Humus Its Structure And Role In Agriculture And Environment

This volume presents the proceedings of the 10th internationalsymposium Humus et Planta held in Prague in August 19-23,1991. The main topics of this book are devoted to the recentadvances in fundamental, as well as applied research of humicsubstances, the most abundant of the naturally occuringmacromolecules of nature, the understanding of their natureand how they react and interact in their natural environments.Texts are included on the structure, physical and chemicalproperties of humic substances; the relationships among humus,soil properties and fertility; the biotransformations oforganic substances in the soil; the relationships betweenhumic substances and plants and the interactions of humus andxenobiotic substances. This book presents recent knowledge ofthe complicated and challenging humic substances. It will beof interest not only to scientist, but also to Universityteachers and students of agricultural and environmentalsciences.

Soils comprise the largest pool of terrestrial carbon and therefore are an important component of carbon storage in the biosphere-atmosphere system. Structure and Organic Matter Storage in Agricultural Soils explores the mechanisms and processes involved in the storage and sequestration of carbon in soils. Focusing on agricultural soils - from tropical to semi-arid types - this new book provides an in-depth look at structure, aggregation, and organic matter retention in world soils. The first two sections of the book introduce readers to the basic issues and scientific concepts, including soil structure, underlying mechanisms and processes, and the importance of agroecosystems as carbon regulators. The third section provides detailed discussions of soil aggregation and organic matter storage under various climates, soil types, and soil management practices. The fourth section addresses current strategies for enhancing organic matter storage in soil, modelling techniques, and measurement methods. Throughout the book, the importance of the soil structure-organic matter storage relationship is emphasized. Anyone involved in soil science, agriculture, agronomy, plant science, or greenhouse gas and global change studies should understand this relationship. Structure and Organic Matter Storage in Agricultural Soils provides an ideal source of information not only on the soil structure-storage relationship itself, but also on key research efforts and direct applications related to the storage of organic matter in agricultural soils.

This book highlights the increasing importance of humic substances in the different scientific fields related to terrestrial ecology, soil quality conservation, and environmental chemistry. It shows that modern humic substances research is not only directed to unravel their yet ill-defined chemical structure but is successfully exploring the interconnected chemical, biological, and physical processes that maintain the ecological equilibrium of soil and ensure a sustainable agricultural production. The book will primarily be of interest to soil scientists and to ecological and environmental scientists. People in the fields of forest science, agronomy, analytical and environmental chemistry, water science, environmental engineering, and coal science will also find this publication worthy of their attention.

The papers in this volume provide a balanced account of developments in soil organic matter research. It focuses on composition and structure, water quality, organic matter turnover, humus quality and fertility, and is essential reading for all those concerned with the environmental aspects of soil conservation and improvement.

This volume looks at the impact that different cropping systems and tillage have on soil’s biologically active substances. It considers how phytotoxins accumulate and can inhibit the development of cultivated plants. Coverage explores the continuous cropping of rye, crop rotation, no tillage, and conventional tillage. It offers a comprehensive, comparative approach to allelopathic plant-soil interactions. The authors focus on free and bounded biologically active substances such as amino acids, auxins, humic and fulvic acids, transient radicals, and enzymes in light sand soils fertilized with different mineral and organic fertilizers. The chapters address fundamental questions relevant to the environmental challenges we face today and will deal with in the future. The results involve asking basic questions motivated by soil's chemical and biochemical processes. The answers will lead to the improvement of the quality of soil’s organic matter, which, in turn, can lead to increased crop yields. Readers will come to understand the relationship between ecological processes and environmental change on individual levels of biocomplexity as well as on systems in their entirety. The title is ideal for students and teachers for laboratory practical classes. Soil scientists, biochemists, chemists, plant ecophysiologists, “Natural Products” organic chemists, and other environmental scientists and specialists will also find it useful.

Carbon and Nitrogen in the Terrestrial Environment is a comprehensive, interdisciplinary description of C and N fluxes between the atmosphere and the terrestrial biosphere; issues related to C and N management in different ecosystems and their implications for the environment and global climate change; and the approaches to mitigate emission of greenhouse gases. Drawing upon the most up-to-date books, journals, bulletins, reports, symposia proceedings and internet sources documenting interrelationships between different aspects of C and N cycling in the terrestrial environment, Carbon and Nitrogen in the Terrestrial Environment fills the gap left by most of the currently available books on C and N cycling. They either deal with a single element of an ecosystem, or are related to one or a few selected aspects like soil organic matter (SOM) and agricultural or forest management, emission of greenhouse gases, global climate change or modeling of SOM dynamics.

Soil organic matter is a reservoir for plant nutrients, provides water-holding capacity, stabilizes soil structure against compaction and erosion, and thus determines soil productivity. All agriculture to some degree depends on soil organic matter. It has long been known that soil organic matter declines when land is taken into cultivation, and that the productivity of new agricultural land is governed by fertility contributions from decomposing natural organic matter. The expansion of agriculture to ever new and more fragile lands, particularly in tropical and developing regions, causes environmental degradation with local effects on soil quality, regional effects on landscape integrity and water quality, and global effects on carbon cycles and the atmosphere. This book summarizes current knowledge of the properties and dynamics of soil organic matter in the tropics, its role in determining soil quality, its stability and turnover, and the options for management in the context of tropical landuse systems, for a readership of resource scientists, economists and advanced students. Maintenance of organic matter is critical for preventing land degradation. Case studies and practical applications are therefore an important part of the book, as are the exploration of future directions in research and management.