Assessment of Soil Nutrient Balance
Assessment of Soil Nutrient Balance

Author: Rabindra N. Roy

Publisher: Food & Agriculture Org.

Published: 2003

Total Pages: 104

ISBN-13: 9789251050385

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Nutrient-balance assessments are valuable tools for delineating the consequences of farming on soil fertility. Various approaches and methods for different situations have been used in the past. This bulletin presents a state-of-the-art review of nutrient balance studies. It brings out the evolution of the approaches and methods, provides for comparisons among them, features the improvements made, and highlights remaining issues. This analysis will be useful in further development of the assessment methodologies as reliable tools for devising time-scale soil fertility management interventions.

Scaling Soil Nutrient Balances
Scaling Soil Nutrient Balances

Author: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

Publisher: Food & Agriculture Org.

Published: 2004

Total Pages: 152

ISBN-13: 9789251052372

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Using data on three countries in sub-Saharan Africa, this report compares macro- and microlevel approaches to determine soil nutrient balances with an innovative mesolevel approach. It highlights the added value that a mesolevel approach can provide in terms of its usefulness to mesolevel stakeholders in articulating and targeting scale-specific soil fertility enhancing measures, and its validity as an entry point for policy-makers and private-sector intervention. Contains numerous color figures and tables.

Improving Potassium Recommendations for Agricultural Crops
Improving Potassium Recommendations for Agricultural Crops

Author: T. Scott Murrell

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2022

Total Pages: 476

ISBN-13: 9783030591991

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This open access book highlights concepts discussed at two international conferences that brought together world-renowned scientists to advance the science of potassium (K) recommendations for crops. There was general agreement that the potassium recommendations currently in general use are oversimplified, outdated, and jeopardize soil, plant, and human health. Accordingly, this book puts forward a significantly expanded K cycle that more accurately depicts K inputs, losses and transformations in soils. This new cycle serves as both the conceptual basis for the scientific discussions in this book and a framework upon which to build future improvements. Previously used approaches are critically reviewed and assessed, not only for their relevance to future enhancements, but also for their use as metrics of sustainability. An initial effort is made to link K nutrition in crops and K nutrition in humans. The book offers an invaluable asset for graduate students, educators, industry scientists, data scientists, and advanced agronomists.

Soil and Water Quality at Different Scales
Soil and Water Quality at Different Scales

Author: Peter A. Finke

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2013-03-14

Total Pages: 314

ISBN-13: 9401730210

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Integrated studies on the assessment and improvement of soil and water quality have to deal almost inevitably with issues of scale, since the spatial support of measurements, the model calculations and the presentation of results usually vary. This book contains the selected and edited proceedings of a workshop devoted to issues of scale entitled: `Soil and Water Quality at Different Scales', which was held in 1996 in Wageningen. It is intended for environmental researchers, scientists and MSc and PhD students. Part 1 covers current issues and methodologies with scale related soil and water quality research. Part 2 covers agroecological and hydrological case studies in which scale transforms form an important part of the research chain. Part 3 consists of papers focusing on methodologies and up and downscaling. Part 4 contains review papers based on modellers' and statisticians' considerations as well as the papers and posters presented during the workshop. Part 5 consists of short research notes.

World Soil Resources and Food Security
World Soil Resources and Food Security

Author: Rattan Lal

Publisher: CRC Press

Published: 2016-04-19

Total Pages: 562

ISBN-13: 1439844518

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Soil-The Basis of All Terrestrial LifeAncient civilizations and cultures-Mayan, Aztec, Mesopotamian, Indus, and Yangtze-were built on good soils, surviving only as long as soils had the capacity to support them. In the twenty-first century, productive soil is still the engine of economic development and essential to human well-being. The quality of

