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This book presents the advancement of coating materials technology especially in agriculture, particularly for fertilizers. Fertilizers are a critical component in meeting rising demands and ensuring global food security. A new generation of fertilizers made by coating granules with biopolymers address these issues. Coating in agriculture is an important area in research for a more sustainable future. Many examples and instances from existing research and related research gaps are discussed. It includes applications of composites as fertilizer's coating, advantages and disadvantages of fertilizer coating from composites, applications of bacteria in composite, applications of bacteria in fertilizer industry as well as the common techniques of coating fertilizers with drying process. ​

This new volume addresses the global water crisis by presenting new ways to use irrigation water judiciously through innovative fertigation management. It looks at the research and review work done throughout the world on micro irrigation and the techno-economic feasibility of various fertigation irrigation water management systems. Taking a multidisciplinary perspective, the chapters look at using fertigation to increase the effectiveness of irrigation systems crop performance evaluation of various crops under fertigation and irrigation methods estimating levels of crop requirements scheduling of fertigation and irrigation new fertigation equipment and technology cost components of the various irrigation and fertigation systems

Fertigation requires a thorough understanding of the science behind the technology to make it deliver the immense possibility it offers in crop production. Though the idea of fertigation existed from the times of solution culture, it did not receive the necessary attention from among plant nutritionists and agronomists when it reappeared in the context of micro irrigation. Fertilizer application in field agriculture has also not developed as a precision technology. Recommendations of the quantum of fertilizers required for a crop, at least in India are not based on current varieties of the crops, nor have they anything to do with the growth rate and developmental changes occurring while a crop is managed by the grower. Most of the fertilizer recommendations are itself very old and efforts to make them relevant to the current growing conditions, soil status, crop variety and crops reaction to the environment etc. are very limited. It is even worse when growers follow traders'recommendations whose idea is to sell more the fertilizer they supply. Not only lower yields and very low fertilizer use efficiencies, but the deterioration of soil and water bodies are the results.Note: T&F does not sell or distribute the hardback in India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. This title is co-published with NIPA.

La lombricultura constituye un medio de descontaminación ambiental al utilizar una serie de materiales biodegradables a los que da un valor agregado para la utilización final.

Soil and Fertilizers: Managing the Environmental Footprint presents strategies to improve soil health by reducing the rate of fertilizer input while maintaining high agronomic yields. It is estimated that fertilizer use supported nearly half of global births in 2008. In a context of potential food insecurity exacerbated by population growth and climate change, the importance of fertilizers in sustaining the agronomic production is clear. However, excessive use of chemical fertilizers poses serious risks both to the environment and to human health. Highlighting a tenfold increase in global fertilizer consumption between 2002 and 2016, the book explains the effects on the quality of soil, water, air and biota from overuse of chemical fertilizers. Written by an interdisciplinary author team, this book presents methods for enhancing the efficiency of fertilizer use and outlines agricultural practices that can reduce the environmental footprint. Features: Includes a thorough literature review on the agronomic and environmental impact of fertilizer, from degradation of ecosystems to the eutrophication of drinking water Devotes specific chapters to enhancing the use efficiency and effectiveness of the fertilizers through improved formulations, time and mode of application, and the use of precision farming technology Reveals geographic variation in fertilizer consumption volume by presenting case studies for specific countries and regions, including India and Africa Discusses the pros and cons of organic vs. chemical fertilizers, innovative technologies including nuclear energy, and the U.N.'s Sustainable Development Goals Part of the Advances in Soil Sciences series, this solutions-focused volume will appeal to soil scientists, environmental scientists and agricultural engineers.

This collection reviews current research on understanding nutrient cycles, the ways crops process nutrients, the environmental effects of fertilizer use and how this understanding can be used to optimise nutrient use efficiency (NUE) and reduce fertiliser use. Chapters summarise research on the primary macronutrients: nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. They also discuss secondary macronutrients and micronutrients including: calcium, magnesium, sulphur, zinc, boron, manganese and molybdenum. The final two parts of the book review research on fertiliser application. Chapters cover topics such as assessing nutrient availability, decision support systems for optimising crop nutrition, advances in site-specific nutrient management and advances in integrated plant nutrient management. Other chapters discuss enhanced efficiency fertilisers, the use of bio-effectors/bio-stimulants, fertigation techniques and organic amendments.

This book focuses on the pros and cons of amendment materials to restore the functioning of soil resources. It presents a holistic overview on affected land revitalization, clean up and revegetation using these amendments that could be implemented in the long term management of the soil-plant-atmosphereanimal continuum.

Malgré une augmentation continue de la production alimentaire et des progrès certains dans sa distribution et son utilisation, la situation mondiale de l'alimentation est préoccupante, l'expansion restant globalement inférieure à l'accroissement de la population. Pour nourrir la population mondiale...

