Soil Management for Better Crop Production and Sustainable Agriculture

2019 ◽  
pp. 47-71
Author(s):  
Niaz Ahmed ◽  
Sajid Masood ◽  
Shakeel Ahmad ◽  
Safdar Bashir ◽  
Sajjad Hussain ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Agriculture ◽  
Crop Production ◽  
Soil Management

scholarly journals New challenges in soil management

2018 ◽  
pp. 91-92
Author(s):  
Márta Birkás
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Agriculture ◽  
Soil Conservation ◽  
Crop Production ◽  
Production Systems ◽  
Soil Management ◽  
Soil Protection ◽  
Site Specific ◽  
The Future ◽  
Induced Stresses ◽  
New Challenges

Soil management represents two important tasks that are harmonization of the soil protection with demands of the crop to be grown on the given land under prevailing farming condition. Further goals are to preserve and/or develop the soil physical, biological and chemical condition and to avoid the unfavourable changes of the soil biological activity and the soil structure. Classical authors emphasised the importance of creating proper seedbed for plants. In the physical approach, tillage was believed to play an important role in controlling soil processes. Consequently, the period of several centuries dominated by this approach is referred to as the era of crop-oriented tillage (Birkás et al., 2017). The overestimation of the importance of crop requirements resulted in damaging the soils, which inevitably led to turn to the soil-focused tillage. Since the first years of climate change, as the new trends have raised concern, tillage must be turned into a climate-focused effort with the aim of reducing climate-induced stresses through improving soil quality. The development of soil management has always been determined by the economical background. At the same time, deteriorating site conditions have contributed to the conception of new tillage trends by forcing producers to find new solutions (e.g. dry farming theory in the past or adaptable tillage theory nowadays). Győrffy (2009) recited the most important keywords were listed in 2001 and that seemed to be important in the future of crop production. These keywords (endeavours) were as follows: − Biofarming, organic farming, alternative farming, biodynamic farming, low input sustainable agriculture; − Mid-tech farming, sustainable agriculture, soil conservation farming, no till farming, environmentally sound, environmentally friendly, diversity farming; − Crop production system, integrated pest management, integrated farming, high-tech farming; − Site specific production, site-specific technology, spatial variable technology, satellite farming; − Precision farming. Győrffy’s prognosis proved to be realistic and the efforts mentioned above have mostly been implemented. New challenges have also appeared in soil management in relation to the last decades. The most important endeavours for the future are: 1) Preserving climate-induced stresses endangering soils. 2) Turn to use climate mitigation soil tillage and crop production systems. 3) Applying soil management methods are adaptable to the different soil moisture content (over dried or wet may be quite common). 4) Use effectual water conservation tillage. 5) Use soil condition specific tillage depth and method. 6) Adapting the water and soil conservation methods in irrigation. 7) Preserving and improving soil organic matter content by tillage and crop production systems. 8) Considering that stubble residues are matter for soil protection, humus source and earthworm’ feed. 9) Site-specific adoption of green manure and cover crops. 10) Applying site-adopted (precision) fertilization and crop protection. Considering the development in agriculture, new endeavours will occur before long.

scholarly journals Towards New Soil Management Strategies for Improving Soil Quality and Ecosystem Services in Sustainable Agriculture: Editorial Overview

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (22) ◽  
pp. 9398 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ugo De Corato
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Agriculture ◽  
Soil Quality ◽  
Crop Production ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Agricultural Practices ◽  
Soil Management ◽  
Microbial Consortia ◽  
Natural Soil ◽  
Soil Biodiversity

