Agrometeorology Of Multiple Cropping In Warm Climates

This text examines the agrometeorology of multiple cropping in warm climates, including such topics as the special climactic features of high temperature areas, methods of analyzing multiple cropping and the interception of rainfall.

Farmers Agricultural policymakers Environmentalists

Designed as a textbook for undergraduate and postgraduate students of agriculture, it fulfills the need for an uptodate comprehensive information (as per the syllabus framed by ICAR) on the theoretical and applied aspects of agricultural meteorology. Illustrated with graphs, schematic representations, photographs and pictures, the scope of the book is divided into three major areas of study: 1. Discusses the basic aspects of agricultural meteorology; introduces the principal meteorological variables (with emphasis on radiation and temperature) that govern the atmosphere and highlights the causal factors leading to the global and local weather and climate variations like atmospheric pressure and winds, clouds, monsoon and precipitation. 2.Addresses the effects of weather on various crops and discusses applications of Hopkin’s bioclimatic law to mitigate the ill effects of weather on crop production; explains agroclimatic classification and discusses droughts and their management strategy with special reference to crops. 3.Deals with various types of weather forecasting and their techniques including weather service to farmers; explains crop growth simulation modelling—a newly emerging area in agricultural meteorology; focuses on influence of weather in relation to pest and disease outbreaks, discusses climate change and provides introduction to remote sensing. A special feature of the book is that it contains many indigenous examples related to the humid tropics. In addition, the book has many plates and information on basic and sophisticated meteorological equipment. A variety of chapter-end questions help develop students’ understanding of salient concepts and makes the material presented more meaningful.

Sustainable agriculture is a rapidly growing field aiming at producing food and energy in a sustainable way for humans and their children. It is a discipline that addresses current issues: climate change, increasing food and fuel prices, poor-nation starvation, rich-nation obesity, water pollution, soil erosion, fertility loss, pest control and biodiversity depletion. This series gathers review articles that analyze current agricultural issues and knowledge, then proposes alternative solutions.

This new edition provides an update on the considerable amount of evidence on tree-crop interactions which has accumulated during the last two decades, especially on the more complex multi-strata agroforestry systems, which are typical of the humid tropics. In addition three new chapters have been added to describe the new advances in the relationship between climate change adaptation, rural development and how trees and agroforestry will contribute to a likely reduction in vulnerability to climate change in developing countries

This book provides a comprehensive and systematic overview of the recent developments in cotton production and processing, including a number of genetic approaches, such as GM cotton for pest resistance, which have been hotly debated in recent decades. In the era of climate change, cotton is facing diverse abiotic stresses such as salinity, drought, toxic metals and environmental pollutants. As such, scientists are developing stress-tolerant cultivars using agronomic, genetic and molecular approaches. Gathering papers on these developments, this timely book is a valuable resource for a wide audience, including plant scientists, agronomists, soil scientists, botanists, environmental scientists and extention workers.

Meeting the food requirements of an ever-increasing population is a pressing challenge for every country around the globe. Soil degradation has a negative impact on food security by reducing the cultivated land areas, while at the same time the world population is predicted to increase to 9.2 billion in 2050. Soil degradation adversely affects soil function and productivity and degraded soils now amount to 6 billion ha worldwide. The major factors are salinization, erosion, depletion of nutrients due to exhaustive agricultural practices and contamination with toxic metal ions and agrochemicals, which reduces the activity of soil microbe. In addition, poor soil management also decreases fertility. As such, measures are required to restore the soil health and productivity: organic matter, beneficial microorganisms and nutrient dynamics can all improve the physical, chemical and biological properties of soil. Understanding the role of soil health restoration and management in sustainability and nutritional security calls for a holistic approach to assess soil functions and examine the contributions of a particular management system within a defined timescale. Further, best management practices in cropping systems are important in ensuring sustainability and food and nutritional security without compromising the soil quality and productivity potential. Rational soil management practices must allow environmentally and economically sustainable yields and restoration of soil health.