Our Research Division has accumulated a large amount of soil resource information, including past soil survey data, such as surveys conducted by the national government for agricultural land soil surveys and soil classification, as well as knowledge obtained from those analysis results. Some of them are released through the Japan Soil Inventory and the smartphone app e-Soil Map II. We have also clarified the nitrogen dynamics at the farmland to country level using the nitrogen dynamics prediction model (Leaching Estimation and Chemistry Model - LEACHM) and nitrogen footprint. Furthermore, based on the relationship between nitrogen fertility in paddy fields and brown rice yield, we have been working on the estimation of the appropriate amount of nitrogen fertilizer applied and the development of crop diagnosis technology using biomarkers for element deficiency.
Our group will continue to analyze, accumulate, and disseminate data so that it can provide the production site with soil information and soil diagnosis technology suited to the current situation. We will also work to develop data-driven soil management technologies that incorporate new scenarios for improving and refining the soil information infrastructure through the base registry, soil and crop diagnosis technologies that reduce environmental impact while improving productivity, and reducing nitrogen load from the agricultural sector.
