Intelligent Soil Management for Sustainable Agriculture

Tropical root and tuber crops form an important group of food crops for millions of people (about one-fifth of the world population), especially those living in the tropical and sub-tropical zones. Tuber crops are the third important food crops after cereals and grain legumes. The carbohydrates synthesized in the leaves and stored in the form of starch in the underground roots and tubers, which are not only for food, but also a raw material for several industries. Among the many tuber crops available, only a few have been domesticated and widely cultivated for edible and industrial purposes. This book addresses the principal issues connected with selected tuber and root crops, their origin, global distribution, cultivation details, and their global commercial potential, vis-à-vis the end products made out of them (value addition). Among the crops, sweet potato, cassava, yams, colocasia, west Indian arrowroot, asparagus, safed musli, Indian Bread root and gloria superba will be discussed.From various projections, it is evident that by the year 2050 the world population will face a serious food shortage, if current trends in cereals consumption is taken intoaccount. That is why root and tuber crops assume great importance. Contrary to the high-fertility soils, which are a requirement for principal cereals like rice and wheat, root and tuber crops can grow quite well in poor soils, under varying climatic conditions.

Global farming is at a crucial juncture in its evolution. Over 9000 years ago, humanity shifted from a hunter-gatherer lifestyle to stationary agriculture, sparking the "Agricultural Revolution" and putting soil at the forefront of agricultural focus. However, contemporary farming practices have seen an extreme shift in focus from the original revolution, that is, from tending plants to highly chemical-centric and extractive farming methods known as the "green revolution". In this process, soil has paid a heavy environmental price, with a substantial amount of land becoming unsuitable for agriculture over the past century. The 1992-93 World Resources Report by the United Nations issued alarming conclusions, revealing that nearly 10 million hectares of the world's best farmlands have been destroyed by human activity, including the green revolution. Additionally, over 1.2 billion hectares of land worldwide have suffered serious damage and can only be restored at a great cost. This loss of soil capability can result in significant food shortages in the next two to three decades.One significant impact of this issue is that as usual, people in the disadvantaged nations will bear the brunt of the consequences. Approximately two-thirds of the seriously eroded land is located in Asia and Africa, with around 25% of the cropped land in Central America being moderately to severely damaged. The percentage of affected land in North America is relatively low, at only 4.4%. Soil degradation is the primary cause for the dramatic decline in food production in 80 developing countries during the past decade, with nearly 40% of global farming conducted on small parcels of land measuring 1 hectare or less. This situation is characterized by ignorance and poverty. In India alone, more than 120.40 million hectares of the total 328.73 million hectares of geographical area have suffered from degraded soils due to the green revolution. The State of Punjab, known as the "cradle of Indian green revolution" is a clear example of this environmental hazard, specifically in relation to soil resources. Thousands of hectares in this region cannot sustain plant growth without significant investment in soil reclamation, resulting in a substantial drain of national resources. All of this, proves beyond a shadow of doubt, the critical role that soil plays in human sustenance.

This book is a compendium of rare and unique spices, which have been least researched but hold immense economic potential on a global scale. They are Aniseed, Shallot, Saffron, Caraway or Siah Zira, European or Indian Dill, Poppy, Star Anise and Japanese Star Anise, Sage, Savory, Tarragon, Thyme, Calamus or Sweet Flag, Horse Radish, Galangal, and Long Pepper or Pipli. Some of these are seed spices and others, like Saffron, are grown in the hills of Jammu and Srinagar, India and have varied uses, ranging from being very popular food flavorants to being used for religious purposes. Even within India, the country of the origin for most of the spices listed, many Indians are simply unaware of their immense economic potential. This is also the case with other countries, like Iran, where some spices, like Saffron, is widely used as a food flavorant. The book aims to be a unique compendium of these rare and unique spices to primarilyenable researchers to tap into their great economic potential and, on a wider scale, help developmental agencies to tap into their immense potential in global spice trade. The book provides a cross-sectoral multi-scale assessment of developmental possibilities, globally, for rare and unique spices of immense economic importance.

This book discusses leafy spices or herbs known as "aromatic herbs", which, apart from being used in culinary art for flavoring of foods and beverages, are also known to possess antiseptic, anti-oxidant and other medicinal properties, in addition to many nutraceutical and cosmetic properties. Of the numerous herbs twelve of the commercially important herbs are imported into 4 major European markets, namely, France, Germany, United Kingdom and The Netherlands to the tune of 12000 to 13000 tonnes per annum. This book discusses these leafy herbs and their tremendous commercial potential in international trade. The book offers a comprehensive insight into commercial herbs, with an objective of enhancing their yield, and provides a platform for further research into the global trade potential.

