Soil Health, Soil Biology, Soilborne Diseases and Sustainable Agriculture

A Guide

Graham Stirling,Helen Hayden,Tony Pattison,Marcelle Stirling

• Publisher: CSIRO PUBLISHING
• Year: 2016
• ISBN:
  9781486303069
• Topic: Technology & Engineering
• Subtopic: Agronomy
• Index: Technology & Engineering

Our capacity to maintain world food production depends heavily on the thin layer of soil covering the Earth's surface. The health of this soil determines whether crops can grow successfully, whether a farm business is profitable and whether an enterprise is sustainable in the long term. Farmers are generally aware of the physical and chemical factors that limit the productivity of their soils but often do not recognise that soil microbes and the soil fauna play a major role in achieving healthy soils and healthy crops.

Soil Health, Soil Biology, Soilborne Diseases and Sustainable Agriculture provides readily understandable information about the bacteria, fungi, nematodes and other soil organisms that not only harm food crops but also help them take up water and nutrients and protect them from root diseases. Complete with illustrations and practical case studies, it provides growers and their consultants with holistic solutions for building an active and diverse soil biological community capable of improving soil structure, enhancing plant nutrient uptake and suppressing root pests and pathogens.

The book is written by scientists with many years' experience developing sustainable crop production practices in the grains, vegetable, sugarcane, grazing and horticultural industries.

This book will be useful for: growers, consultants, agronomists and soil chemists, extension personnel working in the grains, livestock, sugarcane and horticultural industries, professionals running courses in soil health/biological farming, and students taking university courses in soil science, ecology, microbiology, plant pathology and other biological sciences.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Preface
• Acknowledgements
• Acknowledgements for figures, and copyright issues
• About the authors
• Chapter 1 Introduction: soil health, soil biology, sustainable agriculture and evidence-based information
• Chapter 2 Soil physical, chemical and biological properties, and the key role of organic matter in promoting soil and plant health
• Chapter 3 Organisms in the soil food web and their functions
• Chapter 4 Soilborne diseases: a major impediment to crop production
• Chapter 5 Impact of natural enemies on soilborne pathogens
• Chapter 6 A practical guide to improving soil health and reducing losses from soilborne diseases
• Chapter 7 Grain farming systems to improve soil health and enhance biological suppression of soilborne diseases
• Chapter 8 Annual and perennial pastures to improve soil health in grain-cropping systems
• Chapter 9 Yield decline of sugarcane: a soil health problem overcome by modifying the farming system
• Chapter 10 Vegetable farming systems: the challenge of improving soil health and sustainability in an industry that demands high levels of productivity
• Chapter 11 Options for improving soil health and minimising losses from soilborne diseases in perennial horticultural crops
• Chapter 12 Key soil health messages, and practices that should be included in holistic soil improvement programs
• References and further reading
• Index