COURSE OUTLINE

Advanced Plant Nutrition

HORT 8130

(3 credit hours)

INSTRUCTORMarc van Iersel, Room 1307 Miller Plant Sciences Building, phone 583-0284
DESCRIPTIONNutrient uptake by plants; short and long distance transport of nutrients; nitrogen fixation and metabolism; functions of essential nutrients in the plant; beneficial nutrients; plant nutrition, yield, and quality; nutrition, diseases and pests; plant and soil analysis; topics of special interest to students will be included.
REQUIREMENTSCRSS/HORT 4590/6590 and HORT 4440/6440 or equivalent and a basic knowledge of chemistry are required; or permission of department.
TEXTBOOKMineral Nutrition of Higher Plants by H. Marschner. 1995.
REFERENCESPrinciples of Plant Nutrition by K. Mengel and E.A. Kirkby. 2001.
INSTRUCTIONThere will be 3 lectures per week. Class participation is encouraged. The lecture material will come from the class textbook and from references from the literature. Class discussion of research papers will be an important part of this course.
There will be two 50-minute exams in addition to the final exam. The exam material can include topics from the textbook, lectures, and problem sets. All exams will be comprehensive and can include material covered through the week previous to the one in which the exam is held.

Students will be required to write a research proposal on a topic related to plant nutrition. The proposal needs to be in standard format for a federal granting agency (USDA, NSF, DOE, etc.), and include all necessary paperwork (budget, signature forms, etc). All proposals will be presented in class.

Method of Determining Final Grade
First Test20%
Second Test20%
Final exam25%
Research Proposal25%
Class participation10%

POLICY FOR MAKE-UP OF EXAMINATIONS: Exams can be made up with proper justification of the reasons why the student could not take them at the specified dates and times.

TOPICS TO BE COVERED

  1. Nutrient uptake and sort-distance transport
  2. Long distance transport of nutrients
  3. Photosynthesis, respiration, and source-sink relationships
  4. Nitrogen fixation
  5. Nitrogen metabolism
  6. Phosphorus
  7. Potassium
  8. Sulfur, Calcium, and Magnesium
  9. Micronutrients
  10. Beneficial elements
  11. Mineral nutrition, yield and quality
  12. Nutrition, pests, and diseases
  13. Soil and plant analysis
Topics of special interest to students may be added (please contact me with suggestions)

ACADEMIC HONESTY POLICY

All academic work must meet the standards contained in UGAs Culture of Honesty. Each student is responsible to inform themselves about those standards before performing any academic work.