Soil Science and Plant Nutrition

I am Professor Aydin Adiloğlu. I am the Head of the Department of Soil Science and Plant Nutrition at Tekirdağ Namık Kemal University, Faculty of Agriculture. Our department established its academic structure in 1985. In 1991, it started to accept its first undergraduate students. In the same year, our graduate student program was launched. Currently, undergraduate, graduate and doctorate education continues in our department. Since our department is the fundamental department of the Faculty of Agriculture, we offer courses for other departments. These are courses such as plant nutrition, fertilization, soil knowledge. In addition to this, our undergraduate students in our department will be able to comprehend the importance of soil science and plant nutrition, providing solutions to the problems of plant nutrition and fertilization in detail. Our students graduate as a fully equipped agricultural engineers. In our department, we have 2 laboratories, each of which is a hundred square meter. One of them is our research lab and the other is our practice lab for students. In addition, we have an archive room where soil and plant analyses and samples are stored, a soil preparation room, a soil drying room and a greenhouse-shaped trial environment where experiments can be made. The students of our department can do an internship for 30 work days in summer at the end of the 6th semester. They can do this internship both in private and public institutions. They can also do their internship by bringing their own special internship certificate. Where can they do their internship? They can do it in soil, plant analysis laboratories, fertilizer factories, provincial and district directorates of agriculture, research institutes, provincial and central organizations of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, the Ministry of Environment and Urbanization. In addition, in the private sector, seed and fertilizer dealers are areas that have the opportunity to do internships for our students. Of course, within the scope of the international student exchange program, students also have the opportunity to do internships abroad. In this sense, we sent a considerable amount of our students abroad, especially to European countries for internships. They have successfully completed their internship and returned to our department. Exchange can be made nationally with the Farabi program, but of course the international dimension is much more important. In the Erasmus student exchange program, we have bilateral agreements with European Union (EU) countries. Some of these countries are: Italy, Hungary, Spain, England, Germany, Poland. In many European countries like these, our students can receive education within the scope of the Erasmus exchange program. From time to time, we assign our students to gain experience by participating in scientific symposiums in national or international projects in which our department is a partner. They work there. They can also attend student symposiums upon request. I believe that besides undergraduate education, scientific experience and great strength are gained through these. When our students graduate, they can work in public institutions and private sector. They can work in public institutions, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, the central and provincial organizations of the Ministry of Environment and Urbanization, various research institutes, and soil and plant analysis laboratories, which have increased in number in recent years. In order to work in soil and plant analysis laboratories, it is necessary to be a graduate of the Department of Soil Science and Plant Nutrition. Because there are soil and plant analyses and reports that are interpreted. In addition, according to the Law No. 5403 on Soil Conservation and Land Use, our department is the only department that can prepare reports directly without getting a certificate for the misuse of agricultural land. In addition, they can work in private fertilizer factories, private fertilizer and seed companies. Likewise, they can open seed and fertilizer dealers themselves. Our department has a wide range of business opportunities because the Department of Soil Science and Plant Nutrition is the fundamental part of agriculture. In agriculture, we need to learn soil science and plant nutrition before starting crop or animal production. In this sense, our department is one of the indispensable departments of our faculty.
Students who prefer our department should primarily love agriculture. Agriculture is not an unloved profession. Especially today's youth, unfortunately, now lead their lives under stress within the four walls. They can get out of the field and step on the ground and they can both balance their energy and be in touch with nature. The love of the earth will nourish their souls much better in this way. Plant breeding will have a much more positive effect on them in this way. As I said, we are the fundamental part of agriculture. Establishing a fertilization program in plant breeding, growing plants, what kind of plant grows on which soil, which fertilizer should we apply to them, how we can get maximum income with minimum input are topics that can only be answered by Soil Science and Plant Nutrition Department graduates. Other departments deal only with cultivation, but we train our students to the fullest in terms of both the promotion of the soil and the creation of a fertilization program and the increase of the yield and quality of the product. For this reason, I strongly recommend high school students to choose our department, as it is the fundamental part of agriculture. I graduated from this department many years ago and if I were to enter the Faculty of Agriculture again, I would choose Soil Science and Plant Nutrition. In this sense, I am proud of our department and I strongly recommend it to students. Although Tekirdağ Namık Kemal University is a university founded in 2006, it has developed rapidly in social, scientific and academic terms. Here, students are not only interested in courses, but also in a lot of social activities. There are many, maybe over a hundred social associations, activity branches, groups and societies at our university. There are enough opportunities for food and accommodation. There are KYK (Higher Education Credit and Hostels Institution) dormitories as well as private dormitories and hostels. For this reason, we can say that there is no problem in terms of nutrition and accommodation. In addition, since we are located in the European continent of Turkey, our social opportunities are much higher than Anatolia. I think students coming from Anatolia will be very happy as well. There is not only education here, but also there are social activities to the fullest. Tekirdağ Namık Kemal University and the Tekirdağ province hosting it offer an environment where students can educate themselves very well. I especially and insistently recommend Tekirdağ Namık Kemal University, Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Soil Science and Plant Nutrition, to dear high school graduates and senior high school students, our children. Because we are dealing with people's nutrition, not their clothing and entertainment. Therefore, we have to harvest more from the same area for nutrition. Because the world population is increasing day by day. While it increases day by day, however, agricultural areas are shrinking. At this time, we need to make more production to meet the food need and not compromise on quality while doing this. Therefore, this country and the world absolutely need graduates of Soil Science and Plant Nutrition Department. That's why I recommend you to choose our department. I am sure that when you come here, you will be very happy and glad that you come here. I invite you all to Tekirdağ Namık Kemal University, Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Soil Science and Plant Nutrition. I wish you all success in the exam.