PI: Rajan Ghimire, Ph.D.
My research focuses on improving efficiency, profitability, and soil environmental quality in dryland and limited-irrigation cropping systems. I am interested in soil organic matter dynamics, nutrient cycling, soil-plant relations, and greenhouse gas emissions, soil organic matter-microbial community interactions, and their relationships with sustainable crop production and ecosystem services.
Laboratory technician
- Raquel De La Torre
Laboratory assistants/temporary help
- Jaden Scott
- Jera Scott
Graduate students
Sk. Musfiq-Us-Salehin, M.S. Student, 2018-2020: The main goal of Musfiq's research is to study the nitrogen dynamics in semiarid drylands. He evaluates soil N pools and N2O emissions in the dryland sorghum field with diverse N fertility rates and compost application. 
Pramod Acharya, Ph.D. Student, 2019-2022: Soil health and forage quality. The main goal of Pramod's research is to find a suitable mixture of cover crop in limited-irrigation corn-sorghum rotation that leads to crop diversity and improve soil resilience in forage production systems.
Vesh R. Thapa, Ph.D. Student, 2018-2021: Soil health and crop production in limited irrigation cropping systems. Vesh is comparing soil health indicators such as active C, mineralizable C, available N, soil aggregation, and crop yields in limited irrigation cropping systems with diverse cover crops.
Recent graduates and postdocs
Abdelaziz Nilahyane, Ph.D., 2018-2019: Evaluating soil health indicators, soil water dynamics, greenhouse gas emissions, and forage quality in a corn-sorghum rotation. Now Research Fellow at Mohammed VI Polytechnic University, Morocco.
Vesh R. Thapa, 2016-2018: Agricultural management systems affect soil health and crop production in drylands of Eastern New Mexico (Role: Major advisor). Now a Ph.D. student at NMSU.
Mikayla J. Allan, M.S. Student, 2017-2018: Understanding soil spatial and temporal variability for forage corn production and hydrological modeling within New Mexico. Now working for NRCS, Fort Sumner, NM.
Binod Ghimire, M.S., 2017, Cover crops effects on soil organic matter dynamics, weed suppression and crop yield in a limited-irrigated winter wheat-summer fallow system (Role: Co-advisor), Now a Ph.D. Student at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, IL.
Visiting scholars
Babu Ram Khanal, Agriculture and Forestry University, Nepal. Soil C and N change during the transition from irrigated to dryland cropping system, October 2018 to January 2019.
Yaqiong Fan, China Agricultural University, Simulating SOC dynamics and GHG emissions in cropping systems using DayCent Model, September/October 2017.
Vesh R. Thapa, 2016-2018: Agricultural management systems affect soil health and crop production in drylands of Eastern New Mexico (Role: Major advisor). Now a Ph.D. student at NMSU.
Mikayla J. Allan, M.S. Student, 2017-2018: Understanding soil spatial and temporal variability for forage corn production and hydrological modeling within New Mexico. Now working for NRCS, Fort Sumner, NM.
Binod Ghimire, M.S., 2017, Cover crops effects on soil organic matter dynamics, weed suppression and crop yield in a limited-irrigated winter wheat-summer fallow system (Role: Co-advisor), Now a Ph.D. Student at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, IL.
Visiting scholars
Babu Ram Khanal, Agriculture and Forestry University, Nepal. Soil C and N change during the transition from irrigated to dryland cropping system, October 2018 to January 2019.
Yaqiong Fan, China Agricultural University, Simulating SOC dynamics and GHG emissions in cropping systems using DayCent Model, September/October 2017.