Samuel Mathu Ndungu

Samuel Mathu Ndungu is a Post Doctoral Fellow, Soil Health at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) and will be collaborating with the Sustainable Agroecosystems group starting April to June 2023.

Address
International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA)-Nairobi, c/o ICIPE Kasarani
P.O. Box 30772-00100 Nairobi, Kenya
Email:

Research Interests
My research interests include but are not limited to the areas of sustainable agricultural productivity, using new approaches to understand plant-microbe interactions and improve crop yields, biological nitrogen fixation, bioprospecting for agriculturally important microorganisms, soil health restoration strategies and exploration of microbial indicators for soil health assessment.

Education
01.2014 – 10.2017. Doctor of Sciences, Institute of Agricultural Sciences, ETH Zurich, Switzerland.
09.2009 – 11.2012. Master of Science in Biotechnology, Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, Kenya.
04.2005 – 12.2008. Bachelor of Science in Biotechnology, Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, Kenya.

Work experience
12.2022 – Present. Post-Doctoral Fellow, Soil Health at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) for the Excellence in Agronomy (EiA) Initiative.
04.2018 – 11.2022. Consultant engaging in coordination support for the Excellence in Agronomy (EiA) Initiative, management of the Soil Organic matter (SOM) long term trials (LTE) in Kenya, N2Africa.

Selected Publications

Laub, Moritz, Marc Corbeels, Samuel Mathu Ndungu, Monicah Wanjiku Mucheru-Muna, Daniel Mugendi, Magdalena Necpalova, Marijn Van de Broek, Wycliffe Waswa, Bernard Vanlauwe, and Johan Six (2023). Combining manure with mineral N fertilizer maintains maize yields: Evidence from four long-term experiments in Kenya. Field Crops Research 291: 108788.

Samuel Mathu Ndungu, Monika Messmer, Dominik Ziegler, Hannes A. Gamper, Éva Mészáros, Moses Thuita, Bernard Vanlauwe, Emmanuel Frossard and Cécile Thonar (2018). Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata L. Walp) hosts several widespread bradyrhizobial root nodule symbionts across contrasting agro-ecological production areas in Kenya. Agriculture Ecosystems and Environment, 261, 161-171. doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2017.12.014.

Samuel Mathu Ndungu, Monika M. Messmer, Dominik Ziegler, Moses Thuita, Bernard Vanlauwe, Emmanuel Frossard and Cécile Thonar (2018). Evaluation of MALDI-TOF Mass spectrometry for the competitiveness of selected indigenous cowpea (Vigna unguiculata L. Walp.) Bradyrhizobium strains from Kenya. Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology. doi.org/10.1007/s00253-018-9005-6.