Chandra Madramootoo, Ph.D., P.Eng.

Distinguished James McGill Professor

T: 514-398-7759  |  chandra.madramootoo [at] mcgill.ca (Email)  |  Macdonald-Stewart Building, MS1-029a  |  Water Innovation Lab

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Degrees

BSc(AgrEng), MSc, PhD (McGill)

Awards and Recognitions

Distinguished James McGill Professor (2022-)
Fellow, Engineering Institute of Canada
Fellow, Canadian Academy of Engineering
World Irrigation and Drainage Prize
Dean, Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and Associate Vice-Principal (Macdonald) (2005-2015)
James McGill Professor (2015-2022)
Inducted in the Overholt International Drainage Hall of Fame
DSc (honoris causa) University of Guelph
Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal
Fellow, ASABE
Fellow, CSBE
Membre, OIQ

Short Bio

BSc, MSc and PhD in agricultural engineering at McGill University. Joined the Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences in 1984, and was named to a James McGill Professorship in 2000. Created the Brace Centre for Water Resources Management in 1999, and was its Founding Director. In this role, he garnered funding for large scale, multidisciplinary, national and international water, environmental, and climate change projects. Areas of expertise include water management, irrigation, drainage, agricultural research, international agriculture development, hydrology and water quality of surface and subsurface drained fields, development of innovative technologies to predict crop water requirements, and impacts of water management practices on greenhouse gas emissions. Has supervised over 80 graduate students, authored or co-authored over 200 refereed journal papers, and invited to deliver some 100 presentations at national and international conferences.

Appointed Dean of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences in 2005, and over a 10 year period, led a major transformation of the Faculty’s teaching and research programs. Introduced programs in global food security, food safety, integrated water resources management, entrepreneurship and innovation. Led the academic renewal of the faculty, and over 50% growth in the undergraduate and graduate student population. Teaching and research infrastructure were also upgraded.

Research Interests

With growing water scarcity and concerns about climate change, new technologies are being developed to conserve limited freshwater supplies and increase crop water productivity. Irrigation systems and techniques are being developed, which can apply precise amounts of water, taking spatial field properties, and crop type and growth stage into account. Innovative technologies to predict crop water requirements, and the impacts of various water management practices on greenhouse gas emissions are being investigated. Water table management systems are being designed and field tested to reduce non-point source pollution, and algal blooms and cyanobacterial contamination of rivers and lakes.

Current Research

  • Agricultural Water Quality
  • Effects of agricultural water management systems on greenhouse gas emissions in Eastern Canada
  • A water quality assessment framework for a safe food system
  • Managing agricultural systems to protect Canada's freshwater
  • Application of variable rate irrigation technology for water efficiency and conservation
  • Soil-plant-water dynamics and water productivity benefits of subsurface drip irrigation

Courses

BREE 490 Engineering Design 2 3 Credits
    Offered in the:
  • Fall
  • Winter
  • Summer


BREE 495 Engineering Design 3 3 Credits
    Offered in the:
  • Fall
  • Winter
  • Summer


FMT4 020 Conservation of Soil and Water 2 Credits
    Offered in the:
  • Fall
  • Winter
  • Summer

Publications

View a list of current publications

Additional select publications

Kumar, N., M. K. Goyal, A. K. Gupta, S. Jha, J. Das, C. A. Madramootoo. 2021. Joint behaviour of climate extremes across India: Past and future. Journal of Hydrology. (Accepted – in press) https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2021.126185

Marmanilloa, M., S. Kulshreshtha and C.A. Madramootoo. 2021. Economic analysis of the controlled drainage with sub-irrigation system: A case study of grain-producing farms in Quebec and Ontario. Canadian Water Resources Journal. https://doi.org/10.1080/07011784.2021.1874537 (Accepted - in press)

Grenon, G., B. Singh, A. De Sena, C.A. Madramootoo, C. von Sperber, M. Goyal and T. Q. Zhang. 2021. Phosphorus Fate, Transport and Management on Subsurface Drained Agricultural Organic Soils: A Review. Environmental Research Letters. 16 (1). https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/abce81

