Soil fertility improvement, cultivated land conservation, fertilization technology and new fertilizer R&D, efficient measures for nutrients management to achieve high yield of crop  

Soil quality monitoring, biological and organic fertilizers, improvement of contaminated soil and improvement of soil environmental quality

Risk assessment and management of heavy metals in farmland; development of mitigation and remediation technologies for the polluted farmland, and safe utilization technologies for the mildly heavy metal polluted farmland.

Focusing on livestock and poultry breeding pollution control and agricultural waste resource utilization, the lab carries out researches mainly on two established research directions: waste to fertilizer and waste to material. As for the waste to fertilizer, the lab focuses on waste reduction from large-scale livestock and poultry breeding, composting and organic fertilizer technology, equipment and product research;  as for the waste to material, it focuses on the industrial fabrication of biodegradable flowerpots, seedling containers, seedling substrate blocks, straw mulching films and other technical products

The lab has undertaken over 20 projects in the past three years, including 4 NSFC projects, 3 National Key R&D Plan projects and 2 projects of the National the National Water Pollution Control and Treatment Science and Technology Major Project. Over the past three years, the total income from intellectual property services has reached RMB 3.206 million. In 2015 and 2016, the lab was honored as the Excellent Team in Scientific and Technological Output. In 2016 and 2017, the lab was honored the “Advanced Unit”. The lab published over 26 research papers, including 17 SCI/EI papers. It applied for 22 patents and was authorized 24 patents. It’s also the winner to 3 prizes for scientific and technological achievements, including 1 second prize of National Scientific and Technological Progress Award, 1 first prize for Shen Nong China Agricultural Science and Technology Award from the Ministry of Agriculture, 1 second prize from the JAAS Award and 1 recommended technology award from the Ministry of Agriculture.

Precision management of farmland nutrients and loss control of nitrogen and phosphorus, development of new environment-friendly materials and loss control of nitrogen and phosphorus, farmland reuse of environmental source nutrients and comprehensive prevention and control of non-point source pollution

Pollutant migration, transformation and removal mechanism, Cyanobacteria (blue-green algae) control and recycling of nitrogen and phosphorus nutrients, R&D and improvement of water ecological restoration engineering technology

Main research directions:

 Environmental nutrient recycling project (biological enrichment and reutilization engineering technology of loss nutrient from farmland runoff, safe utilization technology of farmlands with farmlands contaminated with manure and biogas slurry and supporting equipment), ecological cultivation and cultivation of paddy fields (protective cultivation and ecological cultivation of paddy fields), construction and utilization of farmland biodiversity (high-efficiency cultivation mode of crops, three-dimensional cultivation mode and layout of farmland plant diversity)

Research achievements: 

Targeted at the sustainable agricultural production, environmental protection and sustainable agricultural development in the Yangtze River Delta region, the lab conducts research on the key directions of nutrient recycling in agricultural ecosystems. Meanwhile, it strengthens the research directions featured with environment-friendly planting/breeding modes, developing and applying eco-agricultural engineering technologies and modes in large-scale demonstration project.

During the 12th Five-Year Plan period, the lab presided over 22 national, provincial (ministerial) level scientific research projects, published 52 research papers and applied for 11 patents (6 authorized); it also completed 1 achievement appraisal, formulated 4 local standards, won 1 second prize of provincial science and technology award, and 1 first prize of Jiangsu Academy of Agricultural Sciences Science and Technology Award.