I. Discipline overview
The Soil Science discipline of Zhejiang A&F University grew out of the Soil Science teaching and research group at the beginning of the school’s founding, then obtained the right to confer master's degrees in 2005. It was rated as a provincial key discipline in 2009 and obtained the conferral right of master's degree of the first-level discipline of Agricultural Resources and Environment in 2011. The Soil Science course was awarded as a National Excellent Course in 2006 and the course team was awarded the provincial teaching team in 2008. In the past five years, it has undertaken more than 50 national and ministerial and provincial-level projects and the paid-in research funds have exceeded 16 million yuan. It has published more than 180 papers, of which more than 70 papers are included in SCI and published nine monographs and textbooks. It has won 14 categories of awards, including three sciences and technology awards at the ministerial and provincial level or above, and two provincial teaching achievement awards.
II. Research directions
1. Soil-water resource utilization and environmental restoration
Using the soil productivity regulation and soil pollution restoration under the subtropical climate condition as a benchmark, through the establishment and evaluation of soil resource lists, microbial augmentation of soil heavy metals and organic pollution, exogenous additives control and combined remediation of multiple plant communities, and other technical means, the key technologies of agroforestry ecosystem non-point pollutants reuse and coupling of nutrient requirement are addressed, and a decision basis and technical support are provided for the reasonable use of soil and water resources, agricultural sustainable development and ecological environment construction in Zhejiang province.
2. Regulation of soil organism and ecological functions
By taking the forest soil microorganisms’ diversity and ecosystem processes and functions as the research core, the research of soil microbe community succession rules and its influencing factors in the process of intensive farming of economic forest is carried out systematically. The community characteristics of the soil functional flora and their relationship with carbon, nitrogen conversion and soil quality factors are revealed. The patent technology that effectively controls the soil quality degradation in an economic forest is formed, the technical system for the associated bioremediation of organic contaminated soil is established, and the technical support is provided for soil quality improvement and ecological function maintenance.
3. Integrated management of plant nutrition and agricultural products safety
Taking the soil nutrient regulation and agricultural products safety production as the research core, the research of the cycle law and diagnosis technology of the economic forest soil-crop system nutrition is carried out systematically, and while the soil testing and recommended fertilization theory of the timbered soil is implemented, new fertilizer resources and nutrients control technology of the timbered soil is developed and the economic forest fertilization consultation system is established. While the pollution characteristics, pollution way and migration rule of soil-crop system pollutants is studied, the control technology of agricultural products safety production is discussed, and the scientific basis and technical support are provided for the efficient and comprehensive utilization of forest nutrients and safe agricultural products production.
4. Soil carbon sink and global climate change
Taking the subtropical forest soil carbon pool evolution and its regulation as the core, research on the influence of management measures on soil carbon pool components and greenhouse gas emissions is carried out systematically, and the internal mechanism of the carbon-silicon biogeochemical cycle, phytolith carbon sinks and its control technologies are explored. The technological systems combining soil sequestering carbon and greenhouse gas emission reduction-high and stable yields-ecosystem health are constructed, and significant contributions to the evaluation and improvement of the carbon sink function of subtropical forest are made.
III. Academic team
There are 20 teachers, including seven professors, seven associate professors, one senior experimenter and 15 teachers with doctoral degrees; three teachers at the second level of the provincial "151 Talent Engineering" cohort, two provincial outstanding teachers, and two “young and middle-aged” Discipline Leaders of provincial universities.