The major issues related to indiscriminate land use are overall related to topsoil depletion, groundwater contamination, plant disease outbreaks, air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. Currently, global vision focused on the environmental impact and use of eco-friendly strategies are increasing. The design of new agroecosystems and food systems are fundamental to make more sustainability in soil management systems by improving the release of advanced ecosystems services for farmers. Sustainable agriculture utilizes natural renewable resources in the best way due to their intrinsic features by minimizing harmful impact on the agroecosystems. Farmers should sustain or even increase the soil organic matter (SOM) content overall in depleted, semiarid and arid soils. Nutrients recycled from agro-waste into the soil using residual biomass sources should be endorsed by diversified agriculture and governmental policies in which livestock and crop production are spatially integrated. Many good agricultural practices that growers may use to promote soil quality and soil health by minimizing water use and soil pollution on farms are yet available from past years. Exploration of the natural soil biodiversity and manipulation of soil microbiota by continuous amendment with compost, biochar and digestate represents a pre-requisite to develop more efficient microbial consortia useful for soils and crops. On the other hand, more attention is proven regarding the sustainable use of useful microorganisms employed as pure inoculants in rhizosphere. Among them, plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria and biological control agents cover the major groups of tailored inoculants in order to rationalize the internal recycling of nutrients and their energy recovery, or to improve the soil quality and plant health thanks to their diversified mechanisms of action and complex interactions between SOM, microbiota and plant roots in the rhizosphere.

Participatory soil quality assessment: The case of smallholder farmers in Ethiopian highlands

Soil Research ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 42 (7) ◽  
pp. 793 ◽  
Author(s):  
Teklu Erkossa ◽  
Karl Stahr ◽  
Thomas Gaiser
Keyword(s):  
Quality Assessment ◽  
Soil Quality ◽  
Crop Production ◽  
Smallholder Farmers ◽  
Soil Management ◽  
Triticum Aestivum L ◽  
Soil Functions ◽  
Yield Data ◽  
Management Interventions ◽  
Soil Quality Assessment

The study was conducted at Caffee Doonsa (08°88′N, 39°08′E; 2400 m asl), a small watershed in the central highlands of Ethiopia, in order to identify farmers’ goals of soil management and the indicators they use in selecting soils for a certain function, and to categorise the soils in different quality groups with respect to the major functions. Thirty-six male farmers of different age and wealth groups participated in a Participatory Rural Appraisal technique. They listed and prioritised 12 soil functions in the area and itemised the soil quality indicators (characteristics). Based on the indicators, the soils in the watershed were classified into 3 soil quality (SQ) groups (Abolse, Kooticha, and Carii). The SQ groups have been evaluated and ranked for the major soil functions. For crop production, Abolse was graded best, followed by Kooticha and Carii, respectively. The grain and straw yield data of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) taken from the SQ groups confirmed the farmers claim, in that Abolse gave the highest grain yield (4573 kg/ha), followed by 4411 and 3657 kg/ha for Kooticha and Carii, respectively. Local insights should be included in systematic soil quality assessment, and in planning and implementation of various soil management interventions.

Application of Extremophiles in Sustainable Agriculture

2022 ◽  
pp. 233-250
Author(s):  
Julius Eyiuche Nweze ◽  
Justus Amuche Nweze ◽  
Shruti Gupta
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Agriculture ◽  
Bioactive Compounds ◽  
Environmental Conditions ◽  
Agricultural Production ◽  
Crucial Role ◽  
Crop Production ◽  
Agricultural Practices ◽  
Production Plant ◽  
Physiological Conditions ◽  
Sustainable Agricultural Practices

With the increasing demands for foods and other agriculture-based products, sustainable agricultural practices are the cornerstone for improving low-input agricultural production. In contrast to crop production, plant-microorganism interaction (PMI) plays a crucial role. PMI significantly raises productivity as well as maintaining the overall health of the crop. During harsh and extreme physiological conditions, plant-associated extremophilic microbes (PAEM) are known to contribute to crop production, survivability, and fitness. Thus, the application of extremophiles either in the form of biofertilizer or biopesticides is highly beneficial. Extremophiles have been adapted to withstand diverse harsh environmental conditions. They possess unique mechanisms at the molecular level to produce enormous potential extremozymes and bioactive compounds. Consequently, extremophiles represent the foundation of efficient and sustainable agriculture. This chapter introduces the significance and application of plant-associated extremophilic microbes in sustainable agriculture.

