Shire Soil Research Center

1. General Background

Shire Soil Research Center, the then-called Shire soil laboratory, was established in 1990s by the Ministry of Agriculture to support the agricultural sector by providing soil laboratory analysis services and was under the Tigray Bureau of Agriculture for some years. In February 2013 the regional government decided the laboratory to be administered under the regional research institute (TARI) with the objective to support the agricultural sector through providing research based soil, plant, and water analysis services.

Currently, Shire Soil Research Center (SSRC) is one of the two soil research centers under the umbrella of Tigray Agricultural Research Institute (TARI) which specifically conducts research on the chemical, physical, and biological fertility of agricultural soils. Shire soil research center is working soil-related research activities under the research mandate areas of Shire-Mytsebri and Axum Agricultural Research Centers in two zones of Tigray (Central and Northwestern zones) and cater a total of 24 woredas (13 woredas in central and 11 woredas in north western). The Soil Laboratory was considered for accreditation by the Ethiopian National Accreditation Office (ENAO).

Shire Soil Research Center is organized under three core processes;

1. Soil research,
2. Laboratory analysis service and
3. Support staff core processes. 

Mission: “To conduct scientific research on soil resources that enables sustainably higher crop and forage production and provide analytical services in the required quality and quantity to give soil, plant and water analytical and management recommendations”

 Vision: “To become the center of excellence in soil research and to generate soil resources management technologies and enable farmers to use a soil and crop specific fertilizer recommendations by 2037”

2. Research Capacity

1. Human Power: The center has a total of 34 Staff members (26 permanent, 4 contract and 2 daily Servants). In Profession we have 8 Researchers (PhD = 0, MSc = 8 and BSc = 0), 11 Laboratory technicians (2 BSc and 9 Diploma holders) and 14 Supportive staffs.
2. Physical Capacity: The Center have one Laboratory (for Soil, plant and water analysis service) and one Organic fertilizer Training Shed farmers (Composting, Vermicomposting and Vermiculture). The center also owns a totaling of 2.5 ha being used for research activities as well as technology multiplication. There is access for all weather road which crosses all the districts under the mandate of the center.

3. Research thematic areas

3.1. Soil Fertility and Plant Nutrition Research Case team

The soil research core process has been carried out and achieved many projects regarding solving agricultural soil problems of our farmlands with limited human power. In addition to soil research, our center provides soil, water, and plant analysis and recommendation services for researchers, graduate students, agricultural investors, as well as farmers.   

The soil research core process (research thematic areas) has three case teams

• • Soil Fertility Research
  • Soil Biology Research
  • Soil Resource Survey, Land Evaluation and Mapping Research

This case team mostly deals with research agendas on soil health; soil physical and chemical fertility and plant nutrition.

• Site/Context Specific fertilizer recommendation
• Balanced fertilizers recommendation research (Macro and micro-nutrients)
• Soil Properties and their effect on nutrient availability and plant nutrition
• Organic farming and environmental sustainability
• Integrated Soil Fertility Management Research, Integrated soil fertility management (ISFM)
• Nutrient Use Efficiency and interaction effect of nutrients
• Research on Soil pollution and its impact on soil fertility and environment
• Micronutrients and nutrition research
• Management of soil chemical properties & climate change

3.2. Soil Biology Research

• Organic farming and environmental sustainability
• Biofertilizers research on different bean crops
• Integrated soil fertility management (ISFM) research
• Production and testing of different organic fertilizers on different soil types and agricultural land use systems
  • Vermicompost
  • Compost and
  • Farmyard manure
• Research on different compost worms
• Selection of different composting materials
• Survey and characterization of locally produced organic fertilizers

3.3. Soil Resource Survey and Land Evaluation research

Like the other case teams soil resource survey and mapping research conduct research on: -

• Soil Characterization and Classification
• Soil salinity survey
• Soil fertility survey
• Land use evaluation system and land suitability classification on: -
  • Farmlands
  • Irrigation lands
  • Grazing lands

• Soil diagnostic approach and application of pedometrics
• Geochemical process and soil landscape modeling
• Mapping and generating geospatial soil information
• Geo database development

3.4. Analytical Laboratory Research and Testing Services

The laboratory we have is updating its soil, water, and plant analysis service from time to time. At this moment; our laboratory gives analysis services and recommendations for more than 20 parameters: -

• 13 soil parameters: - Soil pH, Electrical Conductivity (EC), Available phosphorus, Available potassium, Exchangeable bases (Potassium, Calcium, Magnesium, and Sodium), Cation Exchange Capacity (CEC), Organic Carbon (OC), Texture, Bulk Density, and moisture content.
• Two (2) plant parameters: - Available phosphorus and potassium as well as
• Six (6) parameters for water samples

In addition to our own researchers, different users and scholars come to get the service in SSRC’s laboratory. For example: -

• Researchers from other centers, universities, and colleges
• Graduate students
• Investors and
• Few farmers

Our laboratory also plays a great role in giving practical analysis training for various teachers, technicians, students, and professionals from different organizations. For example: -

• Colleges,
• Universities and
• Other research centers

4. Research achievements of SSRC

Since its establishment the center has achieved a number of results in the area of soil related research activities.

3. • Assessed soil fertility status of major soils, agroecology, and crops of the region and identified nutrient deficient soils and crop in different agro-ecologies of Tigray.
   • Developed soil fertility map of each district and nutrient deficiency of each district identified and formulas for the use of blend fertilizers were developed.
   • Soil test-based blended fertilizers on teff, sorghum, rice, maize, etc evaluated
   • Site-specific fertilizer rate and response of teff for the major nutrients (Nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, and sulfur) were developed.
   • Nitrogen fertilizer requirement of teff after leguminous precursor crops were determined. 
   • Soil test-based phosphorus fertilization for sorghum was developed.
   • Evaluating different types of urea fertilizers like Urea^stable on teff, onion, tomato, etc.
   • Introduced earthworms (Esina fetida) for the production of vermin-compost and promising results obtained on wheat, teff, maize, and horticultural crops
   • Undertaking assessment of saline soil to develop management strategies for high-pH soils. 
   • Evaluation of integrated vermin-compost and inorganic fertilizers on maize, wheat, teff, etc.
   • The effect of NP fertilizers on yield and yield components of groundnut

5. Partnership

The center has been closely working with different partner institutions of both governmental and non-governmental. Currently, the world bank funded program known as Food System Resilience Program (FSRP), Standard, fortified and soluble fertilizers (OCP_Fertilizer), the Climate Action through Landscape Management for Result (CALM_R) the District Bureau of Agriculture and Rural Development (BoARD), Shire Agricultural Collage and Aksum University are active partners of the research center.

Contact address: Shire Soil Research Center (SSRC)

Phone: +251-344 44 06 04/0201

Fax:     +251-344 44 06 04

P.O. Box:40,

Shire_Endaslase, Tigray, Ethiopia