Soil Management for Sustainable Agriculture

Nintu Mandal, PhD, is Assistant Professor-cum-Junior Scientist in the Department of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry, Bihar Agricultural University, India. He has published 20 research/review papers in national and international journals and has authored one book, Agricultural Nanotechnology: Basics and Practicals. He has also co-authored several book chapters. He holds a patent for “A Superabsorbent Polymer (NSP) and Process for Preparing the Same.” His current research areas are nanoformulations for increasing input use efficiency, soil chemistry, and clay mineralogy. Abir Dey, PhD, is Agricultural Research Scientist in the Division of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry, ICAR-IARI, New Delhi, India. He has published 19 research/review papers in national and international journals. He has also co-authored one book and several book chapters. His current research areas are conservation agriculture, soil carbon dynamics, quality of soil organic matter, soil fertility, and plant nutrition. Rajiv Rakshit, PhD, is Assistant Professor-cum-Junior Scientist in the Department of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry, Bihar Agricultural University, India. He has published 25 research/review papers in national and international journals and has co-authored five book chapters. He has also reviewed many research papers for internationally reputed journals. His research interests are focused on soil quality, soil microbial interactions, soil carbon, and nutrient dynamics. His aim is to improve the understanding of how fertilization affects nutrient cycling and microbial interactions in soils.

PART 1: CLAYS: THE CRITICAL COMPONENT IN SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE WITH RESPECT TO CARBON SEQUESTRATION VIS-A-VIS THEIR INTERACTION WITH SOIL ENZYMES 1. Advances in Clay Research for Sustainable Agriculture 2. Clay-Enzyme Interactions and Implications 3. Short Range Order (SRO) Minerals and Implications in Sustainable Agriculture PART 2: POTENTIAL UTILIZATION OF MICROBES FOR STRESSED AGRICULTURE 4. Rhizospheric Microbes for Nutrient Fortification in Crop Plants 5. Managing Abiotic Stressed Agriculture through Microbes 6. An Overview of Biochar Application on Biological Soil Health Indicators and Greenhouse Gas Emission PART 3: RESOURCE CONSERVATION TECHNOLOGIES AND PROSPECTIVE CARBON MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES 7. Resource Conservation Technologies for Sustainable Soil Management 8. Soil Organic Carbon, Its Retention, and Implication for Sustainable Agriculture 9. Hydrothermal Sensitivity of Soil Organic Carbon Under Imminent Moisture and Temperature Stress PART 4: SMART TOOLS FOR MONITORING SOILS 10. Application of Remote Sensing Technology for Estimation of Soil Moisture 11. Spectral and Smartphone-Based Tools to Monitor Plant and Soil Nitrogen Status for Site-Specific Nitrogen Management in Crop Plants 12. Innovative Extension Approaches for Diffusion of Nutrient Management Technologies PART 5: NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT APPROACHES 13. The Panorama of Phosphorus Fertilization in Crop Production 14. Novel Potassium Management Strategies for Improvement of Soil Health 15. Micronutrient Management in Soils and the Route to Biofortification PART 6: NANOTECHNOLOGICAL INTERVENTIONS 16. Escalating Nutrient Use Efficiency through Nanotechnological Intercessions 17. Hydrogel Formulations for Increasing Input Use Efficiency in Agriculture 18. Nanotechnological Interventions for Increasing Nutrient Use Efficiency in Horticultural Crops 19. Advances in Micronutrient Fertilizer Production and Its Efficacy in Plant Nutrition PART 7: REMEDIATION OF METALS AND PESTICIDES CONTAMINATED SOILS 20. Heavy Metal Pollution in Soil and Remediation Strategies 21. Advancement in Pesticide Chemistry for Sustainable Agriculture 22. Resource Recovery from Biowaste for Agriculture through Composting and Microbial Technology