Ejack, L., J. Whalen and C. A. Madramootoo. 2020. Carbon availability limits the denitrification potential of sandy loam soil from corn agroecosystems with long-term tillage and residue management. Canadian Journal of Soil Science. https://cdnsciencepub.com/doi/10.1139/CJSS-2020-0097

Yari, A., L. Gilbert, C.A. Madramootoo, S. Woods, and V. Adamchuk. 2020. Optimum irrigation strategy to maximize yield and quality of potato: A case study in Southern Alberta, Canada. Journal of Irrigation and Drainage. https://doi.org/10.1002/ird.2556

Kumar, N., J. Sinha, C. A. Madramootoo and M. K Goyal. 2020. Quantifying groundwater sensitivity and resilience over peninsular India. Hydrological Processes. 34(26): 5327-5339. https://doi.org/10.1002/hyp.13945

Hamrani, A., A. Akbarzadeh, C.A. Madramootoo. 2020. Machine learning for predicting greenhouse gas emissions from agricultural soils. Science of the Total Environment,https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.140338.

Abbasi, N., C.A. Madramootoo, T.Q. Zhang, C. Tan. 2020. Nitrous oxide emissions as affected by fertilizer and water table management under a corn-soybean rotation. Geoderma. 375, 114473. doi:10.1016/j.geoderma.2020.114473.

Gaj, N. and C. A Madramootoo. 2020. Effects of perforation geometry on pipe drainage in agricultural lands. J. Irrigation and Drainage Engineering, ASCE. Volume 146, Issue 7. DOI: 10.1061/(ASCE)IR.1943-4774.0001482

Ihuoma, S. and C. A. Madramootoo. 2020. Narrow-band reflectance indices for mapping the combined effects of water and nitrogen stress in field grown tomato crops. Biosystems Engineering, Volume 192 pp. 133-143. doi.org/10.1016/j.biosystemseng.2020.01.017

Jiang, Q., Z. Qi, L. Xue, M. Bukovsky, C.A. Madramootoo, W. Smith. 2020. Assessing climate change impacts on greenhouse gas emissions, N losses in drainage and crop production in a subsurface drained field. Science of the Total Environment. doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.135969

Jiang, Q., Z. Qi, C. A. Madramootoo, W. Smith, N. A. Abbasi, T. Q. Zhang. 2020. Comparison of RZWQM2 and DNDC Models to Simulate Greenhouse Gas Emissions under Combined Inorganic/Organic Fertilization in a Subsurface-Drained Field. Transactions ASABE. 63(4): 771-787. doi: 10.13031/trans.13668

Ihuoma, S.O. and C.A. Madramootoo. 2019. Crop reflectance indices for mapping water stress in greenhouse grown bell pepper. Agricultural Water Management, Vol. 219:49-58

Ihuoma, S.O. and C.A. Madramootoo. 2019. Sensitivity of spectral vegetation indices for monitoring water stress in tomato plants. Computers and Electronics in Agriculture, 163(104860).

Crezé, C. and C.A. Madramootoo. 2019. Water table management and fertilizer application impacts on CO2, N2O and CH4 fluxes in a corn agro-ecosystem. Scientific Reports, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-39046-z.

Lloyd, K., C.A. Madramootoo, K.P. Edwards, A. Grant. 2019. Greenhouse gas emissions from selected horticultural production systems in a cold temperate climate. Geoderma, 349:45-55.

Jiang, Q., Z. Qi, C. A. Madramootoo and C. Crézé. 2019. Mitigating greenhouse gas emissions in subsurface-drained field using RZWQM2. Science of the Total Environment. doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.07.285

Edwards, K. P., C.A. Madramootoo, J. Whalen, V. Adamchuk, A. S. Mat Su, and H. Benslim. 2018. Nitrous oxide and carbon dioxide emissions from surface and subsurface drip irrigated tomato fields. Canadian Journal of Soil Science, Doi.org/10.1139/cjss-2017-0001.

Jiang, Q., Z. Qi, C.A. Madramootoo and A. K. Singh. 2018. Simulating hydrologic cycle and crop production in a subsurface drained and sub-irrigated field in Southern Quebec using RZWQM2. Computers and Electronics in Agriculture. 146:31-42.

