Agriculture and the Nitrogen Cycle

Agriculture and the Nitrogen Cycle
Author: Arvin Mosier
Publisher: Island Press
Total Pages: 320
Release: 2013-04-10
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1597267430

Nitrogen is an essential element for plant growth and development and a key agricultural input-but in excess it can lead to a host of problems for human and ecological health. Across the globe, distribution of fertilizer nitrogen is very uneven, with some areas subject to nitrogen pollution and others suffering from reduced soil fertility, diminished crop production, and other consequences of inadequate supply. Agriculture and the Nitrogen Cycle provides a global assessment of the role of nitrogen fertilizer in the nitrogen cycle. The focus of the book is regional, emphasizing the need to maintain food and fiber production while minimizing environmental impacts where fertilizer is abundant, and the need to enhance fertilizer utilization in systems where nitrogen is limited. The book is derived from a workshop held by the Scientific Committee on Problems of the Environment (SCOPE) in Kampala, Uganda, that brought together the world's leading scientists to examine and discuss the nitrogen cycle and related problems. It contains an overview chapter that summarizes the group's findings, four chapters on cross-cutting issues, and thirteen background chapters. The book offers a unique synthesis and provides an up-to-date, broad perspective on the issues of nitrogen fertilizer in food production and the interaction of nitrogen and the environment.

Efficient Nitrogen Fertilizer Management to Improve Crop Production

Efficient Nitrogen Fertilizer Management to Improve Crop Production
Author: Li Wang
Publisher: Frontiers Media SA
Total Pages: 141
Release: 2024-05-22
Genre: Science
ISBN: 2832549322

The improvement in global crop production over the past several decades has been associated with increased use of nitrogen (N) fertilizer. However, on average, less than 50% of the nitrogen added to croplands globally is harvested as crop product. Inefficient use of N fertilizer by crops will result in substantial agricultural nitrogen losses, posing threats to human and ecosystem health. Crop production must increase dramatically to meet the growing demand for food and biofuels projected for 2050. To boost crop yield with lowered environmental cost, the use of high-potential crop cultivars and efficient nitrogen fertilizer management are required. Recent advances in N management practices, such as enhanced-efficiency fertilizer use, improved manure management and machine deep placement of fertilizer have opened up new strategies to achieve improved crop production with N use reduction. A better understanding of the key crop traits and regulatory processes in response to N fertilizer managements will facilitate the increase in crop yield, N use efficiency while minimizing impacts on the environment.

North American Agroforestry

North American Agroforestry
Author: Harold E. Gene Garrett
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 580
Release: 2022-02-23
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 0891183779

North American Agroforestry Explore the many benefits of alternative land-use systems with this incisive resource Humanity has become a victim of its own success. While we’ve managed to meet the needs—to one extent or another—of a large portion of the human population, we’ve often done so by ignoring the health of the natural environment we rely on to sustain our planet. And by deteriorating the quality of our air, water, and land, we’ve put into motion consequences we’ll be dealing with for generations. In the newly revised Third Edition of North American Agroforestry, an expert team of researchers delivers an authoritative and insightful exploration of an alternative land-use system that exploits the positive interactions between trees and crops when they are grown together and bridges the gap between production agriculture and natural resource management. This latest edition includes new material on urban food forests, as well as the air and soil quality benefits of agroforestry, agroforestry’s relevance in the Mexican context, and agroforestry training and education. The book also offers: A thorough introduction to the development of agroforestry as an integrated land use management strategy Comprehensive explorations of agroforestry nomenclature, concepts, and practices, as well as an agroecological foundation for temperate agroforestry Practical discussions of tree-crop interactions in temperate agroforestry, including in systems such as windbreak practices, silvopasture practices, and alley cropping practices In-depth examinations of vegetative environmental buffers for air and water quality benefits, agroforestry for wildlife habitat, agroforestry at the landscape level, and the impact of agroforestry on soil health Perfect for environmental scientists, natural resource professionals and ecologists, North American Agroforestry will also earn a place in the libraries of students and scholars of agricultural sciences interested in the potential benefits of agroforestry.

Nitrogen in Agriculture

Nitrogen in Agriculture
Author: Khan Amanullah
Publisher: BoD – Books on Demand
Total Pages: 252
Release: 2018-02-01
Genre: Science
ISBN: 9535137689

Nitrogen is the most yield-restraining nutrient in crop production globally. Efficient nitrogen management is one of the most important factor for improving nitrogen use efficiency, field crops productivity and profitability. Efficient use of nitrogen for crop production is therefore very important for increasing grain yield, maximizing economic return and minimizing nitrous oxide (N2O) emission from the fields and nitrate (NO3) leaching to ground water. Integrated nitrogen management is a good strategy to improve plant growth, increase yield and yield components, grain quality and reduce environmental problems. Integrated nitrogen management (combined use of chemical + organic + bio-fertilizers) in field crop production is more resilient to climate change.

Nitrogen Use and Behavior in Crop Production

Nitrogen Use and Behavior in Crop Production
Author: L. Fred Welch
Publisher:
Total Pages: 62
Release: 1979
Genre: Crops and nitrogen
ISBN:

Most plants absorbmore nitrogen than any other nutrient. Because the amount needed is so large and easily be lost from many soils, nitrogen is usually the most limiting nutrient for plant growth. Although about 79 percent of the atmosphere is nitrogen, only nitrogen-fixingplants such as legumeswith their associated bacteria are able to use this abundant source. The nonleguminous grain crops must receive supplemental nitrogen to produce satisfactory yields. Until the last few decades the supply of available nitrogen in the soil was increased primarily by legumes and manure. These sources should be used when economically feasible, but many important grain-producing areas of the world must now rely on commercial fertilizer nitrogen. For economic reasons researchers and growers have been interested for many years in improving yields from each unit of nitrogen. Recently, however, the efficient use of nitrogen has become an environmental issue as well, because high nitrate concentrations in water may be harmful to humans, especiali infants, and to livestock. If plants absorb more of the addedfertilizer nitrogen, then less is likely to leach from fields into drinking water. Improving nitrogen efficiency has also become crucial in order to conserve dwinling supplies of natural gas, which is used in large quantities to manufacture nitrogenfertilizers.

Advances in Research on Fertilization Management of Vegetable Crops

Advances in Research on Fertilization Management of Vegetable Crops
Author: Francesco Tei
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 307
Release: 2017-04-24
Genre: Science
ISBN: 3319536265

This book is a review of the recent literature on the key scientific and technical subjects of fertilization management in vegetable crops. In the last decades, research on fertilization management in vegetables was aimed at producing economical yields with reduced fertilizer inputs by the development and implementation of cropping systems, nutrient management approaches and crop varieties. Examples of the interventions in cropping systems included adequate crop rotations, inter-cropping, double cropping, and other strategies for a better soil organic matter management; nutrient management approaches included modelling, Decision Support Systems, crop nutritional status testing and precision agriculture technologies; amelioration of crop varieties has been directed toward higher nutrient/fertilizer use efficiency.