Yunfei  Jiang

Research vision and interest

My research program focuses on improving field crop production and enhancing crop resilience to climate change through sustainable agronomic practices in Atlantic Canada. My research experience involves environmental and management factors in pulse crops, oilseeds, and cereal crops. You can find a list of my publications on Google Scholar.

Education

• B.Sc., Horticulture, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, 2010
• M.Sc., Plant Science, Dalhousie University, 2013
• Ph.D., Plant Science, University of Saskatchewan, 2017

Research topics

• Diversified cropping systems: Improving soil health and the subsequent cash crop production and enhancing land-use efficiency through intercrops with pulses and brassica oilseeds.
• Assessing agronomic, environmental, and economic benefits of enhanced-efficiency fertilizers in cereal and oilseed crops.
  Integrated management of cultivar resistance and fungicide application to control stripe rust and FHB in winter wheat in Nova Scotia
• Germplasm evaluation for screening disease resistant and high-yielding crop species and varieties, including cereals and oilseed crops.

Teaching

I teach the following undergraduate courses: (1) AGRN2001 Cereals-Based Cropping Systems (since Fall 2022), (2) PLSC2001 Plant Propagation Techniques (25% of lectures since Fall 2022), (3) RESM4015 Honours Thesis II (Fall 2023), (4) RESM4014 Honours Thesis I (Winter 2024).

Major Sources of Research Funding and Awards

• Received the Canadian Foundation for Innovation (CFI) John R. Evans Leaders (JELF) award as the principal applicant in November 2022. The award will be used for “Infrastructure for a precision agronomy lab for crop improvement”, with the total award amount being $490,708 ($192,000 from CFI; $192,000 matching fund from Research Nova Scotia; $106,708 in-kind contribution).
• Received a Dalhousie University Researcher Start-up fund with a total award amount of $30,000 in January 2022.

Graduate Students and their Research Projects

• Brittany Cole, PhD student (January 2022 - present). A novel assessment of intermediate wheatgrass (Thinopyrum intermedium) establishment and agronomy in Atlantic Canada. (My role: PhD committee member)
• Leah MacIntyre, MSc student (September 2022 - present). Potato production systems on soil properties, nitrogen cycling communities, and soil microbiome. (My role: MSc committee member)

Undergraduate Students Research Projects (last 3 years)

• Brianna Crosby, 2022. Improving soil health and land-use efficiency through pea-mustard and pea-camelina intercrops.
• Frouke de Baker, 2023. Comparing two enhanced efficiency nitrogen fertilizers to improve potato production in Prince Edward Island.
• Kangxu He, 2023. Assessing agronomic and environmental benefits of enhanced-efficiency fertilizers in grain corn.
• Cody Webb and Kuldeep Anjana, 2023. Germplasm evaluation for screening disease resistant and high-yielding varieties of cereals and oilseeds.

Memberships

• Nova Scotia Institute of Agrologists
• Canadian Society of Agronomy
• American Society of Agronomy
• Crop Science Society of America
• Soil Science Society of America