収穫の季節です。この水田では、国際資源植物学研究室と土壌圏システム学研究室の学生が共同で、水稲が有機物から無機化したアンモニア態窒素を吸収する過程を調査しています。地上部と地下部の窒素動態を調査することで、水田における窒素収支をかなり詳細に推定しようという試みです。水稲栽培に長けた留学生と土壌調査や気象計測に長けた学生が、お互いの弱みを補うことで飛躍的に学びを加速させています。学部生も必死に付いていき大いに学んでいるようです。英語でのコミュニケーションにも慣れてきたようです。残るは、採取してきた植物と土壌のサンプルを上手く調理できるかですね。

The harvest season has arrived. In this small rice field, the Global Plant Resource Science (GPRS) Lab and the Vadose Zone Hydrology (VZH) Lab investigate the soil-plant process in which rice plants absorb ammonium nitrogen in soils mineralized from organic matters. They are attempting to estimate the nitrogen balance in rice fields in details by measuring nitrogen dynamics above- and below-ground. The collaboration between GPRS MSc students with good knowledge of rice cultivation and VZH MSc students with some techniques of soil analysis and weather observation makes up for their shortcomings and enhances their learning process of rice physiological ecology greatly. GPRS undergraduate students are also learning a lot by trying to catch up with senior students. It seems that Japanese students are getting accustomed to the communication in English. Now, they are going to shift their focus from the management of rice plants to the analysis of sampled plants and soils.