This book will address the importance of the soil management concept, vis-à-vis chemical fertilizer use on soil. Historically, soil testing has been used to quantify bio availability of plant nutrients to field grown crops. However, contemporary soil tests are based on philosophies and procedures developed several decades ago without significant changes in their general approach. For a soil test to be accurate, one needs to clearly understand the physico-chemico-physiologic processes at the soil-plant root interface, and, an understanding of soils and plant root systems as polycationic systems is essential. It is this knowledge that leads to sound prescriptive soil management practices inasmuch as nutrient bioavailability vis-à-vis chemical fertilizers application is concerned, because, of all the factors that govern sustainability of crop production, the nutrient factor is the most important, yet, it is also the least resilient to effective management. The author's research spanning over three decades in Europe, Africa and Asia, establishes the fact that precise quantification of the nutrient's "buffer power" holds the key to a clear understanding of the plant bioavailability of some of the most important plant nutrients in crop production, such as, phosphorus, potassium and zinc. "The Nutrient Buffer Power Concept" attempts to clearly explain the bio availability of the three plant nutrients named above on the basis of the diffusion model, as that is the process by which these three important principal plant nutrients are absorbed from the soil by the plant root. Possibly, other plant nutrients which are taken up by the plant roots by the same diffusive model, would also conform to the principles of the concept. A thorough knowledge of thermodynamic principles on the part of the researcher is an absolute pre requisite for this. The book chronicles more than three decades of the professional journey of the author in Europe, Africa and Asia, understanding soil for human sustenance, and developing the revolutionary soil management concept, now globally known as, "The Nutrient Buffer Power Concept" , which has brought the author a string of international recognitions, including the nomination for the "Alternative Nobel Prize" (The Right Livelihood Award),of Sweden, and succour to millions to poor and marginal farmers across Africa, Asia and Latin America.

Introduction.- Wild cereal cultivation in Israel - Global warming: An Important Link.- Climate-Evolution: The Interrelationship.- The adaptation range of wild crop species to fluctuations in climate change.- Importance of Crop Wild Relatives.- Crop-wise comparison of domestic gene pool with wild relatives on Ecogeographic Diversity.- Relevance of wild relatives in other crops in plant breeding programs.- Conservation research and Crop Wild Relatives. How does climate change affect Crop Wild Relatives Use?.- The Threats to Crop Wild Relatives.- Gene Flow between cultivated plants and their wild relatives.- In situ conservation research in CWR.- Ex situ conservation research in CWR.- Utilizing CWRs in Major food crops to combat Global Warming.- The CWR of Minor Fruit Crops.- Ecosystem services of Crop Wild Relatives.- Predictive Characterization of CWRs.- CWR and Prebreeding in the context of the International Treaty of Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA).- Pre Breeding utilizing CWR.- Economics of CWR under climate change.- Conservation Economics of CWR.- The Millennium Seed Banks: Their Conservation Roles and Svalbard Global Seed Vault.- The Svalbard Global Seed Vault. 1

This book paints a wide canvas of the immense global economic potential of ten most important cash generating crops spread over Asia, Africa and Latin America, namely, Arecanut, Cashew Nut, Coconut, Cinchona, Cocoa, Coffee, Tea, Oil Palm, Rubber and Wattle. It provides a cross-sectoral, multi-scale assessment of the status of these crops, from seed to dining table, an invaluable treatise on the subject. Structured to be an invaluable tool for the inquisitive researcher, an ardent student, and, an insightful policy maker.

This book conceptualizes a revolutionary idea based on a mechanistic-mathematical model in which the "Buffer Power" of the principal and problematic nutrients like phosphorus, potassium and zinc is quantified. This is achieved by using either a very sophisticated technique, electro-ultra-filtration, or a simple adsorption-desorption equilibrium technique, and by integrating the "Buffer Power" of the nutrient in question into the computations, accurate fertilizer recommendations are made. This technique was field tested across Europe, (Germany and Belgium), Africa (The Republic of Cameroon), and Asia (both Central Asia- Turkey and South Asia-India), during a period of three decades in test crops, such as, summer rye (Secale cereale), maize (Zea mays), wheat (Triticum aestivum), white clover (Trifolium repens), a highly nutritious and palatable fodder crop for Africa, black pepper (Piper nigrum) and cardamom (Elettaria cardamomum). Remarkable precision in predictability of plant uptake of phosphorus, potassium and zinc was obtained employing the technique."The Nutrient Buffer Power Concept" project was shortlisted for the very prestigious U.S. $1 Million Rolex Awards For Enterprise of The Rolex Foundation, Geneva, Switzerland, for its outstanding originality and quality from more than 3500 nominations worldwide and is the only project chosen for this very coveted distinction from the Asian continent.

This book discusses the various aspects, from production to marketing of turmeric and ginger, the world's two most important and invaluable medicinal spice crops. The book begins with their origin and history, global spread, and goes on to describe the botany, production agronomy, fertilizer practices, pest management, post-harvest technology, pharmacology and nutraceutical uses. The book presents the economy, import-export and world markets involved with reference to turmeric and ginger. It would be a benchmark and an important reference source for scientists, students, both undergraduate and post graduate, studying agriculture and food sciences and policy makers. It would be of great interest to professionals and industry involved in spice trade.