The Organic No-Till Farming Revolution
The Organic No-Till Farming Revolution

Author: Andrew Mefferd

Publisher: New Society Publishers

Published: 2019-03-05

Total Pages: 661

ISBN-13: 1771422726

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Learn how to use natural no-till systems to increase profitability, efficiency, carbon sequestration, and soil health on your small farm. The Organic No-Till Farming Revolution is the comprehensive farmer-developed roadmap showing how no-till lowers barriers to starting a small farm, reduces greenhouse gas emissions, increases efficiency and profitability, and promotes soil health. Farming without tilling has long been a goal of agriculture, yet tilling remains one of the most dominant paradigms; almost everyone does it. But tilling kills beneficial soil life, burns up organic matter, and releases carbon dioxide. If the ground could instead be prepared for planting without tilling, time and energy could be saved, soil organic matter increased, carbon sequestered, and dependence on machinery reduced. This hands-on manual offers: Why roller-crimper no-till methods don't work for most small farms A decision-making framework for the four no-till methods: occultation, solarization, organic mulches grown in place, and applied to beds Ideas for starting a no-till farm or transitioning a working farm A list of tools, supplies, and sources. This is the only manual of its kind, specifically written for natural and small-scale farmers who wish to expand or explore chemical-free, regenerative farming methods.

Trees, Crops, and Soil Fertility
Trees, Crops, and Soil Fertility

Author: G. Schroth

Publisher: CABI

Published: 2003-02-19

Total Pages: 456

ISBN-13: 9780851997926

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Annotation. Successful agroforestry requires an understanding of the complex relationship between trees, crops and soils. This book provides a review of both economic and biophysical aspects of soil use and research in agroforestry, with an emphasis on nutrient-poor forest and savanna soils. Key topics covered include the economics of soil fertility management, cycling of water, nutrients and organic matter, soil structure, and soil biological processes. The book combines synthetic overviews of research results and a review of methods used in research.From the foreword: 2The book is written within a particular context - soil fertility development under agroforestry. At first this may seem very specific and thus limited in appeal and application. But over the last decade or so agroforestry research has been one of the most influential in developing new insights into soil biology and fertility and thus provides a very suitable framework for review of progress. Furthermore the influence of trees on soil is profound and of significance beyond agroforestry systems, so the book is likely to be of interest in the wider spheres of agriculture, forestry and ecological sciences.3 Mike Swift, TSBF, Nairobi, Kenya.

Nutrient Disequilibria in Agroecosystems
Nutrient Disequilibria in Agroecosystems

Author: E. M. A. Smaling

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA

Published: 1999

Total Pages: 344

ISBN-13:

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Nutrient imbalances have a substantial impact on the productivity and sustainability of agroecosystems worldwide. Fertilizer and manure use, atmospheric deposition, international transportation of produce, solute and gas emissions and soil erosion have all contributed to deficits and surpluses, which in some areas have reached alarming proportions. This book describes and explores the latest concepts of the causes of nutrient imbalances, including the importance of different spatial scales, and examines ways to quantify and manage nutrient stocks, the increasing amount of legislation and the urgent need for the development of integrated nutrient management technologies. Nutrient Disequilibria in Agroecosystemsalso includes case studies, from fish farms in eastern Asia to nutrient flow monitoring in Kenyan tea/maize farms, the dairy sector in New Zealand and ecological farming in Switzerland, the future for global-level research in soil fertility management and nutrient flow analysis. This title should enhance research and the adoption of (inter)national policies on soil fertility maintenance with its global, multi-scale, multi-disciplinary approach.

Fishponds in farming systems
Fishponds in farming systems

Author: A.J. Zijpp

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2023-08-28

Total Pages: 311

ISBN-13: 9086865968

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"Throughout the last century, specialisation and intensification were buzz words for farmers in the Western world. However, this approach has not resulted in sustainable development as evidenced by the fact that scientists now need to create technologies to reduce negative impacts. In this book we demonstrate that an alternative exists. Case studies from Bangladesh, Thailand, and Vietnam show that integration and diversification increase both farm productivity and farmers’ incomes. By adopting a participatory approach, farmers and scientists identified a range of technologies that strengthen the positive impacts of integrated aquaculture-agriculture systems for the environment. This book is a collection of refereed papers on a controversial subject in agricultural development. Arguing that sustainability of fish culture in ponds needs a new paradigm - feed the pond to grow fish - two chapters focus on nutrient cycling in such systems. Another chapter makes the case for breeding Nile tilapia for resource poor farmers and presents practical options to avoid the pitfalls that arise from natural tilapia mating in low-input ponds. The book contains chapters on livelihood and development aspects and ends with a general discussion completing the picture of the integrated aquaculture-agriculture systems. Overall it composes a review which addresses one of the key issues of the new century: how to sustainably produce food without compromising environmental integrity."