April 3, 2024: Field trip to Crop Research institute, Chomutov, the Czech Republic

On April 3, 2024, the Erasmus students from the Faculty of Environment, UJEP (spring semester, 2023-2024 education year) Batou Hamadi (Lebanon); Kubra Agir, Ceylin Deniz, Humeyra Yesilbudak, Zeynepnur Arici (all Turkey), exchange student Arsen Khomenchuk (Ukraine), PhD students Robert Ato Newton and Mannan Rouhani (UJEP), and Prof. Valentina Pidlisnyuk, NDP visited the Crop Research Institute, branch in Chomutov, the Czech Republic. The field trip is included in the updated curriculum of the Erasmus course “Sustainable Management of Contaminated Sites” offered by Prof. Pidlisnyuk at UJEP in 2023-2024 educational years. The field research in Chomutov is focused on testing the biochar as a soil amendment for enhancing the biomass production at the Miscanthus plantation established at the post-military land.

Dr. Ustak, Director of the Crop Research Institute, branch in Chomutov, introduced the activities provided by the institute with the scientific programs in bioeconomy and circular economy of the Czech Ministry of Agriculture. He did a presentation about the research & outreach related production of energy crops and agricultural waste management which are going on at the institute within different scientific programmers including Horizon, NATO SPS MYP and CORNET.

In the field, students assisted PhD student Robert Ato Newton to collect soil samples from the Miscanthus field established in 2021. These soil samples will be measured for the content of carbon and nutrients which is a part of research on carbon sequestration at the NATO G6094 project jointly provided by UJEP and TVHNPU, Ukraine (PPD Andriy Hertz). Other collected soil samples will be monitored for changing of the microbial communities by using nematodes which is a part of research at the NATO G6094 jointly provided by NULES, Ukraine (Co-Director Tatyana Stefanovska), UJEP and the National Institute of Horticultural Research, Republic of Poland.