2019_01_09_CIE_beca_juan_cierva

The Navarre researcher Idoia Ariz has obtained a scholarship Juan de la Cierva to work on two projects on ammonium transport in plants and in yeasts. The study is carried out at the group BACh (of Chemistry Biological and Agricultural ) of the University of Navarra at partnership with the Public University of Navarra (UPNA), and several international universities in Portugal, Belgium and Germany.

After doing her postdoc at the University of Lisbon, the scientist from Navarra has obtained one of the prestigious Juan de la Cierva grants to attract talent and offer contracts to young researchers. In the case of Idoia Ariz, this scholarship has allowed her to join a group of research led by Full Professor José María García-Mina at the School of Sciences of the University of Navarra.

Among the projects developed by the scientist in her new group is Nitro Healthy -funded by the Government of Navarra within the S3 Food Chain- and aimed at studying the use of alternative nitrogen sources to nitrate. "Nitrate, in its employment as a fertilizer, can cause serious environmental and public health problems. At the same time, the knowledge of bioactive compounds in foods obtained with alternative fertilization can provide essential information for producing quality, healthy, natural foods, etc.", explains the scientist.

This work is carried out, moreover, through a species model, spinach, because its genome has been completely sequenced recently, in 2017, "and because it is the horticultural species par excellence in the accumulation of nitrates in its leaves. In fact, one of our objectives is to try to reduce these foliar nitrate contents", emphasizes Idoia Ariz.

Reducing polluting atmospheric gases

Another of the lines in which Idoia Ariz collaborates, within the group BACh of the University of Navarra, refers to the in vitro characterization of nitrogen fertilizers according to the physicochemical characteristics of the soil and the specific plant cover: "In this way we could make a tailor-made fertilization that meets the agronomic needs in terms of yield and production, but with the minimum environmental impact, thus reducing polluting atmospheric gases. We would be able, at summary, to determine fertilizer types, application times and amounts depending on the soil and the crop that requires them."

His group also analyzes how a nutrient deficient in the soil (such as sulfur) can restrict the use of nutrients that are not limited, such as nitrogen. "This subject analysis is crucial in plant mineral nutrition and fertilization in agriculture and can make a decisive contribution to an environmentally sustainable agricultural development ," Ariz concludes.