Madramootoo. C.A. 2018. Framing smallholder irrigation in a new business context. Journal of Irrigation and Drainage. 67(1):55-59.

S. O. Ihuoma and C. A. Madramootoo. 2017. Recent Advances in Crop Water Stress Detection. Computers and Electronics in Agriculture. 141:267-275.

Gaj, N. and C.A. Madramootoo. 2017. Long term simulations of the hydrology for sugar cane fields in the humid tropics: Case study on Guyana's coastland. Journal Irrigation and Drainage Engineering, ASCE. 143(8): https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)IR.1943-4774.0001204.

Yari, A., C.A. Madramootoo, S. A. Woods, and V. I. Adamchuk. 2017. Performance evaluation of constant versus variable rate irrigation technologies. Journal of Irrigation and Drainage. 66(4):501-509.

Joshi. N., Singh, A., C.A. Madramootoo. 2017. Application of DSSAT model to simulate corn yield under long-term tillage and residue practices. Transactions ASABE. 60(1): 67-83.

Yari, A., C.A. Madramootoo, S. Woods, V. Adamchuk, H-H. Huang. 2017. Assessment of field spatial and temporal variabilities to delineate site-specific management zones for variable-rate irrigation. J. Irrigation and Drainage Engineering, ASCE. 143(9): https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)IR.1943-4774.0001222

Gupta, D. and C. A. Madramootoo. 2016. Escherichia coli contamination on Ready-To-Eat (RTE), lettuce. Exposure and Health, DOI: 10.1007/s12403-016-0236-4

Boluwade, A. and C.A. Madramootoo. 2016. Application of independent principal component analysis for crop productivity indicators’ simulation using the soil properties of a Canadian watershed. International Soil and Water Conservation Research Journal, 4(3):151-158.

Gupta, D. and C. A. Madramootoo. 2016. Fate and transport of Escherichia coli in Tomato production. Exposure and Health, DOI: 10.1007/s12403-016-0217-7

Joshi, N., D. Gupta, S. Suryavanshi, J. Adamowski, and C.A, Madramootoo. 2016. Analysis of trends and dominant periodicities in drought variables in India: A wavelet transform based approach. Atmospheric Research. 182: 200-220

Gombault, C., C.A. Madramootoo, A.R. Michaud, I. Beaudin, M.F. Sottile, M. Chikhaoui, F.F. Ngwa. 2015. Impacts of climate change on nutrient losses from the Pike River watershed of southern Québec. Canadian Journal of Soil Science, 95(4):337-358.

Bourgault, M., C. A. Madramootoo, H. A. Webber, G. Stulina, M. G. Horst, and D. L. Smith. 2015. A short season Canadian soybean cultivar double cropped after winter wheat in Uzbekistan with and without inoculation with Bradyrhizobium”. Journal of Plant Studies, 4(2):74-80.

Boluwade, A. and C.A. Madramootoo. 2015. Geostatistical independent simulation of spatially correlated soil variables. Computers and Geosciences, 85:3-15.

Boluwade, A., C.A. Madramootoo and A. Yari. 2015. Application of unsupervised clustering techniques for management zone delineation: Case study of variable rate irrigation in Southern Alberta, Canada. J. Irrigation and Drainage Engineering, ASCE, 10.1061/(ASCE)IR.1943-4774.0000936, 05015007.

Boluwade, A. and C.A. Madramootoo. 2015. Determining the influence of land use change and soil heterogeneities on discharge, sediment and phosphorus. Journal of Environmental Informatics, 25(2): 126-135.

Joshi, N., A. Singh and C.A. Madramootoo. 2015. Corn yield simulation under different nitrogen loading and climate change scenarios. J. Irrigation and Drainage Engineering, ASCE, 141(10): http://dx.doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)IR.1943-4774.0000895.

Young-Rojanschi, C.A. and C. A. Madramootoo. 2015. Comparing the performance of biosand filters operated with multiday residence periods. Journal of Water Supply: Research and Technology-Aqua, 64 (2): 157–167. https://doi.org/10.2166/aqua.2014.027

 

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