Jay Dhungel - Project Assistant, Australian Fund for Health Education and Development, NSW

Summary

Jay is a PhD scholar at Centre for Plant and Water Science.His research is in the effect of Oxygation in plant physiology, water use efficiency, fruit quality and fruit yield. He received his Bachelors degree from Tribhuwan University, Nepal and Masters Degree from Western Sydney University, NSW. He has long working experience in Nepal and Australia in agriculture and horitculture.Prior to joining CQUniversity , he worked with Organic Waste Recycle Unit, NSW Agriculture where he was primarily involved in laboratory and field research in Richmond and EMAI (Elizabeth Macarthur Agriculture Research institute). He worked with Everest Research Center as an agri-environmental coordinator and as a training coordinator with regional training center of Agriculture Development Bank-Nepal. He is keenly interested in sustainable agriculture, environmental management, water use efficiency, soil-water quality and irrigation research.

Currently Jay is involved in innovative irrigation design and application involving oxygation-use of aerated water for drip and sub-surface drip irrigation in number of annual and perennial crop industries both under controlled environment and in the field.

Additionally Jay is also working on the revegetation in the mine site of central Queensland employing Australian native species in the research project

Education

Diploma

Indian Institute of Ecology and Environment

Master of Applied Science

University of Western Sydney, Australia

Multiple reports on foreign aid and rural development

Agriculture-environment policy and rural development

Core Achievements: Systemic learning, thinking, planning, researching & designing

Jul 2007 - Present

Doctor of Philosophy (continuing)

CQ University Australia

Dissertation title: Core Achievements: Implications of Oxygation on pineapple, wheat and cotton in different soil types in control environment and field studies.

Jun 1984 - Jun 1988

Bachelor of Science in Agriculture,

Tribhuvan University

Skills

Publication

Publications Journal Articles · Chen, Xi., Dhungel, J. K., Bhattarai, S. P., Torabi, M., Pendergast, L., and Midmore D. J. (2010). Impact of oxygation on soil respiration, yield and water use efficiency of three crop species. Journal of Plant Ecology (Accepted in October 2010), DOI:10.1093/jpe/RTQ030. · Bhattarai, S.P., Dhungel, J. K., and Midmore, D. J (2010). Oxygation Improves Yield and Quality and Minimizes Internal Fruit Crack of Cucurbits on a Heavy Clay Soil in the Semi-arid Tropics. Journal of Agricultural Science Vol. 2, No. 3: 18-25. Conference Papers · Dhungel, J. K., Midmore D. J., Walsh, K.B., Chen, Xi., Bhattarai, S. P., and Subedi, P. P. (2009). Oxygation enhanced pineapple yield and quality, Proceedings of the VI International Symposium on Irrigation of Horticultural Crops, Viña del Mar, Chile, Nov. 2-6, 2009 (Refereed) · Bhattarai, S. P., Midmore, D. J., and Dhungel, J. (2010) Improving pineapple crop water productivity, yield, quality and minimization of off-farm transport of pollutants from the field, · Bhattarai, S. P., Midmore, D. J., and Dhungel, J. (2010). Diversifying the application of oxygation to lawn, landscape, and large scale agricultural irrigation. Paper presented in Australian Irrigation Conference and Exhibition, 8-10 June 2010, Sydney, Australia. http://www.irrigationaustralia.com.au/visitor.cfm?id=3 (Refereed) Oral and Poster Presentations · Torabi, M., Midmore, D. J., Bhattarai, S. P., Tait, L., Walsh, K. B. and Dhungel, J. K. (2008). Exploring factors influencing distribution of air-bubbles along irrigation lines in an open oxygation system. National and Trans-Tasman Horticultural Science Conference ‘Smart Science for Innovative Horticultural Enterprises', 21 - 23 July 2008, Gold Coast International Hotel, Surfers Paradise, QLD Australia (Oral and Poster) · Dhungel, J. K., Midmore, D. J., Walsh, K., Bhattarai, S. P. and Pendergast, L. (2008). Oxygation in sub-surface drip irrigated cotton grown on different types of soil. 14th Australian Cotton Conference 12 - 14 August, 2008 Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre, Broadbeach Qld, Australia (Poster) Invited Guest Speaker · Role of oxygation in Australian drip irrigation system: variation in crop response Texas A&M University, Agriculture Research Center, Lubbock, TX, USA (2010) Workshops and Trainings · Training on operation and handling of Scanning Electron Microscopy (2009) · Workshop on Preparing Journal Articles for Publication · Agri-environment and Agroforestry training · Horticulture nursery training of tropical fruits Skills: Equipment Handling calibration and installation: Micro gopher, Green Light Red-light Moisture Sensor Device, Solu sampler, Full stop Wetting front detector, Hydro sense for soil moisture monitoring, IRGA, EGM 3, EGM 4 Environmental Gas Monitor for leaf and soil gas exchange monitor, Chlorophyll meter, SPAD for leaf chlorophyll content , OXY 4 & 3 for oxygen monitoring in the soil and irrigation water , Soil and atmospheric temperature monitoring devices. Software: MS Office, Genstat, SAS, SPSS

Work experience

Jun 2002 - Jul 2007

Project Assistant

Australian Fund for Health Education and Development, NSW

Duties:Responsible for undertaking administrative and project development support andresearch for projects conducted in East Timor, the Philippines and Indonesia.

Jun 2000 - Jun 2002

Technical Assistant

NSW Agriculture

Duties: Conduct field and laboratory investigations for chemical analysis of soil and water samples and nutrient analysis

Jun 1992 - Nov 1993

Agri-Environment Coordinator

Everest Research Centre, Nepal

Duties: Lead a team of 25 members for an environmental impact assessment with focus on changes in cropping system, crop yield and soil quality due to the Banganga and Narayani irrigation project areas in Nepal.

Jun 1986 - May 1992

Agri-Environment Training Coordinator

Regional Training Centre

Regional Training Center, Agricultural Development Bank, Nepal