Irapuato, Gto. December 6, 2016.- To provide a more accurate view on handling the soil resource, two researchers of the area of agricultural sciences of Cuba and Mexico taught a course on soil handling at the Division of Life Sciences (DICIVA) of the University of Guanajuato (UG).

The course "Evaluation methods of the fertility of soils and the need of nutrition of the cultures" was given by Dr. José Alfredo Herrera Altuve, visiting professor of the National Institute of Agricultural Sciences of Cuba and Dr. Luis Felipe Ramírez Santoyo, professor of the department of Agronomy at DICIVA.

Because of the collaboration between professors, there will be a homonym book to the course, in addition that the exchange between professors contributes the tasks of internationalization of the Division of Life Sciences at Campus Irapuato-Salamanca.

Dr. Herrera Altuve has a Ph.D. in Agronomy and the institute where he comes from belong to the Dept. of Biofertilizers and Nutrition of Plants. Its research lines are plant fertilization and human & animal nutrition.

Dr. Ramírez Santoyo, professor at Campus Irapuato-Salamanca at UG, is an expert in protected Agriculture and has made work in collaboration with the Polytechnic University of Valencia, such as the production of tomatoes rich with Lycopene and low content of nitrates and pesticides.

The soils course lasted 40hrs and was given at El Copal, which is found at the venue Irapuato of the University of Guanajuato.

Per Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) the soil is a finite resources, which loss and degradation are non-reversible.

The soils must be recognized and valued for their productive capacity and for their contribution to food safety and maintenance of fundamental eco-systemic services.

Although is a very valuable natural resource, the natural surface of productive soils is limited, and they are found in a growing pressure due to the intensifying and competitive use that characterizes the better use of the soils with agricultural, forest, pastor and urban means, and to satisfy the demand of the production of food, energy and extraction of raw materials of the growing population.