing at the Root Biology Center

Group photo at the Root Biology Center

The Root Biology Center (RBC) was founded in 1999. In 2007, the Joint Laboratory of Root Biology between South China Agricultural University (SCAU) and Pennsylvania State University (PSU) was established, which was directed by Prof. Yan Xiaolong. Progresses have been made with more than 100 papers published in national and international journals and books, including such core journals as PNAS, Curr Opin Biotech, Curr Opin Plant Biol, New Phytol, Plant Physiol and Plant J. Progresses are also being made in conventional breeding of soybean with better root traits, with a number of new varieties having been certified by the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture and now being released to the farmers at a large scale, and genetic breeding through transgenic approaches, with a number of nutrient efficient soybean new materials having been developed and characterized. Since it was established, RBC has contributed greatly to scientific development and sustainable agriculture in China.

The delegation also visited the experiment base of farmland of SCAU in Zengcheng. The Root Biology Center has a farmland for acid soil long-term amelioration experiment. It is well known that the main soil types in south China are humid-thermo ferralitic and lateritic red earths. The soils used in this experimental site come from the opposite highland, which are the typical acid red soils with very low pH close to 4. These soils are developed from parent materials of granite, and have low phosphorus and organic matter, and Al and/or Mn toxicity. These factors limit plant growth unless effective amelioration is applied in the soils. Therefore, the objective of previous study since 2006 is to amend the acid red soils through rice-wheat/soybean rotation system and maize/soybean intercropping system.

Visiting at the experiment base at Zengcheng