Valeria obtained her BSc in Agronomy, MSc in Soil Fertility, and PhD in Natural Sciences. She is a Post-Doctural scientist in the Department of Soil Science and Crop Production (Marcos Juarez, Cordoba Province) at INTA.

Project summary

To investigate the impact of long-term agricultural practices on soil bacterial and fungal communities and their effect on crop productivity using high-throughput sequencing techniques, and the MGnify platform for the analysis of sequences in Rob Finn’s group at EMBL-EBI. This study pursues a complete taxonomic classification of the existing taxa and it represents an unprecedented dataset from Latin America.

Project outcomes and impact

The main outcome of the project is the identification of agricultural practices that promote soil health and sustainability. The study of the taxonomical composition of soil microbiome under long-term agronomical practices allow the Argentinean Institute of Agriculture (INTA) to recommend strategies aimed at guaranteeing the conservation of soil biodiversity and sustainable crop production.