After a lifetime's research, Professor Emeritus at the University of Dundee Janet Sprent is publishing her long awaited study "Nodulation in Legumes" explaining the ability of legume plants to act as natural soil fertilisers by fixing nitrogen.
Janet hopes that her work will serve as a handbook for the developing
world as she concludes that leguminous plants are vital for sustainability.
Legumes can be grown in adverse environments including extreme
temperatures and low nutrient soils. Forage, food and shelter are just some of the
long term benefits they provide for both humans and animals. Professor
Sprent:
"Any country needs to assess its own ecosystem before deciding on a
programme of sustainable development. I hope that my work will act as a
reference, explaining the principles of sustainability and the role of
legumes in that process. Costs of the book have been kept to a minimum
to make it affordable in developing countries."
Janet studied the whole legume family including peas and beans, investigating their ability to interact with soil bacteria called rhizobia to form nodules on roots, which reduce nitrogen gas from the air and incorporate it into proteins. These proteins improve soil fertility, provide rich foods for humans and animals and are vital to countries in the developing world that cannot afford nitrogen fertilizers, but have an abundance of legume plants. These native plants have been largely ignored by scientists other than plant taxonomists, so their ability to fix nitrogen in what are often very poor soils and under conditions which would be considered unsuitable for "normal" crop legumes is unrecorded.
With the aid of a Leverhulme Emeritus Fellowship which provided funding for technical support, and the support of various experts, in particular the legume taxonomists of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Edinburgh, Janet Sprent has spent much of the first two years of her retirement writing "Nodulation in Legumes" which summarises all the known information about nodulation in the legume family. By mutual agreement with the publishers, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, costs have been kept to a minimum, and Janet is waiving her royalties so that the book will sell for £27, which it is hoped will enable people from developing countries to afford it.
Janet Sprent: "I am delighted that my years of research have come to fruition in this book. It has been made possible with the aid of PhD students from 8 countries, collaborators from around the world and an enthusiastic team of colleagues in Dundee."
Retirement for Janet Sprent has not been entirely desk bound, with field collaborations in South Africa, Cameroon and Cuba during the last six months alone - camping in the rainforest in Cameroon and riding a mule into a reserve in Cuba. The results of these expeditions are incorporated in the book. It is planned to integrate new information from future overseas expeditions in an electronic form of the book.
Janet Sprent taught at the University of Dundee from July 1967 until her retirement in 1998 and still carries out research there. She held the offices of Head of Department of Biological Sciences, Dean of Science and Engineering and Deputy Principal. She has served on a number of major committees, such as the Scottish Higher Education Funding Council and the Natural Environment Research Council. She has just demitted office as chairman of governors of the Macauley Land Use Research Institute, Aberdeen and has recently been appointed to the Board of Scottish Natural Heritage.
Nodulation in Legumes, ISBN 1 84246 013 7 can be purchased from the publications section, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Surrey TW9 3AB and will soon be available through distributors in Europe and the USA.ENDS
For further information contact
Janet Sprent (tel: 01382 541706; fax: 01382 542989; email:jisprent@aol.com)
Janet will be available for interview over the phone from Friday 7 until
Sunday 9 September.