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This book presents a comprehensive and balanced overview of soil amendments and their effect on the environment. It encompasses both positive and negative aspects of chemical fertilizers that supply nitrogen, phosphorous, sulfur, lime, micronutrients, and trace metals. Pros and cons are discussed with respect to the optimal and the most environmentally sound use of soil amendments, and guidance is provided on how to minimize the environmental effects of amendments. Natural fertilizers, including manure, sludge, fly ash, phosphogypsum, and byproduct gypsum are also discussed. Alternative agronomic practices and biotechnology that ameliorate or minimize potential adverse effects of fertilizer use are examined in detail.This authoritative and up-to-date treatise is multidisciplinary in nature and international in scope, a powerful reference tool for researchers, a thorough guide for practitioners and policy makers, and an excellent text book for academic courses. ... Read more

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The relationships between soils, microbes and humans are of crucial relevance in the tropics, where plant stress and microbial activity are exacerbated. This volume of Soil Biology presents the living component of tropical soils, showing how it is shaped by environmental conditions and emphasizing its dramatic impact on human survival and well-being.

Following an introduction to the specificities of tropical soils and of their microbial communities, the biological aspects of soil management are examined, dealing with land use change, conservation and slash-and-burn agriculture, the restoration of hot deserts, agroforestry and paddy rice cultivation. As they are of particular relevance for tropical agriculture, symbioses of plants and microbes are thoroughly covered, as are the biodegradation of pesticides and health risks associated with wastewater irrigation. Lastly, traditional soil knowledge is discussed as a key to our sustainable presence in this world.

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Farmers today are faced with an array of products that they can use to improve the fertility of their lands.Organic soil amendments such as biosolids, manures and, to a lesser extent, Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) composts are products that can be used to supplement or replace mineral fertilizers.Many farmers are aware of the benefits that organic products offer, especially in terms of improved crop yields, increased soil fertility, reduced fertilizer costs, and their overall contribution to sustainable agriculture. Concerns have been raised, however, regarding the safety of organic soil amendments.Depending on the type of product, these can include (but are not limited to) the accumulation of phosphorus and metals in soils, plant uptake of land-applied metals, the contamination of groundwater and soil with organic compounds, and potential health impacts from pathogens and viruses. Although many of these issues have been rigorously researched, data is often published in academic journals and textbooks, and is not necessarily accessible to the public.For all soil amendments, comparative information regarding risks, benefits, advantages, and disadvantages is not always readily available. Equally critical is the lack of accessible comparative data on soil amendment and mineral fertilizer characteristics and use. Recognizing the need to provide a comparison of these products, the Water Environment Research Foundation (WERF) commissioned this multi-year study of soil amendments, fertilizers and their uses.For the study, the project team performed a comprehensive literature survey, reviewing and compiling the results from nearly 500 documents (primarily from academic journals and texts). The study generally found that the relative risk to the environment from amendments and fertilizers varies by parameter and shows that known risks from each of the materials studied can be managed. Moreover, these manageable risks must be carefully weighed against the considerable benefits provided by the land application of amendments and fertilizers. ... Read more

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This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

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Publisher: Chicago, Ill., Office of the CouncilPublication date: 1916Subjects: AdvertisingNotes: This is an OCR reprint. There may be numerous typos or missing text. There are no illustrations or indexes.When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. You can also preview the book there. ... Read more

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Gathers in a single, comprehensive volume several years of research in methodology, terminology, interpretation, and application of soil, plant, water, and other analyses for efficient resource management and environmental protection. Explicates laboratory quality assurance, sample collection techniques, and laboratory analysis-based interpretations and recommendations. ... Read more

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This study reviews and evaluates the political and administrative aspects of the nationwide soil conservation effort in the United States. ... Read more

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Written from an agronomic rather than an engineering perspective, this introduction to soil and water conservation explores a full range of topics and environmental issues, including some ignored or overlooked in other books on the subject. Comprehensive, up-to-date, and accessible, it considers the hazards posed by erosion, sedimentation, and pollution, and describes the techniques needed to conserve soil and maintain environmental quality. Situations and examples are drawn from many places to represent a cross-section of the soils, climates and cultures of the world, as well as the full scope of agricultural, engineering, mining, and other uses of the land.The volume covers conserving soil and water, soil erosion and civilization, geologic erosion and sedimentation, water erosion and sedimentation, wind erosion and deposition, predicting soil loss, soil surveys as a basis for land use planning, cropping systems, tillage practices for conservation, conservation structures, vegetating drastically disturbed areas, pastureland, rangeland, and forestland management, water conservation, soil drainage, irrigation and reclamation, soil pollution, water quality and pollution, economics of soil and water conservation, soil and water conservation agencies in the United States, and soil and water conservation around the world.For professionals that deal with soil and water conservation. ... Read more

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No-till farming (sometimes called zero tillage) is a way of growing crops from year to year without disturbing the soil through tillage. No-till increases the amount of water in the soil, decreases erosion, increases the amount and variety of life in and on the soil and it increases herbicide usage. There is evidence that repeated tillage destroys the soil resource base and causes adverse environmental impacts. Tillage degrades the fertility of soils, causes air and water pollution, intensifies drought stress, consumes fuel, and contributes to global warming. Today, farmers are expected to produce food in ever greater quantities. This is becoming more difficult to do in view of declining soil quality, which can be caused by soil tillage. It is becoming well known that no-till is an effective technique to reduce the degradation of soil. With this way of farming, crop residues or other organic amenities are retained on the soil surface and sowing/fertilising is done with minimal soil disturbance. This book gathers the latest research from around the globe in this field of study. ... Read more

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Sustainable agriculture is a rapidly growing field aiming at producing food and energy in a sustainable way for humans and their children. Sustainable agriculture is a discipline that addresses current issues such as climate change, increasing food and fuel prices, poor-nation starvation, rich-nation obesity, water pollution, soil erosion, fertility loss, pest control, and biodiversity depletion. Novel, environmentally-friendly solutions are proposed based on integrated knowledge from sciences as diverse as agronomy, soil science, molecular biology, chemistry, toxicology, ecology, economy, and social sciences. Indeed, sustainable agriculture decipher mechanisms of processes that occur from the molecular level to the farming system to the global level at time scales ranging from seconds to centuries. For that, scientists use the system approach that involves studying components and interactions of a whole system to address scientific, economic and social issues. In that respect, sustainable agriculture is not a classical, narrow science. Instead of solving problems using the classical painkiller approach that treats only negative impacts, sustainable agriculture treats problem sources. Because most actual society issues are now intertwined, global, and fast-developing, sustainable agriculture will bring solutions to build a safer world. This book series gathers review articles that analyze current agricultural issues and knowledge, then propose alternative solutions. It will therefore help all scientists, decision-makers, professors, farmers and politicians who wish to build a safe agriculture, energy and food system for future generations. ... Read more