Encompassing high priority research areas such as bioenergy production, global warming mitigation, and sustainable agriculture, biochar has received increased worldwide interest in the past decade.Biochar: Production, Characterization, and Applications covers the fundamentals of biochar including its concept, production technology, and characteriza

This book describes many important principles of fertilizer management and the environmental pollution problems due to the indiscriminate soil fertilization rate. The long-term impacts of organic or mineral fertilizer use have implications on soil fertility, crop yields, water quality, climatic change, greenhouse gas emissions, etc. The twelve chapters in this book provide state of the art research on some important topics, such as subsistence agriculture, modern agronomy, and technological improvements which have sharply increased yields from cultivation, with a special emphasis on the sustainable management and environmental impact of commercial and nontraditional fertilizers. Without a doubt, this book is a valuable contribution to the agricultural sciences and it would not have been possible without the invaluable contributions, immeasurable acknowledgments, and recognized expertise from the authors.

Soil Fertility Evaluation and Control presents the theoretical background for practical applications of scientific work on soil fertility. The book emphasizes the use of response curves as the basic biological standard for both evaluation and control, and it discusses soil testing and plant analysis as secondary standards. The principal application

This Fertilizer Manual was prepared by the International Fertilizer Development Center (IFDC) as a joint project with the United Nations Industrial Development Organi­ zation (UNIDO). It is designed to replace the UN Fertilizer Manual published in 1967 and intended to be a reference source on fertilizer production technology and economics and fertilizer industry planning for developing countries. The aim of the new manual is to describe in clear, simple language all major fertilizer processes, their requirements, advan­ tages and disadvantages and to show illustrative examples of economic evaluations. The manual is organized in five parts. Part I deals with the history of fertilizers, world outlook, the role of fertilizers in agriculture, and raw materials and includes a glossary of fertilizer-related terms. Part II covers the production and transportation of ammonia and all important nitrogen fertilizers-liquids and solids. Part III deals with the characteristics of phosphate rock, production of sulfuric and phosphoric acid, and all important phosphate fertilizers, including nitrophosphates and ammonium phosphates. Part IV deals with potash fertilizers-ore mining and refining and chemical manufac­ ture; compound fertilizers; secondary and micronutrients; controlled-release fertilizers; and physical properties of fertilizers. Part V includes chapters on planning a fertilizer industry, pollution control, the economics of production of major fertilizer products anJ intermediates, and problems facing the world fertilizer industry.

Chapter 1 - Fertilizer Chapter 2 - Agriculture Chapter 3 - Sustainable Agriculture Chapter 4 - History of Organic Farming and Fertilizers Chapter 5 - Organic Fertilizer Chapter 6 - Cover Crop Chapter 7 - Fertigation Chapter 8 - Environmental Issues with Agriculture

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.

Agriculture is the main occupation in India and about 75% of its population depends directly or indirectly on agriculture for their livelihood. It is the dominant sector that contributes 18% of the gross domestic product. Thus, agriculture is the foundation of the Indian economy. The maximum share of Indian exports is also from the agriculture sector. As the population of the country is increasing trem- dously, approximately at the rate of 19 million every year over the existing popu- tion of more than 1 billion (approximately 1. 18 billion), the food grain production must necessarily be increased. This can be done by increasing crop production to match the population growth rate of 2. 2% per annum, which is expected to stabilize at 1. 53 billion around 2050. There is no doubt that the Green Revolution in India during the late 1960s brought self-sufficiency in food grain production, mainly through the increase in rice and wheat crop yields – the two main crops of the country which play an important role from food security point of view. However, the excessive use of fertilizers and pesticides, and the neglect of organic manures for these crops, has resulted in the deterioration of physical, chemical and biological health of the ri- and wheat-growing soils. Owing to the deterioration of the health of these soils, the productivity of the rice–wheat cropping system has now either got reduced or in some places has become constant for the last decade.

Fertilizers are compounds given to plants to promote growth; they are usually applied either through the soil, for uptake by plant roots, or by foliar feeding, for uptake through leaves. Fertilizers can be organic (composed of organic matter), or inorganic (made of simple, inorganic chemicals or minerals). They can be naturally occurring compounds such as peat or mineral deposits, or manufactured through natural processes (such as composting) or chemical processes (such as the Haber process). Fertilizers typically provide, in varying proportions, the three major plant nutrients (nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium), the secondary plant nutrients (calcium, sulfur, magnesium), and sometimes trace elements (or micronutrients) with a role in plant nutrition: boron, chlorine, manganese, iron, zinc, copper, and molybdenum. This new book presents recent and important research from around the globe.

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. This publication can also be purchased and downloaded via Pay Per View on Water Intelligence Online - click on the Pay Per View icon below

Soils are one of the world's most important resources, and their protection, maintenance, and improvement is critical to the continuance of life on earth. Soil Fertility, Second Edition, offers thorough coverage of the fertility, composition, properties, and management of soils. This book carries on the tradition of excellence established by authors Henry Foth and Boyd Ellis, leading soil scientists whose previous books in this field have become multi-edition classics.The Second Edition of Soil Fertility has been significantly expanded to include more information on mineralogy, while keeping the thorough coverage of essential topics. The book presents soils as dynamic, constantly changing bodies, and relates soil fertility and management to the mineralogy of their origin. Four new chapters offer updated information on soil charge properties, ion adsorption, exchange and fixation, and soil reaction. There is also a far greater emphasis on environmental issues, reflecting the increasing importance of environmental concerns to agronomists and soil scientists today.