Soil is one of our most precious natural resources. Proper soil management is a key to sustainable agricultural production. Soil management involves six essential practices: proper amount and type of tillage, maintenance of soil organic matter, maintenance of a proper nutrient supply for plants, avoidance of soil contamination, maintenance of the correct soil acidity, and control of soil loss (...

Sustainable farming is a popular concept, although very difficult to define (Viglizzo 1996). We believe that farming in the Argentine pampas has been sustainable in the broad sense. Over a span of three generations, productivity has increased, living standards have improved, and the farming sector has been the principal contributor to national development and the major earner of foreign exchang...

organic compounds including seaweed extract were applied in organic production system and sustainable agriculture. one of these compounds is humic acid that was used widely in research and commercial programs. humic acid is an organic acid obtained from humus and other natural resources with hormonal effects and improving nutrient absorption, increasing root and shoot biomass. in order to inves...

Terrestrial desert ecosystems are strongly structured by the distribution of plants, which concentrate resources and create islands of fertility relative to interplant spaces. Atmospheric nitrogen (N) deposition resulting from urbanization has the potential to change those spatial patterns via resource inputs, resulting in more homogeneous soil resource availability. We sampled soils at 12 dese...

We report on a Communication of the European Commission to the Council and the European Parliament in 2002, entitled ‘‘Towards a Thematic Strategy for Soil Protection’’, an operational framework for its implementation and an indicator approach, as a basis for the elaboration of priority research areas for soil protection and the management of Europe’s natural resources. From this, we draw the c...

South Asia is gradually diversifying its crop sector in favour of high value commodities, especially fruits, vegetables and spices. If carried out appropriately, diversification can be used as a tool to augment farm income, generate employment, alleviate poverty and conserve precious soil and water resources. In India in the state of West Bengal diversification in cropping pattern is a very rec...

Mozambique includes 10 agroecological zones with distinct climate and cropping systems (INIA, 1980). Agricultural production is more intensively practiced in the central and northern parts of the country where agroecological conditions are favorable. As a result of 16 years of civil war and low funding for agricultural research few assessments of soil nutrient status have been possible. To asse...

Accurate assessment of soil loss is essential for sustainable agricultural production, 11 management and conservation planning, especially in productive rain-fed agro-ecosystems 12 and protected areas. The European Union considers soil as a non-renewable resource and 13 identifies that soil degradation has strong impacts on soil and water resources. In this work the 14 Revised Universal Soil Lo...