The Master Courses 

The courses of this master program are organized in modules as follows:

• M1: Basic chemical, physical and biological Properties of agricultural soils.
• M2: Soil-Plant Interaction and root growth
• M3: Root Growth, Rhizosphere and Soil Microbiome
• M4: Macronutrients, Micronutrients and Beneficial Elements in Plants
• M5: Nutrient Uptake & Solute Transport in Plants
• M6: Molecular Plant Nutrition and Genetics of Plant Nutrition
• M7: Crop Nutrition and Environmental Stresses
• M8: Presentation and discussion of students’ end of study projects

Summary

The Program is designed for individuals working in the fertilizer industry and production, fertilizer sales and marketing, crop production, soil management, as well as agribusiness. The Program will provide a basic knowledge and understanding of fundamental and applied aspects of crop nutrition and offer practical research experience in laboratory and field. 

Description

The duration of the teaching activities of the Executive Master in Crop Nutrition will be 8 weeks, one module per week, offered during a given academic year. The program will combine classroom lectures, exercises and demonstrations, and field tours.  Beside the general training in crop nutrition and the role of fertilizers, the program will introduce the basic concepts of experimental design and analysis, and the interpretation and presentation of experimental data. A professional project will also be assigned at the beginning of the course to each student.  The project will allow students to explore a topic in Crop nutrition within their area of interest.  Each student will be mentored by a member of the course faculty.

Key Benefits

Upon completion of the course, students should be able to:

• Understand importance of Soil tests in characterizing the soil nutrient status.
• Understand soil-plant interactions and factors affecting root growth and nutrient solubility and mobility in rhizosphere. 
• Comprehend why plants need mineral nutrients, and the main functions of each mineral nutrient in the growth and development of plants.
• Assess mechanisms of nutrient uptake and transport within the plant, and their physiological and genetic regulation. 
• Find ways to improve nutrient-use efficiency of plants and enhance the biofortification of food crops with essential nutrients. 
• Grasp the importance of plant tissue analysis to identify nutrient deficiency and toxicity on leaves in order to recommend corrective actions to growers.  
• optimize crop nutrition in presence of abiotic stresses (acid soils and aluminum toxicity, alkaline and saline soils, heavy metal contamination and remediation, drought and waterlogging) as well as biotic stresses (particularly soil-borne diseases).
• Understand the role of mineral fertilizer in reducing hidden hunger, especially through improving nutritional quality of food crops.

 

Who Should Attend 

• Candidates holding a master’s degree or equivalent in agronomy and crop production, operating in the fertilizer industry or in agribusiness. 
• Candidates should have B2 English proficiency level or higher.