Advances in Agronomy

DONALD L. SPARKS is the Unidel S. Hallock du Pont Chair and Francis Alison Professor at the University of Delaware. He is internationally recognized for his research in the areas of kinetics of biogeochemical processes and surface chemistry of natural materials. His research has focused on fate and transport of trace metals in soil and water, soil remediation, water quality, and carbon sequestration in soils. Dr. Sparks is the author of two previous editions of Environmental Soil Chemistry and more than 350 refereed papers and book chapters. He is fellow of five scientific societies, and he has been the recipient of major awards and lectureships including the Geochemistry Medal from the American Chemical Society, the Liebig Medal from the International Union of Soil Sciences, the Einstein Professorship from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Philippe Duchaufour Medal from the European Geosciences Union. Dr. Sparks served as president of the Soil Science Society of America and the International Union of Soil Sciences, has served on advisory committees for several national laboratories and national and international centers and institutes, and served as chair of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences (NAS) Committee for Soil Sciences and other NAS Committees.

1. Soil organic matter formation, persistence, and functioning: A synthesis of current understanding to inform its conservation and regeneration
M. Francesca Cotrufo and Jocelyn M. Lavallee
2. The soil health–human health nexus: Mineral thresholds, interlinkages and rice systems in Jharkhand, India
Fatma Rekik and Harold Mathijs van Es
3. Soil health assessment methods: Progress, applications and comparison
Tingting Chang, Gary Feng, Varun Paul, Ardeshir Adeli, and John P. Brooks
4. Rice grain quality: Where we are and where to go?
Jihua Cheng, Xin Lin, Yu Long, Qin Zeng, Kaijun Zhao, Peisong Hu, and Junhua Peng
5. Conservation Agriculture in the drylands of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region: Past trend, current opportunities, challenges and future outlook
Mina Devkota, Yadvinder Singh, Yigezu Atnafe Yigezu, Isam Bashour, Rachid Mussadek, and Rachid Mrabet
6. Current status of herbicide-resistant weeds and their management in the rice-wheat cropping system of South Asia
Simerjeet Kaur, Sachin Dhanda, Ashok Yadav, Pardeep Sagwal, Dharam Bir Yadav, and Bhagirath Singh Chauhan