Xu Qiufang, Doctor of Agriculture, professor, doctoral supervisor, now she serves as the leader of key discipline "Soil Science discipline", the member of university "Natural Environment Protection And Ecological Engineering" teaching guidance committee for the Ministry of Education (2013-2017), the member of "Commission of Forestry Soil" and "Commission ofSoil Biology and Biochemistry” of the Soil Science Society of China and deputy minister of the Jiusan Society of Zhejiang A&F University. She has been engaged in the teaching and scientific research of soil science and related courses for a long time and has successively hosted the school-level Teaching Reform Project and the Teaching Reform Research Project of the New Century Higher Education in Zhejiang province. She hosted "Teaching Reform and Practice of Ecological Environment Courses in Higher Forestry Colleges", won the second prize at the Teaching Achievement of Universities in Zhejiang province. She hosted the National Excellent Resource shared courseSoil Science(2013).She is engaged in the research of forest soil biology and biochemistry, efficient use of agricultural resources, and mainly carries out the research of forest soil carbon and nitrogen cycle related microorganisms, microbial resources development and water-efficient use and management of water and other fields. She has hosted four National Natural Science Fund projects, one Chinese postdoctoral Key Fund Project, one major water Special Project sub-topic for the Ministry of Science and Technology, three Zhejiang Natural Science Fund projects, and two Zhejiang science and technology Key Projects. She has published more than 90 papers in academic journals at home and abroad, of which more than 50 are included in SCI. She hosted and participated in a second prize in the Liang Xi Forestry Science and Technology Award, respectively, and participated in a first prize of Zhejiang science and technology progress award. She was awarded the titles of the 3rdOutstanding Teacher of Zhejiang, the Advanced Individual of the 3rdTeacher's Ethics of Zhejiang, the 2ndCollege Outstanding Teacher of Zhejiang, and deputy to 11thand 12thNational People's Congress.
Jiang Peikun, professor, doctoral supervisor, director of the College of Environment & Resource Sciences, and director of the Institute of Ecological Environment, the “young and middle-aged” Discipline Leader of universities in Zhejiang province, and the second level of Zhejiang’s "151 Talent Engineering" cohort. He was awarded the Advanced Individual from the “Three Educators” awards for universities in Zhejiang province in 2004, was awarded the title of National Outstanding Teacher in 2004, and he was rated as the Outstanding Teacher of the 5thHigher Universities of Zhejiang province in 2009. Now he serves as the deputy director of the ChinaCommission of Forestry Soil,and vice chairman of the Zhejiang Society of Soil Fertilizer. He is engaged in the research of forest soil and environmental science, mainly studies the evolutionary rule of soil quality in commodity forests, the soil carbon cycle of different types of forests and the mechanisms of environmental pollution restoration in forest areas. He has undertaken more than 30 scientific research projects, including the national "973" project, the National Natural Science Fund projects, Zhejiang Natural Science Key Fund projects, and Major Water Special Project sub-topic for the Ministry of Science and Technology. He has published more than 150 papers inScientific Reports,Plant and Soil,Botanical Review, Forest Ecology and Management, Journal of Soils and Sediments, Acta Pedologica Sinica, Scientia Silvae Sinicae,theChinese Journal of Applied Ecologyand other academic journals at home and abroad, of which more than 50 papers are included in SCI. He has published six monographs and textbooks and has obtained three first prizes and three second prizes of provincial science and technology.Over the past 30 years, he taught undergraduate courses such as Soil Science, Soil and Petrology, and postgraduate courses such as Advanced Forest Soil Science and Progress in Soil Science in the past three decades. He actively participates in the construction of National Excellent courseSoil Science, he hosted the Teaching Achievement "Teaching Reform And Practice of Ecological Environment Courses of Forestry Colleges and Universities" and participated in the teaching achievement "Reform and Practice of Forestry Colleges of theSoil ScienceCourse for Forestry Colleges and Universities", and won the second prize for Teaching Achievement in Zhejiang province.
