Repeated measurements during the crop cycle allow monitoring of the sufficiency of actual management practices. Introducing estimated or forecast weather data in crop growth calculations for the remainder of the crop cycle permits to make repeated estimates of anticipated crop production and to timely signal a need for remedial action.
This book contains seven parts. The first part deals with some aspects of rainfall analysis, including rainfall probability distribution, local rainfall interception, and analysis for reservoir release. Part 2 is on evapotranspiration and discusses development of neural network models, errors, and sensitivity. Part 3 focuses on various aspects of urban runoff, including hydrologic impacts, storm water management, and drainage systems. Part 4 deals with soil erosion and sediment, covering mineralogical composition, geostatistical analysis, land use impacts, and land use mapping. Part 5 treats remote sensing and geographic information system (GIS) applications to different hydrologic problems. Watershed runoff and floods are discussed in Part 6, encompassing hydraulic, experimental, and theoretical aspects. Water modeling constitutes the concluding Part 7. Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT), Xinanjiang, and Soil Conservation Service-Curve Number (SCS-CN) models are discussed. The book is of interest to researchers and practitioners in the field of water resources, hydrology, environmental resources, agricultural engineering, watershed management, earth sciences, as well as those engaged in natural resources planning and management. Graduate students and those wishing to conduct further research in water and environment and their development and management find the book to be of value.
The book presents improved equations for monthly water resources models, in particular for interception and transpiration. Most of the existing monthly models do not make a distinction between interception and transipiration, while this distinction is very important for management purposes. Interception is direct feedback to the atmosphere, important to sustain rainfall. Transpiration is a good indicator for plant growth and biomass production. This distinction also contributes to the estimation of recharge and therewith of runoff.;The derivations are based on the Markov theory for the occurrence of rain-days. The methodology can be used on the basis of an analysis of a few time series of daily data, at a spatial scale of 300km and not necessarily of the same period as the monthly data. Zimbabwe served as the case study, but derived equations can be used worldwide as long as the relationship between the monthly rainfall and the mean number of rain-days can be established.
Agriculture is a frequent cause of soil and water pollution and can lead to high concentrations of pesticide residues and spoil erosion. This problem was addressed at an international workshop held in Turkey between 3-7 June 2002. These proceedings contain 35 papers organised under the headings: sustainable agriculture: plant diversity and soil rhizosphere; sustainable agriculture: biodiversity and soil health; environmental assessment, proper land use and combating land degradation; efficient management practices
Advances in Agronomy has the highest impact factor among serial publications in Agriculture. The Science Citation Index, 1986, reports an impact factor over 2,459 and a cited half-life over 10 years.Volume 76 contains five excellent reviews on topics of great interest to crop and soil scientists as well as others in various fields. Chapter 1 is concerned with the potential of tropical soils to sequester carbon. Topics that are covered include soil inorganic and organic pools and dynamics, loss of soil organic pools from tropical soils, and potential for C sequestration in tropical soils. Chapter 2 covers the applications of crop/soil simulation models in tropical agricultural systems. Chapter 3 deals with interorganismal signaling in suboptimum environments with emphasis on legume-rhizobia symbiosis. Chapter 4 discusses the surface chemistry and function of microbial biofilms. The authors discuss biofilm formation and matrix architecture and general features and properties. Chapter 5 deals with vegetable crop scheduling and prediction. Topics that are covered include identification of stages of growth and development and experimental approaches for developing scheduling and prediction models. Advances in Agronomy has the highest impact factor among serial publications in Agriculture. The Science Citation Index, 1986, reports an impact factor over 2,459 and a cited half-life over 10 years.Volume 76 contains five excellent reviews on topics of great interest to crop and soil scientists as well as others in various fields. Chapter 1 is concerned with the potential of tropical soils to sequester carbon. Topics that are covered include soil inorganic and organic pools and dynamics, loss of soil organic pools from tropical soils, and potential for C sequestration in tropical soils. Chapter 2 covers the applications of crop/soil simulation models in tropical agricultural systems. Chapter 3 deals with interorganismal signaling in suboptimum environments with emphasis on legume-rhizobia symbiosis. Chapter 4 discusses the surface chemistry and function of microbial biofilms. The authors discuss biofilm formation and matrix architecture and general features and properties. Chapter 5 deals with vegetable crop scheduling and prediction. Topics that are covered include identification of stages of growth and development and experimental approaches for developing scheduling and prediction models.
The use of crop-soil modelling has so far been mainly confined to the research community. Practical applications have occurred in the areas of decision tools for irrigation studies and pest management. However, there is potential to increase its applied use.This book reviews progress in crop-soil simulation modelling and assesses its application to agriculture in developing countries. It is based on work sponsored by the Natural Resources Systems Programme of the UK Department for International Development.
