Soil Health Management For Plantation Crops

This edited volume elucidates state-of-the-art information and provides new paradigms of soil health-based pathways for sustaining plantation crops and diversified systems. The book covers soil characteristics, soil fertility constraints, issues of soil contamination, the impact of climate change on plantation soils, indicators of soil health and soil health assessment, fertility management for healthy soils, soil amendments, soil biodiversity, and biological functions and micro-biome as well as meta-genomic approach. Plantation crops are perennials, cultivated in tropical and sub-tropical agroecosystems in a contiguous area, and comprise estate crops which include tea, coffee, and rubber and small holders’ plantation crops such as coconut, areca nut, oil palm, cashew, cocoa, and spices. These are high-value crops with considerable significance in livelihood security, commerce, and trade, and are grown in ecologically vulnerable regions such as coastal belts, hilly areas, and regions with high rainfall and high humidity, which makes maintenance of soil health a major challenge. Sustainable agricultural production depends on the health, quality, and functionality of the soil. The book includes technological options to achieve sustainable production encompassing soil health improvement through multi-strata, multi-species cropping systems, integrated farming systems, conservation agriculture practices, cover cropping and green manuring, crop residue recycling, bio-fertilizer and bio-stimulant technologies and organic farming systems. This book is an essential resource for researchers, plantation professionals, educators, and policymakers. It provides valuable insights and practical solutions for addressing emerging issues in soil health management and is a must-read for students of agriculture, forestry, ecology, microbiology, soil science, and environmental sciences.

Our capacity to maintain world food production depends heavily on the thin layer of soil covering the Earth's surface. The health of this soil determines whether crops can grow successfully, whether a farm business is profitable and whether an enterprise is sustainable in the long term. Farmers are generally aware of the physical and chemical factors that limit the productivity of their soils but often do not recognise that soil microbes and the soil fauna play a major role in achieving healthy soils and healthy crops. Soil Health, Soil Biology, Soilborne Diseases and Sustainable Agriculture provides readily understandable information about the bacteria, fungi, nematodes and other soil organisms that not only harm food crops but also help them take up water and nutrients and protect them from root diseases. Complete with illustrations and practical case studies, it provides growers and their consultants with holistic solutions for building an active and diverse soil biological community capable of improving soil structure, enhancing plant nutrient uptake and suppressing root pests and pathogens. The book is written by scientists with many years' experience developing sustainable crop production practices in the grains, vegetable, sugarcane, grazing and horticultural industries. This book will be useful for: growers, consultants, agronomists and soil chemists, extension personnel working in the grains, livestock, sugarcane and horticultural industries, professionals running courses in soil health/biological farming, and students taking university courses in soil science, ecology, microbiology, plant pathology and other biological sciences.

Degradation of soils continues at a pace that will eventually create a local, regional, or even global crisis when diminished soil resources collide with increasing climate variation. It's not too late to restore our soils to a more productive state by rediscovering the value of soil management, building on our well-established and ever-expanding scientific understanding of soils. Soil management concepts have been in place since the cultivation of crops, but we need to rediscover the principles that are linked together in effective soil management. This book is unique because of its treatment of soil management based on principles—the physical, chemical, and biological processes and how together they form the foundation for soil management processes that range from tillage to nutrient management. Whether new to soil science or needing a concise reference, readers will benefit from this book's ability to integrate the science of soils with management issues and long-term conservation efforts.

Agriculture is one of the biggest contributors to climate change. More sustainable crop production based on agroecological principles is seen as a key solution to this challenge. Understanding and improving soil health is the foundation for this approach. Improving soil health provides a considered assessment of key management strategies to enhance the physical, chemical and biological health of soils in achieving sustainable improvements in crop yields. The book reviews the role of cultivation practices as well as organic and other soil amendments, such as biofertilizers. By assessing the dimensions of soil health, and reviewing the wealth of evidence on how well individual techniques contribute to improving soil, the book shows how farmers can achieve sustainable improvements in both productivity and profitability. Improving soil health will be a standard reference for researchers in soil and crop science, government and other agencies responsible for the health of agricultural soils, companies providing soil monitoring and management services and farmers wishing to further their knowledge on the latest developments in effective soil management.