Plant Nutrition, Soil Fertility and Crop Fertilization
Postgraduate Degree
Ano Letivo 2024/2025

Course Overview

This postgraduate degree aims at complementing the education of graduate students with competences in Plant Nutrition, Soil Fertility and Crop Fertilisation in Agriculture. Specific aims: theoretical training in the fundamentals of the three areas; applied practical training in the calculation of requirements, understanding of the responses and solving problems arising from variable soil-plant-environment systems; increase knowledge of absorption physiology, movement of ions, the importance of the root system in the absorption of nutrients, and plant reactions to the soil environment; understand the soil, its functions in plant production, soil constituents, characteristics and properties, and nutrients in Fertility and Fertilisation; establish cause-effect links between soil characteristics/properties and plant growth and production; learn about farming soil degradation, propose prevention and mitigation solutions, and the recovery thereof; calculate the amounts and forms of nutrients required by plants, interpret soil and plant analyses, draft recommendations for soil fertilisation and correction; learn about fertilisers and the appropriate products for crops and soils, calculate amounts, seasons and their land application; learn about the issue of organic waste of and in Agriculture, its management, reduction and use; decide on and choose which fertilisers to use based on economic factors.

Organic Unit: School of Science and Technology

Duration: 2 Semesters/60 ECTS credits (60 required and 0 optional in curricular units)

Language: Portuguese

Regime: Presencial

CNAEF Areas:

Crop and livestock production (621)

Study Plan

Career Prospects

Is intended for technicians to develop activities in Plant Nutrition, Soils and Fertilization of Crops – the production, the management, the education or the organizations to support Agriculture. They are intended to have skills to evaluate, to diagnose and to recommend in the areas of Nutrition, Fertility and Fertilization in various crops and environments: -in systems of irrigation or dry, perennial or annual crops, intensive or extensive; and -in a way to use efficiently the soil resource, maximize the production and economically monetize the fertilizers, with the increase of competitiveness, the reduction of waste and the risks of pollution, and to secure the sustainability of agricultural ecosystems. Agriculture is a sector dependent of technicians with a good theoretical and practical training, so it’s indispensable the realization of this Course, adapted to the potential, regional and national agricultural reality, taking advantage of the exceptional conditions of competitiveness and of the quality of sectors.

Specific Entry Requirements

The application is conditional: -to the ownership of a graduate degree or the holding of a professional or scientific curriculum recognized by the Scientific Council of ECT as a certificate of ability, and -to the curricular analysis.