In drier soils, vertical root growth will impact the ability of crops to use nutrients placed at shallower depths and plants will instead rely on soil fertility (STP). Applying nutrients at greater depths will offset this effect, increasing both water and nutrient use efficiency. An MSc student is being recruited to study water use efficiency (WUE) and carbon use efficiency (CUE) at the leaf and plant scale at agricultural field sites in the Great Lakes Region in microcatchments with surface or subsurface Phosphorus placement. The impacts of placement depth on plant WUE and CUE will be examined experimentally using the state-of-the-art WETSyS facility (growth chamber) in Waterloo. This MSc position at the University of Waterloo is fully funded.

For more information please contact Professor, Richard Petrone at rpetrone@uwaterloo.ca.