Soils, Plant Growth and Crop Production - Volume II

Book excerpt: Soils, Plant Growth and Crop Production is a component of Encyclopedia of Food and Agricultural Sciences, Engineering and Technology Resources in the global Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems (EOLSS), which is an integrated compendium of twenty Encyclopedias. Plants, and crops in particular, grow and develop through the uptake of water and nutrients by the root system in soils and their transformation into biomass through processes governed by photosynthesis. The quality and amount of products harvested from this biomass depend largely on the intrinsic properties of the soil, i.e. the moisture and nutrients made available for uptake by the roots. These volumes describe in a synthetic form the impact of the most important soil properties on general agronomy, crop production, cultivation methods, and yields, including the specific management aspects which take away some production constraints. Changes in general agronomy as a result of plant breeding, climatic change and competition between newly introduced crops are discussed. The three volumes with contributions from distinguished experts in the field discusses about soils, plant growth and crop production in several related topics. These volumes are aimed at the following five major target audiences: University and College students Educators, Professional practitioners, Research personnel and Policy analysts, managers, and decision makers and NGOs.