The 2024 Brian Chambers award

Information about the winners in 2024.

The 2024 award attracted another excellent selection of varied and high quality entries.

The judges concluded that the poster presentation that justified winning the first prize of £1,000 was by Elden Willems, studying at Ku Leuven, Belgium. His research explores the potential for using struvite to improve N and P use efficiency in rice and also reduce seedling toxicity linked to acidity and ammonium osmotic stress. In practical terms, N and P dipping with struvite could improve paddy rice yields and reduce the need for conventional fertilisers, contributing to agriculture sustainability. 

His key findings were that struvite, as a waste-derived N and P source, can partially replace conventional fertilisers. At the same time, the slow nutrient release from struvite could be more aligned with rice nutrient demand and therefore allow for a greater N and P uptake when compared to MAP, a highly water-soluble and acidic phosphate source. Seedling toxicity was reduced. Added benefits are the resource use efficiency of deriving a fertiliser from wastewater, and the potential to benefit rice farmers worldwide.     

A short interview with Elden about his research has been recorded. To see it, click on the small white ‘play’ triangle above.

Of the two 2024 Runners up, research by Ekatherina Vasquez-Zambrano, of Wageningen University the Netherlands, developed a cocoa N, P, and K offtake model based on nutrient export and immobilisation in the tree to provide a more informed fertiliser application recommendation. Cocoa production in West Africa has increased over the years, yet yields are stagnant due to limited fertiliser use, poor maintenance, and inadequate pest control. Moreover, the knowledge on cocoa mineral nutrition is still limited, with outdated existing and inconsistent fertiliser recommendations across countries and regions. In the model, total N, P, and K requirements are calculated based on target yield, nutrient concentrations in the crop, and amounts immobilised in woody shoots and roots.

A short interview with Ekatherina about her research has been recorded.

The other 2024 Runner up was Zhuo Xu, of Wageningen University, the Netherlands. His research assesses the potential of the Nutrient Expert (NE) system to improve productivity, profitability and sustainability compared to traditional farming practices. This system can quickly and easily provide nutrient advice for individual fields, with or without soil test data. It was developed as a free public service program, available through a popular smartphone app in China, making it accessible to everyone, and simplifying complex model inputs for users. 

Compared with farmers’ practice, NE recommendations slightly increased yield, significantly improved net profit and agricultural sustainability. The NE system aims to achieve a dynamic balanced source-sink relationship, thereby increasing yield while reducing wastage of pre-flowering reserves.

A short interview with Zhuo about his research has been recorded.