Agricuture Technical Officer
Current• Collecting soil and plant samples from growers’ paddocks, field trials and environmentally controlled glasshouse trials.• Physical, chemical, and topographical analysis of soil samples from experimental sites. This includes specialized testing for soil aggregate stability, water repellency, soil acidity and electrical conductivity to help determine soil structure, potential soil fertility and soil health.• Agronomic crop assessments including weighing, plant/tiller count, plant height, stem diameter measurement and Zadok crop maturity scoring.• Assisting in analyzing and developing various soil renovation techniques for growing specific crops with the maximum and effective utilization of land.• Assisting in scoring visible symptoms of soilborne diseases and nematode pests in susceptible crops. • Production and maintenance of fungal cultures to inoculate experimental field trial trials.• Preparing media for plant parasitic nematode cultures.• Step by step processes for a) extracting nematodes from roots collected in farmer paddocks as well as glasshouse and field research trials; b) reduction of extracted samples; and c) assisting in microscopic counting and analysis.• Data collection, data entry for statistical analysis for research programs.• Grain quality processing and analysis including seed test weight, seed size, moisture content, protein content, viability.• Conducting laboratory DNA and nucleotide ploidy level processing and analysis to find out genetic control methods of weed Leucaena species in DPIRD’s pasture breeding research.• Assisting pasture seed production for Tedera, a new pasture in development to provide greater pasture options to the growers.• Supervising new members of the team and working along with them.• Working individually and as a part of team.• Reporting results or issues regarding task assigned to the leaders.
