By Arif Rahman
SWBR Scientist
The Soil, Water, and Bioenergy Research program team organized a technical session and participated in the State of Lake Erie Conference. Drs. Rafiq Islam and Arif Rahman moderated a session titled “Agricultural practice and water quality” as chair and co-chair, respectively. It was held March 16-17, 2022 in Cleveland and was sponsored by the International Association for Great Lakes Research.
The session focused on lake-specific research such as the management of algal blooms, and promoted education and research interactions among researchers and stakeholders. The main focal point was Cyanotoxin-producing algal blooms due to edge-of-field loss of reactive phosphorous (nitrogen), which is one of the critical water problems in Ohio and the entire the Midwest.
Islam delivered a research presentation titled “Performance of bio-based dipolar adsorbent to control edge-of-field phosphorus loss.” Rahman delivered a presentation on soil accumulation and edge-of-field loss of phosphorous to surface water under diverse agricultural management practices in Ohio. Participants from various U.S. states and from Canada attended the session.