scholarly journals Soil management and ionic strength on selenite retention in oxidic soils

2018 ◽  
Vol 42 (4) ◽  
pp. 395-407 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anderson Mendes Araujo ◽  
Josimar Henrique de Lima Lessa ◽  
Liniker André Ferreira ◽  
Luiz Roberto Guimarães Guilherme ◽  
Guilherme Lopes
Keyword(s):  
Ionic Strength ◽  
Crop Production ◽  
Adsorption Mechanism ◽  
Agricultural Practices ◽  
Soil Management ◽  
Outer Sphere ◽  
Spectroscopic Studies ◽  
Sodium Selenate ◽  
Native Soils ◽  
Cultivated Soils

ABSTRACT Sorption of selenium (Se) on soils may be influenced by factors that are changed though agricultural practices usually performed for crop production, such as soil pH, competing anion and organic matter contents, among others. This study aimed to evaluate the influence of soil management and ionic strength (IS) on Se retention in Brazilian soils, which is important to predict Se availability in both systems, native and cultivated soils. For that, adsorption and desorption reactions of Se were evaluated in 16 soil samples (eight from cultivated soils and eight from native soils), using solutions containing 100 and 500 µg L-1 Se in the form of sodium selenate and in two IS, 15 and 150 mM. Se adsorption varied as a function of IS for most soils, which may indicate that the adsorption mechanism by outer-sphere complex is important for selenate retention in the studied soils, but future studies involving other techniques, such as spectroscopic studies, are needed to more clearly confirm the adsorption mechanism. In general, adsorption varied in relation to soil characteristics, and native soils adsorbed larger Se amounts than the cultivated soils. In terms of desorption, soils which had larger Se adsorbed amounts also presented larger desorbed amounts. Finally, IS and soil management influenced the availability of selenate in the studied soils.

scholarly journals Impact of tillage on physical characteristics in a Mollisol of Northeast China

2014 ◽  
Vol 60 (No. 7) ◽  
pp. 309-313 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chen XW ◽  
Liang AZ ◽  
Jia SX ◽  
Zhang XP ◽  
Wei SC
Keyword(s):  
Northeast China ◽  
Crop Production ◽  
Soil Management ◽  
Soil Bulk Density ◽  
No Tillage ◽  
Physical Quality ◽  
Tillage Practices ◽  
Soil Penetration Resistance ◽  
Soil Physical Quality ◽  
Moldboard Plow

Soil management is aimed at the maintenance of optimal soil physical quality for crop production. In order to explore the effects of tillage practices on soil physical properties, a study was conducted to compare the effects of no tillage (NT), moldboard plow (MP) and ridge tillage (RT) on soil bulk density (BD), soil penetration resistance (SPR), soil water content (SWC), soil macroporosity (MAC) and soil air-filled porosity (AFP) in Northeast China. Results showed that both NT and RT led to significant BD increment than MP at 0&ndash;20 cm (P &lt; 0.05). Compared with MP, NT and RT increased SPR at the depths of 2.5&ndash;17.5 cm (P &lt; 0.05). SWC of 0&ndash;10 cm layer was significantly higher in NT and RT than MP soils (P &lt; 0.05). NT showed a significantly lower MAC than MP and RT at 0&ndash;20 cm soil depths (P &lt; 0.05). All AFP values were above the limit of 0.10 cm<sup>3</sup>/cm<sup>3</sup> under all tillage treatments. RT improved the soil physical quality as evidenced by decreased BD and SPR, and increased SWC, MAC and AFP relative to NT.

Crop Production and Soil Management

1925 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
H. P. Cooper
Keyword(s):  
Crop Production ◽  
Soil Management
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