About this book
This book provides current information regarding the world's soil resources available for food production; management and input requirements needed to achieve increased production on soils available for production; and ways to maintain or improve soil resources to gain optimal production. Chapters cover global food demand, soil degradation, fertilizer needs, nutrient budgeting and plant nutrition, disease suppressive soils, soil and climate change, soil fertility management, ecological efficiency, sustainable production systems, soil resilience, and soils and human health. The contributing authors offer innovative soil and water management options.
Contents
Foreword; Swaminathan
Preface; Lal and Stewart
World Soil; Reich
Global Food Demand; Shahpouri
Soil Degradation; Dent
Fertilizer Needs; Bumb
Disease Suppressive Soils; Dick
Soil and Climate Change; Hillel
Ecological Efficiency; Bindraban
Soil Fertility Management; Keating
Nutrient Budgeting; Smaling
Plant Nutrition; Imas
Sustainable Production Systems; Basch
Soil Resilience; Lal
Global Soil Carbon Pool; Batjes
Soils and Human Health; Singer
Way Forward; Lal and Stewart
Customer Reviews
Biography
Rattan Lal is a Distinguished University Professor of soil physics in the School of Environment and Natural Resources and director of the Carbon Management and Sequestration Center, Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences/Ohio Agriculture Research and Development Center, at The Ohio State University. Before joining Ohio State in 1987, he was a soil physicist for 18 years at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, Ibadan, Nigeria. Professor Lal's research interests include erosion-induced changes in soil quality, soils and climate change, soil compaction, conservation tillage, mine soil reclamation, water table management, and sustainable use of soil and water resources of the tropics for enhancing food security. Professor Lal is a fellow of the Soil Science Society of America, American Society of Agronomy, Third World Academy of Sciences, American Association for the Advancement of Sciences, Soil and Waste Conservation Society, and Indian Academy of Agricultural Sciences. He is a member of the United States National Committee on Soil Science of the National Academy of Sciences and a recipient of several awards, including the International Soil Science Award of the Soil Science Society of America and the Liebig award of IUSS. He is a recipient of honorary degrees from Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, India; Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Aas, Norway; and Alecu Russo University, Moldova. B.A. Stewart is a distinguished professor of soil science at the West Texas A&M University, Canyon, Texas, and the director of the Dryland Agriculture Institute. He is a fellow of the Soil Science Society of America, the American Society of Agronomy, and the Soil and Water Conservation Society. He is a recipient of the Unites States Department of Agriculture Superior Service Award, a recipient of the Hugh Hammond Bennett Award of the Soil and Water Conservation Society, and was made an honorary member of the International Union of Soil Sciences in 2008. Dr. Stewart is very supportive of education and research on dryland agriculture. The B.A. and Jane Anne Stewart Dryland Agriculture Scholarship Fund was established in West Texas A&M University in 1994 to provide scholarships for undergraduate and graduate students with a demonstrated interest in dryland agriculture.
