– Our goal is to make farming better for the planet and all the living things on it, says Pawel Lycus.
Lycus is the project manager of a new research project at NMBU – The Norwegian University of Life Sciences, that recently was granted funding from the Novo Nordisk Foundation in Denmark.
In this project, researchers aim to develop new biotechnological solutions to reduce emissions of the greenhouse gas N2O, or nitrous oxide, from agriculture and improve nitrogen use efficiency in soils. This they plan to achieve through the use of microorganisms living in the soil.
Many soil bacteria produce the greenhouse gas N2O when nitrogen-rich fertilizer is added to the soil. However, some of these bacteria are also capable of "eating" this greenhouse gas before it seeps into the atmosphere. Researchers from NMBU now plan to use these bacteria to develop eco-friendly fertilizers that can help farmers utilize nitrogen more efficiently and reduce nitrous oxide emissions. By focusing on DNRA process more nitrogen will be available to plants, instead of being lost to the atmosphere.
– Farmers and everyone in the farming community are the big winners here, says Lycus.
He summarizes the project with four main objectives:
- Finding special bacteria (DNRA-NRBs) that can help with better nitrogen management and using organic waste to do it.
- Studying these bacteria to understand how they work.
- Testing these bacteria in laboratory experiments to see if they can help reduce N2O emissions.
- If the small tests work, we are going big! We will try these bacteria in real-world farming by testing successful samples in field trials in large outdoor pots.
– Our goal is to create eco-friendly fertilizers with these bacteria. These fertilizers will help farms use nitrogen better, release less N2O, and keep the environment healthy. We also want to learn more about how these bacteria work and find the best ways to use them on a large scale, says Lycus.
For more information, please contact:
Pawel Lycus
- Researcher in the Nitrogen group at NMBU
- He has recently received funding for a new research project from the Novo Nordisk Foundation
- The funded project is named NoN2O - Novel biotechnology for improved nitrous oxide mitigation and nitrogen retention in agricultural soils and will start 01.03.2025
Read the interview with Pawel Lycus from Novo Nordisk