Pakistani student keeps an eye on black soil protection

[Video provided to gojilin.gov.cn]

Arzlan Abbass, an international student from Pakistan, has been practicing what he has been learning in China.

In 2019, Abbass came to China to study for a master's degree at Jilin Agricultural University, located in Changchun city, capital of China's Northeast Jilin province.

His research direction is the monitoring and control of pests in relation to black soil.

Jilin province is rich in black soil – a type of highly fertile earth that takes hundreds of years to form a layer one-centimeter thick – and this has made it China's major grain-producing province.

To prevent the fertility of the black soil from being degraded and to maintain its productivity, the province has been undertaking conservation tillage, a form of tillage designed to minimize the use of plows and prevent the loss of topsoil.

Lishu county offers an example of this practice. After reducing the use of chemical fertilizers and covering fallow farmland with corn stalks to raise productivity, the county effectively countered agricultural pollution and conserved its soil resources.

Abbass' research focuses on the use of biological means to reduce pests and to avoid entirely or reduce the damage of chemical pesticides to the land and the environment.

His test fields are located in Quanyangou village, Lishu county and in Yingxin village in Gongzhuling city.

"Chinese farmers plant the land in a very special way. In the winter, in order to maintain soil temperature and prevent wind and water erosion, they cover the land with corn stalks," he wrote in his research notes.

"In the spring, they directly use no-tillage planters to plant the seeds and they sow under the straw. In the summer, the straw rots and it turns into fertilizer. As a result, they can reduce the use of a lot of chemical fertilizers, which saves money and protects the land."

In the days that followed, Abbass faithfully made ever more detailed notes and paid special attention to various policies on black soil protection.

Abbass followed Professor Chen Rizhao's efforts to raise insects in the laboratory and record their habits. They also set aside an area in the university's experimental teaching field to plant some crops that are attractive to pests, to facilitate the observation of insects.

Abbas assisted the professor to develop two kinds of high-efficiency pest trapping devices, as well as monitoring and early warning devices for corn borer moths which attack grain.

These have been put into use in the experimental field. In addition, applications have been made for patents on the devices.

Source: Jilin Daily