Nutrient Use Efficiency: from Basics to Advances

Nutrient Use Efficiency: from Basics to Advances
Author: Amitava Rakshit
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 417
Release: 2014-12-26
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 8132221699

This book addresses in detail multifaceted approaches to boosting nutrient use efficiency (NUE) that are modified by plant interactions with environmental variables and combine physiological, microbial, biotechnological and agronomic aspects. Conveying an in-depth understanding of the topic will spark the development of new cultivars and strains to induce NUE, coupled with best management practices that will immensely benefit agricultural systems, safeguarding their soil, water, and air quality. Written by recognized experts in the field, the book is intended to provide students, scientists and policymakers with essential insights into holistic approaches to NUE, as well as an overview of some successful case studies. In the present understanding of agriculture, NUE represents a question of process optimization in response to the increasing fragility of our natural resources base and threats to food grain security across the globe. Further improving nutrient use efficiency is a prerequisite to reducing production costs, expanding crop acreage into non-competitive marginal lands with low nutrient resources, and preventing environmental contamination. The nutrients most commonly limiting plant growth are N, P, K, S and micronutrients like Fe, Zn, B and Mo. NUE depends on the ability to efficiently take up the nutrient from the soil, but also on transport, storage, mobilization, usage within the plant and the environment. A number of approaches can help us to understand NUE as a whole. One involves adopting best crop management practices that take into account root-induced rhizosphere processes, which play a pivotal role in controlling nutrient dynamics in the soil-plant-atmosphere continuum. New technologies, from basic tools like leaf color charts to sophisticated sensor-based systems and laser land leveling, can reduce the dependency on laboratory assistance and manual labor. Another approach concerns the development of crop plants through genetic manipulations that allow them to take up and assimilate nutrients more efficiently, as well as identifying processes of plant responses to nutrient deficiency stress and exploring natural genetic variation. Though only recently introduced, the ability of microbial inoculants to induce NUE is gaining in importance, as the loss, immobilization, release and availability of nutrients are mediated by soil microbial processes.

Interdisciplinary and Sustainability Issues in Food and Agriculture - Volume III

Interdisciplinary and Sustainability Issues in Food and Agriculture - Volume III
Author: Olaf Christen
Publisher: EOLSS Publications
Total Pages: 460
Release: 2010-05-24
Genre:
ISBN: 1848263376

Interdisciplinary and Sustainability Issues in Food and Agriculture is a component of Encyclopedia of Food and Agricultural Sciences, Engineering and Technology Resources in the global Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems (EOLSS), which is an integrated compendium of twenty one Encyclopedias. The Theme on Interdisciplinary and Sustainability Issues in Food and Agriculture provides the essential aspects and discusses a number of issues of importance in the development of specific agriculture and food supply systems that are closely related to general developmental trends of humankind. In this context technology and economic development as well as socio-cultural developments affect productivity and a secure supply with food. These three volumes are aimed at the following five major target audiences: University and College students Educators, Professional practitioners, Research personnel and Policy analysts, managers, and decision makers and NGOs.

Notes

Notes
Author:
Publisher:
Total Pages: 552
Release: 1983
Genre: Europe
ISBN:

Carbon-Nitrogen-Sulfur

Carbon-Nitrogen-Sulfur
Author: V. Smil
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 469
Release: 2012-12-06
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1468488392

ica, I considered myself an old hand: when I started to study the environment of the North Bohemian region in 1963, the ecosystemic changes and health effects result ing from extremely high concentrations and deposition of sulfurous and nitrogenous air pollutants and particulate matter could not be ignored. When I returned to the area in 1966 to work there for nearly three years as a consultant in energy and environmental affairs, I came to realize the difficulties of efficiently controlling the problem. Hiking on the crest of the Ore Mountains overlooking the valley, I saw much destruction and degradation of coniferous plantings-but I was also repeatedly surprised by the contrast of the withering tops and stunted dried-out growth of spruces and firs with the magnificent beech trees and the healthy understory of shrubs and wild flowers. I recall this impressive lesson of ecosystemic vulnerability and resistance every time I read sweeping generalizations about the environmental effects of acid deposition. At the same time, in the second half of the 1960s, I was introduced by a friend, an engineer working in analytical chemistry and biochemistry, to some of the mysteries of enzymes; this led me to nitrogenase, one of the most incredible sub stances on this planet, and to an interest in various aspects of the nitrogen cycle, which was further strengthened by my later work on the energy cost of crop production, involving inevitable comparisons between natural nitrogen fixation and Haber-Bosch ammonia synthesis.

Agricultural Sciences - Volume II

Agricultural Sciences - Volume II
Author: Rattan Lal
Publisher: EOLSS Publications
Total Pages: 516
Release: 2009-10-13
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 184826092X

Agricultural Sciences is a component of Encyclopedia of Food and Agricultural Sciences, Engineering and Technology Resources in the global Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems (EOLSS), which is an integrated compendium of twenty one Encyclopedias. The theme on Agricultural Sciences with contributions from distinguished experts in the field discusses this multi-disciplinary field that encompasses the parts of exact, natural, economic and social sciences that are used in the practice and understanding of agriculture. These two volumes are aimed at the following five major target audiences: University and College students Educators, Professional practitioners, Research personnel and Policy analysts, managers, and decision makers and NGOs

Essays on Agricultural Economy

Essays on Agricultural Economy
Author: G. B. Ayoola
Publisher: Xlibris Corporation
Total Pages: 520
Release: 2018-12-06
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1543401791

In particular, this book of essays is aimed at quenching the thirst of undergraduate and postgraduate students of agricultural economics in the institutions of higher learning at home and abroad for a quick reference book on Nigerian development, which they require for proper understanding of taught courses. In general, it is also aimed at dependent and independent professionals in the public and private sectors of the economy and development community at large, with a view to providing them with the institutional memory they require to demonstrate their expertise on the job much better. To this end, the book offers the benefit of many years of experience in teaching, research, and community services, through a menu of topics for profitable reading about the inner mechanisms of the policy process for agricultural development of the country in real time. Herein is strenuously articulated the systematic outputs of disciplined hard work spanning three decades, from 1988 to 2018, including the last ten years of active engagements in policy advocacy outside the university system. The menu of nonexperimental writings provides information about the seemingly dry area of agricultural historiography of the country embedded in a series of analytical thoughts and expositions on performance of successive programs and projects for developing the agricultural economy.

Fertilizers and Environment

Fertilizers and Environment
Author: Claudio Rodriguez Barrueco
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 539
Release: 2012-12-06
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 9400915861

Food production remains the highest agricultural priority, subject to the constraint that it be done in harmony with nature, or at least with minimum environmental pollution. The amount of fertilizer applied can be controlled using modern application techniques, including soil and crop management, guaranteeing higher economic profit and lower environmental cost. It is in such a context that the present book addresses the efficient and rational use of mineral and organic fertilizers while preserving environmental quality. The book discusses the impact on surface and groundwaters, soils and crops, and experience of nitrate leaching, denitrification, ammonia volatilization, heavy metal pollution, agricultural and urban waste management, and international and national legislation. Audience: Agronomists, environmentalists, soil and food chemists, ecologists, policy makers, and managers in the fertilizer industry concerned with the trend of public opinion.