Phosphorus Management in Crop Production

The world population is projected to reach nine billion by 2050, and in the coming years, global food demand is expected to increase by 50% or more. Higher crop productivity gains in the future will have to be achieved in developing countries through better natural resources management and crop improvement. After nitrogen, phosphorus (P) has more widespread influence on both natural and agricultural ecosystems than any other essential plant element. It has been estimated that 5.7 billion hectares of land worldwide contain insufficient amounts of available P for sustainable crop production, and P deficiency in crop plants is a widespread problem in various parts of the world. However, it has been estimated that worldwide minable P could last less than 40 years. For sustaining future food supplies, it is vital to enhance plant P use efficiency.

To bring the latest knowledge and research advances in efficient management of P for economically viable and environmentally beneficial crop production in sustainable agriculture, Phosphorus Management in Crop Production contains chapters covering functions and diagnostic techniques for P requirements in crop plants, P use efficiency and interactions with other nutrients in crop plants, management of P for optimal crop production and environmental quality, and basic principles and methodology regarding P nutrition in crop plants. The majority of research data included are derived from many years of field, greenhouse, and lab work, hence the information is practical in nature and will have a significant impact on efficient management of P-fertilizers to enhance P use efficiency, improve crop production, promote sustainable agriculture, and reduce P losses through eluviations, leaching, and erosion to minimize environmental degradation.

A comprehensive book that combines practical and applied information, Phosphorus Management in Crop Production is an excellent reference for students, professors, agricultural research scientists, food scientists, agricultural extension specialists, private consultants, fertilizer companies, and government agencies that deal with agricultural and environmental issues.

Nand Kumar Fageria received his PhD in agronomy, and had been senior research soil scientist at the National Rice and Bean Research Center, Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuaria, since 1975. Dr. Fageria was a nationally and internationally recognized expert in the area of mineral nutrition of crop plants and a research fellow and an ad hoc consultant for the Brazilian Scientific and Technological Research Council (CNPq) since 1989. Dr. Fageria was the first to identify zinc deficiency in upland rice grown on Brazilian Oxisols in 1975. He had developed crop genotype screening techniques for aluminum and salinity tolerance and nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, and zinc use efficiency. Dr. Fageria also established adequate soil acidity indices like pH, base saturation, Al saturation, and Ca, Mg, and K saturation for dry bean grown on Brazilian Oxisols in conservation or no-tillage system. He also determined adequate and toxic levels of micronutrients in soil and plant tissues of upland rice, corn, soybean, dry bean, and wheat grown on Brazilian Oxisols. Dr. Fageria determined adequate rate of N, P, and K for lowland and upland rice grown on Brazilian lowland soils, locally known as "Varzea" and Oxisols of "Cerrado" region, respectively. He also screened a large number of tropical legume cover crops for acidity tolerance and N, P, and micronutrient use efficiency. Dr. Fageria characterized chemical and physical properties of Varzea soils of several states of Brazil, which can be helpful in better fertility management of these soils for sustainable crop production. Dr. Fageria also determined adequate rate and sources of P and acidity indices for soybean grown on Brazilian Oxisols. The results of all these studies have been published in scientific papers, technical bulletins, book chapters, and congress or symposium proceedings.

Dr. Fageria was the author/coauthor of twelve books and more than 320 scientific journal articles, book chapters, review articles, and technical bulletins. His four books, individually titled The Use of Nutrients in Crop Plants published in 2009; Growth and Mineral Nutrition of Field Crops, third edition, published in 2011; The Role of Plant Roots in Crop Production published in 2013; and Mineral Nutrition of Rice published in 2014, are among the best-sellers of CRC Press. Dr. Fageria had been invited several times by the editor of Advances in Agronomy, which is a well-established and highly regarded serial publication, to write review articles on nutrient management, enhancing nutrient use efficiency in crop plants, ameliorating soil acidity by liming on tropical acid soils for sustainable crop production, and the role of mineral nutrition on root growth of crop plants. He had been an invited speaker to several national and international congresses, symposiums, and workshops. He was a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Plant Nutrition and Brazilian Journal of Plant Physiology and since 1990 he was member of the international steering committee of symposiums on plant–soil interactions at low pH. He was an active member of the American Society of Agronomy and Soil Science Society of America.

Zhenli He received his PhD in soil environmental chemistry from Zhejiang University of China and is currently research foundation professor of soil and water sciences at the University of Florida, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, Indian River Research and Education Center, Fort Pierce, Florida. Dr. He teaches soil quality and nanotechnology application in food, agriculture, and environment courses to graduate and undergraduate students. He has trained over 60 graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and visiting scientists. His research interests include biogeochemical processes of nutrients and contaminants in soil and the environment, soil/water quality and remediation, bioavailability and utilization efficiency of nutrients and fertilizers, plant nutrition, and nanotechnology application. Dr. He studied soil chemistry of phosphorus since 1985 and published more than 60 papers related to biogeochemistry, bioavailability, and cycling of phosphorus in agroecosystems of tropical and subtropical regions. He is the author/coauthor of two books, 28 book chapters, and more than 200 refereed academic journal articles. He serves as an editor for the Journal of Soils and Sediments, and on the editorial board for several other journals. Dr. He is a fellow of the American Society of Agronomy and Soil Science Society of America.

Virupax C. Baligar earned his PhD in agronomy and physiology and currently is a senior research scientist with the United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, at Beltsville Agricultural Research Center, Beltsville, Maryland. He is author, coauthor, and coeditor of several books and more than 290 scientific journal articles, book chapters, and review papers and is an elected fellow of the American Society of Agronomy and Soil Science Society of America. Dr. Baligar has served as advisor, consultant, and collaborator on international research programs in Brazil, Peru, China, Chile, Greece, New Zealand, Germany, the Netherlands, and Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia, Slovenia, Montenegro, and Macedonia (former Yugoslavia). He served as advisor to the World Bank, OAS, and Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuaria programs in Brazil and served as advisor and committee member for MS and PhD students at Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia; West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia; Beijing Agricultural University, Beijing, China; National Agricultural University, La Molina, Lima, Peru; University of Florida, IRREC Fort Pierce, TREC Homestead, Florida; and California State University, Dominguez, Carson, California.