Hossein Zakeri

Personal Information

Hossein Zakeri has a Ph.D. in the field of crop physiology and cropping systems from the University of Saskatchewan. For his Ph.D., he studied nitrogen acquisition and biological nitrogen fixation of lentil. After his Ph.D., Hossein worked for the Crop Development Centre and Agriculture and Agri-food Canada and studied pulse crops nitrogen fixation, and canola water use efficiency, and drought tolerance mechanisms. He then moved to the University of Missouri, where he studied water use efficiency of domesticated and wild soybeans. His current research focuses on fava bean as a food and cover crop in the Western United States. Hossein has a BSc in agronomy and crop breeding and an MSc in crop physiology from Iran, where he also taught undergraduate agriculture during 1999 – 2006.

Courses Taught

• PSSC 101 – Intro to Plant Sciences
• PSSC 361 – Production of Annual Crops
• PSSC 399 – Special Topics in Plant Science
• PSSC 459 – Crop Physiology
• AGRI 490 – Agriculture Research

Research and Professional Interests 

• Cover crop benefits in California agroecosystems
• Role of legumes in food production and agriculture sustainability  
• Economic and environmental potentials of alley cropping

Professional Affiliations 

• American Society of Agronomy
• Crop Science Society of America
• Soil Science Society of America 

Projects

Search fava bean (Vicia faba) for genotypes with enhanced biological nitrogen fixation – Funded by California Department and Food and Agriculture (CDFA), and Agriculture Research Institute (ARI)

Study the potentials of fava bean as dual-purpose cash and cover crop in northern California- Funded by Sustanibale Agriculture Research and Education

Potentials of new pea lines for cover crop in northern California- Funded by Agriculture Development Funds (ADF) of Saskatchewan Government

Potentials of small-seeded fava bean for cover crop in California- Funded by California Department and Food and Agriculture (CDFA)

Improving water & land use efficiency in California orchards: Field research, survey and tool development

Publications 

Using δ15N to Screen for Nitrogen Fixation: Reference Plant Position and Species. Agronomy Journal (2022). https://doi.org/10.1002/agj2.21032

A multi-environment analysis of winter faba bean germplasm for cover crop traits. Agronomy Journal (2021). https://doi.org/10.1002/agj2.20717

The quantity of nitrogen derived from symbiotic N fixation but not the relative contribution of N fixation to total N uptake increased with breeding for greater soybean yields. Field Crops Research (2020). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fcr.2020.107945

First versus last born: Flowers, pods, and yield formation in no‐tillage lentil. Crop Science (2020). https://doi.org/10.1002/csc2.20141

Symbiosis of selected Rhizobium leguminosarumviciae strains with diverse pea genotypes: effects on biological nitrogen fixation. Canadian Journal of Microbiology (2017).  https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28922610.

Evaluation of Growth and Nitrogen Fixation of Pea Nodulation Mutants in Western Canada. Canadian Journal of Plant Science (2017). https://doi.org/10.1139/CJPS-2016-0383.

Post-flowering Biomass and Nitrogen Accumulation of Lentil Substantially Contributes to Pod Production. Crop Science (2015). https://doi.org/10.2135/cropsci2013.08.0562

Indirect Estimations of Lentil Leaf and Plant N by SPAD Chlorophyll Meter. International Journal of Agronomy (2015). https://www.hindawi.com/journals/ija/2015/748074/

Effects of Nitrogen on Reproductive Duration and Yield in Lentil Cultivars. Journal of Plant Nutrition (2013). https://doi.org/10.1080/01904167.2013.770019

Lentil Performance in Response to Weather, No-Till Duration, and Nitrogen in Saskatchewan. Agronomy Journal (2012). https://doi.org/10.2134/agronj2011.0339

Controlling Indeterminacy in Short Season Lentil by Cultivar Choice and Nitrogen Management (2012). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fcr.2012.02.027