Research Highlights

Research Statement

I aspire to advance understanding of soil processes and intricate linkages within biogeochemical cycles to optimize soil health, nutrient management, carbon sequestration strategies, and crop (and forage) production. I am interested in soil health and nutrient management, nutrient cycling, greenhouse gas emissions, soil carbon sequestration, and conservation agriculture. My research goal is to:

• seek innovative soil management practices to regenerate soil fertility and soil health,
• advance sustainable, resource-efficient, eco-friendly, and economic approaches in agricultural production and
• identify viable frontier and business-as-usual soil management technologies to mitigate environmental footprint and increase soil organic C storage.

Research Theme

Highlights

• [November 2023] An article from my Ph.D. research has been published in Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment Journal. Cover crop-mediated soil carbon storage and soil health in semi-arid irrigated cropping systems.
• [July 2023] I started working as a Postdoctoral Research Associate at New Mexico State University Agricultural Science Center, Clovis, NM. I am actively engaged in the "Carbon Management and Soil Health Research" project, a statewide multidisciplinary and collaborative initiative to evaluate soil health and carbon storage dynamics across different land use systems. In addition, I am engaged in two other research projects under irrigated and dryland scenarios, both sharing the common goal of identifying regenerative solutions to produce quality forage while maintaining soil health and supporting the needs of local dairy producers.

Pictures showing soil sampling in different land use systems under the Carbon Managament and Soil Health Research Initiative Project.

• [April 2023] This date embarks my successful Ph.D. dissertation defense.
• [March 2023] The second chapter of my Ph.D. research has been published in Agronomy Journal Cover crop forage potential and subsequent sorghum silage yield and nutritive value
• [March 2023] I am fortunate to receive the prestigious Gerald O. Mott Award from the Crop Science Society of America.
• [July 2022] The first article from my Ph.D. research was published in Scientific Reports. Refer to the following link for the article Net greenhouse gas balance with cover crops in semi-arid irrigated cropping systems.
• [July 2022] The NMSU Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences awarded me with the Baldwin and Reichert Agronomy Travel Award to attend ASA-CSSA-SSSA annual meeting in Baltimore, MD.
• [June 2022] I received the FIRST place award in the graduate student oral competition at the Western Society of Crop Science Annual Meeting, CSU, Fort Collins, CO. The title of the presentation was "Cover crops for improving forage sorghum yield and nutritive value in water-limited environments".
• [April 2022] An article, water productivity of forage sorghum in response to winter cover crops in semi-arid irrigated conditions, was published in Field Crops Research. I was a co-author of the paper.
• [February 2022] I passed the comprehensive exam and am officially a Ph.D. candidate.
• [February 2022] An article on soil profile carbon, nitrogen, and crop yields affected by cover crops in semiarid regions was published in Nutrient Cycling in Agroecosystems. This project was a continuation of my master's work.
  

Pramod and his coworker collected soil samples from a deep soil profile (0–80 cm) to study soil organic carbon and nitrogen changes in a cover crop integrated cropping system.

• [November 2021] An article I co-authored cover crop water use and corn silage production in semi-arid irrigated conditions got published in Agricultural Water Management.
• [July 2021] A book chapter on soil indicators and management strategies for environmental sustainability was published online.
• [July 2021] I received a Graduate Student Research Grant from Western Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (W-SARE) to work on 'Cover crops for improving nitrogen use efficiency in a semiarid irrigated forage rotation'. The project started in August 2021.

Pramod uses a vacuum pump and syringe to extract soil water samples and analyze for nitrogen content. 

• [June 2021] I got first place in a poster competition at the Western Society of Crop Science Virtual Meeting.
• [June 2021] A research work, soil acidification in a continuous cotton production system, was published in Agriculture and Environmental Letters.
• [June 2019] I joined Ph.D. at the Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, New Mexico State University. I am working under the supervision of Dr. Rajan Ghimire at the Cropping Systems and Soil Management laboratory in Clovis, NM.
• [June 2019] My first peer-reviewed research article, Linking soil health to sustainable crop production: dairy compost effects on soil properties and sorghum biomass, is finally out in the Sustainability Journal.

A greenhouse set up for the compost trial

Recent Involvement

• I monitored greenhouse gases (CO2 and N2O) in the perennial pasture cropping systems since spring 2021.

Research plots for perennial pasture project and greenhouse gas monitoring.

• A recent litter bag study examined cover crops' decomposition and nutrient release in different field conditions. In addition, a long-term incubation study was conducted to better understand residue decomposition dynamics. Amrit D. Adhikari, a former ENMU graduate student, was involved in this project as a part of his master's research. The study has been recently published in Applied Soil Ecology (Cover crop residue quality regulates litter decomposition dynamics and soil carbon mineralization kinetics in semi-arid cropping systems).

Pramod's co-worker, Amrit Dhoj Adhikari, preparing litter bags for decomposition study

• Also, Pramod collected greenhouse gas data for two years in a cover crop-integrated forage production system [2018–2020]. Details of the project can be found in the recent article "Net greenhouse gas balance with cover crops in semi-arid irrigated cropping systems".

Measuring greenhouse gases in the field. This photo has been featured in NMSU ACES Magazine (Spring 2021) under the 'Capturing CO2' topic.

• He has been working on a cover crops research project where the study primarily focuses on soil organic carbon and nitrogen components.

Cornell infiltrometer to simulate rainfall for studying aggregate soil stability at Cropping Systems and Soil Management laboratory in Clovis, NM. 

• He collected ground beetles from the cover crop research project. The study was conducted from 2019 to 2020 in a winter wheat-sorghum-fallow cropping system. The study was done in a collaboration between NMSU, ASC Clovis, and Texas A&M University, Lubbock.
• Pramod was also involved in a research project on organic management of aphids on beans The research was conducted in Lamjung, Nepal with a collaboration between the Institute of Agriculture and Animal Science and Nepal Permaculture Group in 2013.

Photos from the research project on organic management of aphids on beans.

Outreach activities

Pramod presented his research work during farmer's field day in 2021 at NMSU ASC Clovis.