Nuclear Science Boosts Crop Nutrition and Climate Resilience

Nuclear and isotopic techniques, combined with advanced analytical approaches, provide tools to better understand how nutrients move through soil-plant systems.

Stable isotope techniques will be used to assess the cycling and uptake efficiency of key nutrients, including nitrogen, zinc, iron and selenium, while radioisotope approaches, which are better suited to tracking phosphorus in soil and crops, will assess phosphorus dynamics. Complementary analytical approaches, including X-ray fluorescence and other advanced techniques, will strengthen rapid and reliable assessment of nutrient availability and crop nutritional quality.

By using isotopic tracers, researchers can distinguish between nutrients originating from fertilizers and those already present in soils. This makes it possible to quantify nutrient recovery, identify pathways of nutrient loss and develop improved soil-plant nutrient management strategies based on the principles of applying the right nutrient source, at the right rate, at the right time and in the right place.

When combined with field experiments and advanced analytical methods, these approaches allow researchers to quantify nutrient cycling, identify loss pathways and assess how climate conditions influence nutrient availability and uptake.