MISOLAG Project started
2026/05/18 by Kristina Nelke
In March 2026, members of the Department of Soil Mineralogy and Soil Chemistry installed four suction cups for extracting soil water and sensors for measuring soil moisture and temperature at each of the two agricultural experimental sites, Gladbacher Hof and Oberer Hardthof, at Justus Liebig University Giessen.
These are part of a long-term experiment designed to investigate copper and zinc fluxes resulting from the use of manure and fungicides in organic farming, using stable isotope labeling. Both metals are essential micronutrients for plants, animals, and humans, but at excessively high concentrations they can also harm soil organisms and impair soil fertility in the long term. Therefore, we are conducting a comprehensive investigation of the behavior of Cu and Zn in the soil and their availability to plants. The soil water, which reflects the loss from the system, will be collected every two to four weeks over the next year and analyzed for Cu and Zn concentrations and stable isotopes at the Institute of Applied Geosciences.
