UGA Graduate Students Earn Top Honors at Nitrogen Use Efficiency Workshop
| Two University of Georgia Department of Crop and Soil Sciences graduate students earned top honors at the 2026 Nitrogen Use Efficiency Workshop, held Aug. 3-5 at Mississippi State University in Starkville, Mississippi. The event brought together 96 attendees from 19 states, including growers, crop consultants, industry representatives, faculty and graduate students.
Amrinder Jakhar earned third place in the workshop’s poster competition for his presentation, “What Does a Canopy Sensor Need to Improve Nitrogen Use Efficiency? Variable-Rate Side-Dress Across Split Strategies in Georgia Corn.” His research examined sensor-based variable-rate side-dress nitrogen applications across split-application strategies in irrigated Georgia corn. Jakhar and fellow graduate student Anish Bhattarai also represented Team Georgia in the workshop’s NxS Hackathon, where they placed second overall. Using a multi-state nitrogen-by-sulfur rate trial dataset, the team developed NxS Advisor, a decision-support tool that compares agronomic optimum nitrogen rates across sulfur levels and recommends sulfur only when the economic return exceeds that of a zero-sulfur baseline. A team from Oklahoma State University claimed first place. Both students are advised by Dr. Leonardo M. Bastos, assistant professor in the UGA Department of Crop and Soil Sciences. |
 |