Lecturer Agronomy Applied Plant and Soil Sciences Office: Agricultural Sciences Building 4-11 Tel:  +27 (0)12 420 3665 Email: robert.mangani[AT]up.ac.za

Dr Robert Mangani is a lecturer in the Plant and Soil Sciences department.

He is a proud graduate of the University of Pretoria, where he studied for his PhD and his post-doctoral research. His area of research focuses on how climate change will impact crops and how we can come up with adaptive measures that can help in reducing its impact. This comprises crop modelling, statistical analysis, field studies, as well as chamber studies to evaluate how elevated temperatures, carbon dioxide, and both limited and excessive rains might affect yields.

For his postdoctoral studies, which he did under the Crop Floral Biology and Environments (CFBE) research team in the Forestry and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute (FABI), he investigated late maize plantings in South Africa and their association with late rains and other extreme weather events. In this study, he assessed how late planting dates affect the growth, development, health and grain production of maize crops. During his PhD studies, he worked on a project funded by the European Union (MODEXTREME-Modelling vegetation response to extreme events). Using crop simulation models, he examined the impact of extreme weather events on maize (Zea mays L.) crops in South Africa.

My research interests include agronomy, agro-meteorology, crop modelling, climate change, rural development and food security. In his work, he enjoys addressing problems facing farmers (especially subsistence farmers) through community-based projects.

PUBLICATIONS

Mangani, Robert, Kpoti M. Gunn, and Nicky M. Creux. Projecting the effect of climate change on planting date and cultivar choice for South African dryland maize production. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology 341 (2023): 109695.

Mangani, Tshepiso, Robert Mangani, George Chirima, Lesego Khomo, and Wayne Truter. Using mulching to reduce soil surface temperature to facilitate grass production. Heliyon 8, no. 12 (2022).

Gatabazi, Auges, Barend Juan Vorster, Mireille Asanzi Mvondo-She, Edgar Mangwende, Robert Mangani, and Ahmed Idris Hassen. Efficacy of peat and liquid inoculant formulations of bradyrhizobium japonicum strain wb74 on growth, yield and nitrogen concentration of soybean (Glycine max L.)." Nitrogen 2, no. 3 (2021): 332-346.

Mangani, Robert, Eyob H. Tesfamariam, Christien J. Engelbrecht, Gianni Bellocchi, Abubeker Hassen, and Tshepiso Mangani. Potential impacts of extreme weather events in main maize (Zea mays L.) producing areas of South Africa under rainfed conditions. Regional environmental change 19 (2019): 1441-1452.

Mangani, Robert, Eyob Habte Tesfamariam, Gianni Bellocchi, and Abubeker Hassen. Growth, development, leaf gaseous exchange, and grain yield response of maize cultivars to drought and flooding stress. Sustainability 10, no. 10 (2018): 3492.

Mangani, Robert, Eyob Tesfamariam, Gianni Bellocchi, and Abubeker Hassen. Modelled impacts of extreme heat and drought on maize yield in South Africa. Crop and Pasture Science 69, no. 7 (2018): 703-716.

TEACHING

Sustainable crop production and agroclimatology (PPK 251)