Ye Zhengqian, male, born in January 1965, Ph.D, professor. He has been engaged in teaching and scientific research of soil and plant nutrition environment ecology for a long time. He has hosted or participated in more than 30 scientific research projects at home and abroad and published more than 100 scientific papers, of which more than 30 papers are included in SCI. His main research fields include plant nutrition and fertilization, treatment and resource utilization of forestry and agricultural residues, soil improvement, heavy metal pollution soil restoration, heavy metal pollution and agricultural products safety.Major research projects include the “973” project "Change Rule and Regulation Principle of Soil and Atmospheric Environment Quality in the Yangtze River and the Pearl River Delta Region", the National Natural Science Fund project "Research of Organic Fertilizer and Soil Trace Elements and Enzyme Activity", the Zhejiang Key Fund project "Mechanism Study of the Plant Hyper-Accumulation Zinc and Its Remediation Of Polluted Environments", the "Research of Key Process and the Control Mechanism of Livestock and Poultry Breeding Waste Pollution" project, a major project for the Science Technology Department of Zhejiang Province "Practical Technology Integration and Promotion Demonstration of Mountain Agricultural Waste Energy Resource", a Public Welfare Project for the Science Technology Department of Zhejiang Province "Research of the Technology of Low Voltage AC Electric Field Induced-Combined Remediation of Cadmium Contaminated Soil by Hyperaccumulator", the Central Government Forestry Science and Technology Promotion Fund projectScale Cultivation of Improved Variety of Pecan and Application Demonstration, and the Agricultural Technology Promotion Foundation project of Zhejiang province "Mechanism Research of Mulberry Sawdust Underground Auricularia Auricula Rice Mode After Harvest with Bag Material” project, among others.
Li Yongfu, male, born in 1980, Ph.D, professor and master supervisor. In 2001, he received a bachelor's degree in Applied Chemistry from Zhejiang University. In the same year, he was exempted from the examination and recommended to be a MD-Doctor doctoral candidate. In June 2006, he received a doctorate degree in Plant Nutrition from Zhejiang University. Now he is a teacher at theCollege of Environmental & Resource Sciencesof Zhejiang A&F University. He serves as the editor and editorial board member of theJournal of Soils and Sediments, and director of the Committee of Forestry Soil in the Zhejiang Society of Soil Fertilizer. His main research direction is the evolutionary characteristics of carbon pools of subtropical forest ecosystems and its regulation mechanisms. He has hosted three National Natural Science Fund and two provincial projects, participated in more than 10 national, ministerial and provincial-level research projects and teaching reform projects (such as National Natural Science Fund projecst, a Key Project of the Science Technology Department of Zhejiang Province, and ones for the Natural Science Fund of Zhejiang). In recent years, He has published more than 50 articles inSoil Biology and Biochemistry,Plant and Soil,Forest Ecology and Management,Acta Ecologica Sinica, Chinese Journal of Applied Ecologyand other academic journals at home and abroad, of which more than 20 articles are included in SCI. As the main participant of the project, the project won two first prizes for Zhejiang Science and Technology, and the second prize in the Liang Xi Forestry Science and Technology awards. He is responsible for the teaching of undergraduate courses and postgraduate courses such asSoil Science, Plant Nutrition, Soil Fertilizer Science, Advanced Experimental DesignandStatistical Analysis. He was selected as a support member of the Outstanding Young Teacher Funding Plan of Universities in Zhejiang province, the third level and the second level of the Zhejiang “151 Talent Engineering” cohort, the Zhejiang “young and middle-aged” Discipline Leader and the school’s "Young top-notch personnel" successively, and won the honorary title of "Zhejiang Provincial Excellent Teacher" in 2016.
VI. Support
There is a Key Laboratory of Carbon Cycle and Carbon Sequestration and Mitigation of Forest Ecological Systems of Zhejiang, and Zhejiang A&F University -Joint Laboratory of Forest Soil and Environment of Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, covering an area of 1700 m2, and the total value of instruments and equipment is RMB 14 million.
V. Talent training and foreign exchange
The discipline opens the courses for Resource Environment and Urban and Rural Planning Management, Environmental Science, Environmental Engineering, Forestry, Garden, Horticulture and other undergraduate programs, and undertakes the task of teaching nearly 20 classes each year. It recruits about 40 students for the Master of Science and Professional Master programs every year and has obtained eight school-level Excellent master's theses and two provincial master's theses.
The discipline focuses on academic exchanges and cooperation at home and abroad. Over the past five years, discipline personnel have participated in international academic conferences more than 20 times, and national academic conferences more than 40 times; nearly 40 domestic and foreign experts have been accepted to lecture and visit over the years.
