Dr. Eoghan Corbett

Research Officer

Teagasc, Ireland

Eoghan Corbett is a Research Officer in Teagasc’s Horticulture Development Department in Dublin, Ireland. He is currently conducting research to identify, characterise and assess the agronomic performance of peat-alternative growth and casing materials across the five key sub-sectors of horticulture in Ireland, including mushrooms. He is also interested in transformative processes and emerging technologies which can convert low-value waste or side-stream materials of indigenous industries or land-management practices, into value-added growth media materials.

Eoghan completed his PhD in analytical geochronology and geochemistry at Trinity College Dublin in 2020. During this research, he has been involved in projects particularly focussed on developing novel techniques used in the geochronological analysis of minerals, as well as contributing to a greater understanding of the fundamental physiochemical characteristics of geo-materials.  This background brings a new perspective to the challenges of developing peat-alternative growth media.

Eoghan will discuss his latest research on the hydro-physical characterisation of peat-reduced casing media and how this can be linked to yield and quality performance of Agaricus bisporus.

Peat-reduced casing media; How differential hydrological behaviour in casing blends is expressed in terms of mushroom yield and quality.

The performance of Agaricus bisporus is underpinned in large part by the hydro-physical behaviour of the casing. The link between the water availability in the casing layer and resulting mushroom yields is investigated using adapted soil sensors.