Nitrogen fixation by leguminous plant is especially important when farmers are trying to maximize fertilizer use for cost or environmental reasons. This second edition of this book, first published in 1991, contains thoroughly updated and revised material on the theory and practice of nitrogen fixation in tropical cropping systems. The significant research advances in the last ten years on both a fundamental and applied level are covered, including those relating to the classification and description of N2-fixing bacteria and symbioses and the processess of N2-fixation.
Tropical environments - climates, soils and cropping systems; nitrogen fixing organisms in the tropics; nitrogen fixation process and its role in the tropics; tropical crops and cropping systems - cereal crops and grasses, wetland rice, grain legumes, legumes as animal fodder, plantation crops, agroforestry; optimizing contributions from nitrogen fixation - mixed farming systems, environmental constraints, past approaches, realizing potential benefits.