Properties and Management of Soils in the Tropics

Description

The long-awaited second edition of this classic textbook expands on the first edition to include advances made in the last four decades, bringing the topic completely up to date. The book addresses critical issues such as whether humanity can feed itself, and whether it can do so in environmentally sound and sustainable ways. Written from agronomic, environmental, and ecological standpoints, the textbook employs a multidisciplinary approach, including policymaking and plant genetic improvements, as well as ecosystem services, climate change, biodiversity, sustainability and resilience. New chapters in this second edition focus on organic carbon in soil, soil biology, soils in relation to livestock production and forestry, and agroforestry. The new edition will again be the go-to textbook for courses on tropical soils, and a reference textbook for soil and agricultural scientists and development professionals working in the tropics. Contents Foreword Preface Acknowledgments Part I The Tropical Environment 1 The Natural Environment of the Tropics 1.1 The Tropics Defined 1.2 Temperature and Solar Radiation 1.3 Rainfall 1.4 Tropical Climates 1.5 Vegetation 1.6 Physiography 1.7 The Anthropocene 1.8 Biodiversity in the Tropics 1.9 Climate Change 1.10 Summary and Conclusions 2 The Human Environment of the Tropics 2.1 Demographics 2.2 Key Concepts 2.3 The Fight Against Hunger and Absolute Poverty 2.4 The Food Versus Population Race 2.5 Green Revolutions 2.6 Tropical Agroecosystems 2.7 Land Use and Land-Use Change 2.8 Intensification and Extensification 2.9 Summary and Conclusions Part II Pedology, Physics, Chemistry and Biology 3 History of Soil Science in the Tropics 3.1 The Laterite Paradigm 3.2 Tropical Soils Are Very Diverse 3.3 Tropical Soil Research: 1970s to 1990s 3.4 The First Soil Management Paradigm 3.5 The Second Soil Management Paradigm 3.6 The Third Soil Management Paradigm 3.7 Soils in a Global Context 3.8 Summary and Conclusions 4 Soils of the Tropics 4.1 Soil Taxonomy 4.2 World Reference Base for Soil Resources 4.3 A National Soil Classification System: Cuba 4.4 Main Soils of the Tropics 4.5 Soils at the Landscape Scale 4.6 Importance of Soil Diversity to Ecologists and Modelers 4.7 Summary and Conclusions 5 Functional Capability Classification 5.1 System Structure and Definitions 5.2 Areal Extent of FCC Attributes 5.3 Attributes Related to Soil Mineralogy 5.4 Attributes Related to Soil Organic Matter 5.5 Attributes Related to Soil Physical Properties 5.6 Attributes Related to Soil Reaction (pH) 5.7 Regional Differences 5.8 Interpreting FCC Classes 5.9 Actual and Potential Use of FCC 5.10 Summary and Conclusions 6 Soil Physical Properties 6.1 Depth of Rooting 6.2 Soil Temperature 6.3 Soil Structure 6.4 Soil Compaction 6.5 Soil Water 6.6 Soil Erosion 6.7 Soil and Water Conservation Practices 6.8 Conservation Agriculture 6.9 Summary and Conclusions 7 Water 7.1 Overall Perspective 7.2 Metrics 7.3 Rainfed Agriculture 7.4 Irrigated Agriculture 7.5 Irrigation and Carbon 7.6 Perspectives 7.7 Summary and Conclusions 8 Mineralogy 8.1 Basic Concepts 8.2 Paradigm Shifts 8.3 Types of Clay Minerals 8.4 Mineralogy Families 8.5 Measurement Issues 8.6 pH–Charge Relationships 8.7 Anion