Combatting Drought with WAPs with Dr. Sanandam Bordoloi

“Efficacy of novel water-absorbing polymer amended soil for improving drought resilience of Solanum lycopersicum” with Dr. Sanandam Bordoloi. Drought can be a major problem for tomatoes, particularly in changing climates. Water-absorbant polymers can help water stay in the soil to help tomatoes thrive, but costs can make it hard for farmers to use them. In this episode, Sanandam joins me to discuss his research into developing more affordable, effective water-absorbant polymers from the waste material fly ash. Tune in to learn: ·        What a WAP is ·        What ratios of WAPs were tested ·        What other materials might be useful for WAP production ·        How a WAP is like a chia seed If you would like more information about this topic, this episode’s paper is available here: https://doi.org/10.1002/saj2.20480 This paper is always freely available. Contact us at podcast@sciencesocieties.org or on Twitter @FieldLabEarth if you have comments, questions, or suggestions for show topics, and if you want more content like this don’t forget to subscribe. If you’d like to see old episodes or sign up for our newsletter, you can do so here: https://fieldlabearth.libsyn.com/. If you would like to reach out to Sanandam, you can find him here: sanandam.bordoloi@aalto.fi https://www.aalto.fi/en/people/sanandam-bordoloi https://www.linkedin.com/in/sanandam-bordoloi-b7ab99294/ https://twitter.com/iamsanandam If you would like to reach out to Michael Rabe from our Student Spotlight, you can find him here: rabemich@msu.eduTwitter: www.twitter.com/rabemich Instagram: www.instagram.com/romechild Resources CEU Quiz: https://web.sciencesocieties.org/Learning-Center/Courses/Course-Detail?productid=%7b20346A38-9734-EF11-840A-002248090E3E%7d  Transcripts: https://www.rev.com/transcript-editor/shared/RfoMEzkXCdnsR7rcmvdIQ-gbiUBycxalor6Z-xFeNo-7mBTr7UUunOas7XoxGaWmOQp8jVNvov79hZPuCY8YgGiQZ9s?loadFrom=SharedLink Sponsored by METER Group. METER sensors deliver real-time plant, soil, and atmospheric data that fuels environmental research. Listen to METER Group’s podcast We Measure the World to hear how innovative researchers are leveraging environmental data to make our world a better place—and a more sustainable place—at metergroup.com/fieldlabearth Thank you to our volunteer Om Prakash Ghimire for help with the certified crop adviser quiz. Field, Lab, Earth is Copyrighted by the American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, and Soil Science Society of America.