Agricultural research

We are involved in several collaborative research projects conducted in agricultural systems.

We recently completed a project with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) Ste. Foy, led by Dr. Philippe Rochette. With Dr. Andy VanderZaag of AAFC, Ottawa, we evaluated the ammonia volatilization measured using wind tunnels.

We are collaborating with Dr. Asim Biswas at the University of Guelph in evaluating a new soil water sensor capable of measurement at field scale.

We are starting a new collaboration with Dr. Sergio Burgos in McGill's Animal Science Department. Dr. Burgos is interested in the emissions of GHG's during normal dairy cattle operations.

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Results:

Content coming ...

Publications and theses:

Pelster, D.E., Watt, D., Strachan, I.B., Rochette, P., Bertrand, N. and Chantigny, M., 2019. Effects of initial soil moisture, clod size and clay content on ammonia volatilization after sub-surface band application of urea. Journal of Environmental Quality doi:10.2134/jeq2018.09.0344

Vidana Gamage, D.N., Biswas, A., and Strachan, I.B., 2019. Spatial variability of soil thermal properties and their relationships with physical properties at field scale. Soil & Tillage Research 193: 50-58. doi:10.1016/j.still.2019.05.0

Vidana Gamage, D.N., Biswas, A., and Strachan, I.B., 2019. Field water balance closure with actively heated fiber optics and point-based sensors. Water 11, 135. doi:10.3390/w11010135

Vidana Gamage, D.N., Biswas, A., and Strachan, I.B., 2018. Actively heated fiber optic technique to monitor three-dimensional wetting patterns under drip irrigation. Agricultural Water Management 210: 243-251

Vidana Gamage, D.N., Biswas, A., Strachan, I.B. and Adamchuk, V.I., 2018. Soil water measurement using actively heated fiber optics at field scale. Sensors 18(4) 1116 doi:10.3390/s18041116

Watt, D., Rochette, P., VanderZaag, A., Strachan, I.B., Bertrand, N., 2016. Impact of the oasis effect on wind tunnel measurements of ammonia volatilization. Canadian Journal of Soil Science, 96:1–11 dx.doi.org/10.1139/cjss-2016-0025

Duminda Vidana Gamage, 2019. “New soil water sensing technique to quantify spatio-temporal dynamics of soil water at point to field scale” PhD thesis, McGill University

Devon Watt, 2016. “Impacts of soil physical properties and of the wind-tunnel measurement technique on ammonia volatilization from urea-fertilized soils” 103 pp. MSc thesis, McGill University.