Small Waterfall, Cascades Trail
Research Facilities
The department has extensive facilities, instruments and equipment for many kinds of research and teaching in crop, soil and environmental sciences. Laboratories are instrumented for physiological research on seeds and whole plants; forage quality analyses; for plant cellular/molecular biology, tissue culture, molecular genetics, and breeding research on crop plants; for micro-biological research in water quality, nitrogen fixation and biological control of plant diseases; for modelling research on contaminant movement to ground-water; for soil chemistry and physics research on waste product utilization; for soil testing and plant analysis research on nutrient recycling and on economic inputs in crop production; for soil genesis research relative to land use and soil taxonomy; and for soil mineralogy and physical chemistry research on soil acidity and on thermodynamics and kinetics of anion and cation reactions in soils.
In addition to departmental laboratories, traditional agronomic equipment, greenhouses and extensive field facilities at Blacksburg, the Virginia Agricultural Experiment Station has research facilities at twelve locations throughout Virginia. Of particular note are field facilities for grazing research and forage-livestock systems, turfgrass, tobacco, peanut, soybean, corn, and small grains research. Excellent computer and library facilities are available. Also available on campus are electron microscopes, and an electron probe, a mass spectrograph, and facilities for biotechnological research.
