Thanks for joining us, today we welcome Dr. Mahdi M. Al-Kaisi a Professor Emeritus of soil physics (soil management/environment), the Department of Agronomy, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa. His research focuses on the effects of crops and tillage systems, crop residue, cover crops, and nitrogen application on soil carbon dynamics, sequestration, greenhouse gas emissions, and ecosystem services. Monte and Dr. Al-Kaisi really connected the dots when it comes to a systems approach, microbial function, soil carbon dynamics, and soil health.

Dr. Al-Kaisi studied the interaction effects of agricultural management practices and environmental factors such as weather variability and landscape spatial variability on soil organic carbon sequestration and systems sustainability and productivity. As a result of his research, he has developed field calculators to assess the impact of soil management practices, such as tillage, crop residue, and crop rotation on soil health. He developed a soil carbon index for soils in Iowa. Dr. Al-Kaisi is a Fellow of the American Society of Agronomy, the Soil Science Society of America, and Soil and Water Conservation Society.

Watch episode: https://youtu.be/9KK98Xxfqwk

Important Links:

Iowa Residue Calculator

http://extension.agron.iastate.edu/soilmgmt/calcResidue.aspx

Soil Erosion Calculator

https://milford.nserl.purdue.edu/wepp/strips.php

Dr. Mahdi Al-Kaisi Published work:

https://crops.extension.iastate.edu/authors/1702