Bao Lin

Prof. Lin Bao, Soils and Fertilizers Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS), Beijing, China, has worked over the past 35 yearson research and technology transfer in the areas of soil fertility, plant nutrition and balanced fertilization.

He has led the China National Network on Evaluation of Chemical Fertilizer Use (CNNECFU), the results of which have provided a scientific basis for China to guide the production, importation, distribution and application of mineral fertilizers.

Dr. Lin Bao was the first in China, in the late 1970s, to start a large number of long-term field trials on soil fertility and the study of fertilizers. In 1980, he pointed out that fertilizer use in China was not balanced, and that this was an important limiting factor for agricultural production. He organized nationwide research on the rational use, proper rates and ratios of nitrogen, phosphate and potash fertilizers. From his long-term field studies, balanced fertilizer techniques for high efficiency cropping systems have been developed, including the use of both organic and mineral fertilizers to improve soil fertility. In 1988, he chaired the organizing committee for the International Symposium on Balanced Fertilization, which is considered to be a milestone in balanced fertilization in China.