The Soil, Fertilizer and Water Saving Institute of Gansu Academy of Agricultural Sciences (GAAS) was founded in 1958. It is a research institution focused on soil, fertilizer, agricultural resource utilization, and water-saving agriculture in the province. With 54 employees, the institute serves the province’s agricultural and rural development. The institute mainly conducts research and development in land resource utilization and protection, water-saving agriculture, plant nutrition, high-yield and high-efficiency fertilization technology for crops, the breeding of new fertilizer varieties, special compound fertilizers, and microbial fertilizers. It also works on breeding new green manure and forage varieties. In addition, it undertakes soil, fertilizer chemistry, and agricultural product quality analysis and provides technical consultation and services to agriculture, environmental greening, and production enterprises.
The institute consists of several research laboratories:
- Soil Research Laboratory
- Plant Nutrition and Fertilizer Research Laboratory
- Water-saving Agriculture Research Laboratory
- Tillage Cultivation Research Laboratory
- Green Manure Research Laboratory
- Oasis Ecological Agriculture Research Laboratory
- Agricultural Microbiology Research Laboratory
- Agricultural Resource Efficient Utilization Research Laboratory
It also has experimental stations such as the Zhangye Water-saving Agriculture Experiment Station, Wuwei Oasis Agriculture Experiment Station, and Baiyin Yellow River Irrigation Area Comprehensive Agriculture Experiment Station, along with a Microbiology Laboratory and a Resource and Environmental Monitoring and Analysis Laboratory. The institute has a field test base of 150 mu, one greenhouse, and a soil specimen library.
Research fields include innovative research and technology demonstration in areas such as improving arable land fertility, improving saline-alkali land, plant nutrition and fertilization, water-saving agriculture, farmland ecological environment, agricultural microorganisms, new product development, soil fertilization, and water-fertilizer regulation. The institute also focuses on fertilization structures for different crop rotation methods and green manure variety resources. In recent years, the institute has embraced international cooperation, collaborating with countries like Canada and Australia, and hosting over 20 foreign experts for academic exchanges.
The institute is dedicated to transforming scientific achievements into practical applications. It has introduced technologies and products such as balanced and formula fertilization, crop fertilizers, facility vegetable fertilization, saline-alkali land transformation, sewage treatment, and corn slow-release fertilizers, flower capsule fertilizers, potato fertilizers, pepper antifreeze, and soil improvers. The products and services offered by the institute include: arable land conservation and nutrient recycling technology, key technologies for super-high-yield farmland, technologies for evaluating and monitoring arable land fertility, saline-alkali land biological improvement, water-saving material and technology development, agricultural machinery, and supporting technologies for water-saving technologies.
The institute also focuses on straw film return technology and supporting agricultural machinery technology, the development of functional special fertilizers, biological fertilizers, saline-alkali land soil improvers, and BB fertilizer color coating agents, as well as soil agrochemistry and plant nutrition testing and analysis technologies.
More information (in Chinese): https://tfs.gsagr.cn.
