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Touted by users for its clear explanations and readability, Troeh and Thompson's Soil and Soil Fertility provides an excellent overview of soils for students in agriculture and the environmental sciences. Coverage includes basic topics such as soil chemistry, organic matter, mineralogy, water management, as well as more specialized areas such as urban and rural land use, artificial soils for greenhouses, and turf grass. The sixth edition incorporates discussions of GIS and GPS, humus and its function in soil structure and fertility, soil reclamation for sites contaminated by pesticides or petroleum spills, and advances in the understanding of water flow. A new chapter on soil mechanics explains the use of soils as foundation and construction material.
Essential information from organic chemistry, geology, and biology is included for readers who lack that background. Students and instructors will appreciate the glossary and the useful study questions following each chapter. The book's practical emphasis increases its usefulness to horticulture students and enthusiasts, forestry students and practitioners, environmental professionals, agronomy students and consulting agronomists.
Preface.1 Soil. 2 Soil Formation. 3 Physical Properties of Soils. 4 Soil Mechanics. 5 Soil Water.6 Soil Organic Matter.7 Soil Mineralogy.8 Soil Chemistry. 9 Amending the Soil.10 Fertilizers.11 Nitrogen.12 Phosphorus.13 Potassium.14 Calcium, Magnesium, and Sulfur.15. The Micronutrients.16. Variations in Plant Composition. 17 Soil Classification and Survey.18 Land Use and Soil Management.19 Water Management.20 Soil Erosion and Its Control. 21 Soil Pollution.Appendix.
Frederick R. Troeh is Professor Emeritus, Agronomy, Iowa State University, Ames, who taught for 32 years. Dr. Troeh also worked for seven years as a soil scientist for the Soil Conservation Society in Idaho and California and served four years as a soil technologist for Cornell University in New York. Louis M. Thompson is Emeritus Associate Dean of Agriculture and Emeritus Professor of Agronomy, also at Iowa State University. Dr. Thompson based the early editions of Solis and Soil Fertility on thirty years of teaching at Texas A&M and iowa State University. He continued teaching seminars and returned to teach introductory soil science while in the position of Associate Dean of Agriculture. Since retirement, he has published several articles related to the effects of climatic cycles on crop yields.
The sixth edition of Soils and Soil Fertility provides a thorough introduction to soil science as well as the fundamentals of soil fertility, and is an appropriate text for undergraduate students in agricultural and/or environmental sciences...Each chapter is well organized...and features boldface subheadings to assist in quickly locating topics of interest...In summary, this textbook is comprehensive, readable, and does not bog down in vernacular or complex reference tables. Thus, it is an ideal choice for support of an introductory soil science course. M.J.Schlossberg, Dept. of Crop and Soil Sciences, The Pennsylvania State University in the Journal of Environmental Quality Volume 34, No. 6, November-December 2005. "Soils and Soil Fertility by Troeh and Thompson would be an excellent textbook for soils and related classes. This is a very intelligent book full of supportive black and white illustrations within the text. Although designed as a textbook, gardeners and enthusiasts may enjoy reading this text for information and a better understanding of soil properties and soil fertility." Dr Lee Luckeydoo, Eastern New Mexico University in SIDA: Contributions to Botany Volume 22, Issue 1, 2006.
