By the year 2050, the world's population is expected to reach nine billion. To feed and sustain this projected population, world food production must increase by at least 50 percent on much of the same land that we farm today. To meet this staggering challenge, scientists must develop the technology required to achieve an "evergreen" revolution-one that increases crop productivity without degrading natural resources.
With 30 percent new material, the updated and revised third edition of Growth and Mineral Nutrition of Field Crops covers all aspects of crop growth and mineral nutrition that contribute to sustainable, high-yield agriculture. Bringing together international scientific knowledge of crop production and the impacts of agriculture on the environment, this book:
- Includes two new chapters on remediation of heavy-metal contaminated soils and cover crops
- Covers theoretical and practical aspects of mineral nutrition of field crops
- Provides recommendations for judicious use of fertilizers, which will reduce cost of crop production and enhance high crop yields without risking environmental pollution
- Provides growth patterns for annual crops and forages
- Includes a handful of color pictures of nutrient deficiencies for easy diagnostic purposes
To make the book as practical as possible, each chapter is supported by experimental results and extensive references. A large number of figures and tables are also included to save readers time when researching. The overall emphasis of this reference is on the soil's ability to sustain high crop yields and a healthy human population.
... well written and illustrated with excellent figures ... includes a lot of important data ...[and] clear and concise definitions. ... recommended as a first reference. ... would also be an excellent textbook.-Journal of Plant Physiology
The success of the 'Green Revolution' has enabled agriculture to keep pace with the relentless growth of human populations through the development of semi-dwarf crops resistant to pests and pathogens, whose yield is maintained through the applications of agrochemicals, mineral fertilizers and irrigation. ... The 19 chapters of this excellent book cover many of the aspects of the growth and mineral nutrition of field crops that will be required to achieve sustainable, high-yield agriculture. It provides a general introduction to the mineral nutrition of field crops, environmental factors affecting crop production and the management of soils for sustainable crop production. Individual chapters describe in detail the growth and development, nutritional requirements and management options for the production of wheat and barley, rice, maize, sorghum, soyabean, common bean and cowpea, peanut, sugarcane, cassava and potato, cotton, forage and cover crops. The book will inform the next generation of academics, students, research scientists and extension workers on whose efforts the next 'Evergreen Revolution' will depend. I recommend that they not only read it carefully, but also swiftly put its messages into practice.-Philip J. White, in Experimental Agriculture, 2011, Vol. 47, Issue 3
