Introduction of Staff

Kristina N. TODERICH

Units

Specially Appointed Professor

Kristina N. TODERICH, PhD

Academic Title

PhD in Botany

Email

ktoderich@tottori-u.ac.jp

Tel

+81-857-30-6332

Others

ResearchGate

Research Interests : Dryland Salinity, Phytoremediation and Food Security

The climate change trends, increased incidence of drought and soil salinization, saline water table cause serious damage to crops, increased instability of agricultural production and threat to the livelihoods and food security all over the world. In arid and semi-arid areas, the most risk prone regions, on average of 2,000 hectares of irrigated lands across 75 countries are degraded due to salinization every day according to the UNU Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH). In order to improve water and land productivity in these regions, it is essential to develop efficient farming and pasture management patterns and innovative technologies. Dryland and biosaline agriculture will play more and prominent role globally as more arable lands turn arid and saline. Adapting to new challenges and promoting innovative approaches for integrated management of the natural resources including optimization of agrarian sector will become important goals.

My current research focuses on the reclamation of salt affected lands, improvement of the dryland ecosystem resilience, and conservation of the agrobiodiversity by resource-efficient, climate-smart crops and technologies that are best suited to arid regions affected by salinity, water scarcity and drought. In this context, the focus will be given to the development of technology packages on cultivation of halophytes and underutilized drought and salt tolerant plants, so called non-conventional crops (NCC), including their yields protocols, social and marketing aspects. We will apply a soil-water-plant salinity dynamics model that simulates cultivation and management options over multiple growing seasons to assess the potential of NCC in enhancing food and nutrition security. By integrating crops-livestock production system on marginal lands, we will explore new prospects of alternative crops (biofuel, grain, medicinal, food, forage, landscaping etc.) and contribute to scale-up of the international dryland science programs. Efforts will be dedicated to the education of young professionals and vocational training, capacity building, up-scaling, and knowledge sharing with different stakeholders and rural communities. As a result, we will be able to increase the food production with less water by reducing competition on fresh water and combining non-profitable traditional agriculture with an innovative biosaline production system.

Education and Professional Experience

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Recent Publications

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