Exchange Capacity: An Asset of the Tropics 8.8 Summary and Conclusions 9 Soil Acidity 9.1 Causes of Soil Acidity 9.2 Acid Soil Infertility 9.3 Genetic Differences in Aluminum Tolerance 9.4 Liming 9.5 Overliming 9.6 Residual Effects of Liming 9.7 Subsoil Acidity 9.8 Secondary Acidity 9.9 Advantages of Acid Soils 9.10 Summary and Conclusions 10 Soil Biology 10.1 Definitions 10.2 Soil Biodiversity 10.3 Ecosystem Functions and Services 10.4 Comminution 10.5 Decomposition 10.6 Transformation of Nutrient Elements 10.7 Soil Structure Regulation 10.8 The Root Extenders: Mycorrhizae 10.9 Soil Biodiversity and Land-Use Change 10.10 Reflections 10.11 Summary and Conclusions 11 Organic Carbon 11.1 History of SOC Research 11.2 Tropical Soils and the Global Carbon Cycle 11.3 SOC in Tropical and Temperate Regions 11.4 Carbon Pools and Fractions 11.5 Carbon Sequestration 11.6 Animal Manures 11.7 Composts 11.8 Biochars 11.9 Organic Farming 11.10 Summary and Conclusions Part III Soil Fertility 12 Soil Fertility Principles 12.1 The Law of the Minimum 12.2 Synchrony 12.3 Nutrient Cycling 12.4 Nutrient Uptake by Crops and Cycling 12.5 Determining Fertilizer Needs 12.6 Early Twenty-First-Century Paradigm Shifts 12.7 Summary and Conclusions 13 Nitrogen 13.1 The Nitrogen Cycle 13.2 Nitrogen Pools and Fractions 13.3 Atmospheric Deposition 13.4 Biological Nitrogen Fixation 13.5 Mineral Fertilizers 13.6 Organic Nitrogen Mineralization 13.7 Nitrogen Fertilizer Reactions in Soils 13.8 Fluctuations of Inorganic Nitrogen 13.9 Combining Mineral and Organic Nitrogen Fertilizers 13.10 Environmental Consequences 13.11 Efficiency of Nitrogen Fertilization 13.12 Profitability 13.13 Summary and Conclusions 14 Phosphorus 14.1 The Phosphorus Cycle 14.2 Total Soil Phosphorus 14.3 Inorganic Phosphorus 14.4 Organic Phosphorus 14.5 Phosphorus Sorption and Release 14.6 Soil Tests for Available Phosphorus 14.7 Plant Phosphorus Requirements 14.8 Phosphorus Fertilization 14.9 Residual Effects and Efficiency of Utilization 14.10 Summary and Conclusions 15 Sulfur 15.1 The Sulfur Cycle 15.2 Sulfur Sorption 15.3 Crop Requirements 15.4 Nutrition 15.5 Soil Testing 15.6 Sulfur Fertilization 15.7 Summary and Conclusions Part IV Management Systems 16 Soils and Slash-and-Burn Agriculture 16.1 Shifting Cultivation and Slash-and-Burn Agriculture 16.2 Forest–Soil Nutrient Cycles 16.3 Land Clearing by Slash and Burn 16.4 Mechanized Land Clearing 16.5 Crop Yield Declines and Field Abandonment 16.6 Secondary Forest Fallows 16.7 Alternatives to Slash and Burn 16.8 Combining Agricultural Intensification with Decreased Deforestation 16.9 Summary and Conclusions 17 Soil Management in Rice Cultivation 17.1 Physical Consequences of Flooding 17.2 Puddling 17.3 Chemical and Biological Consequences of Flooding 17.4 Rice Cultivation Systems 17.5 Water 17.6 Nutrient Management 17.7 Yield Stagnation: Nitrogen Sequestration 17.8 Environmental Dimensions 17.9 The Way Forward 17.10 Summary and Conclusions 18 Soils and Livestock-Based Tropical Systems 18.1 Tropical Livestock in the Global Context 18.2 Tropical Pastures 18.3 Nutrient Cycling 18.4 Tropical Livestock Management Systems 18.5 Pastoralism 18.6 Smallholder Mixed Crop–Livestock Systems 18.7 Extensive Pasture-Based Beef Production 18.8 Pasture Degradation 18.9 Crop–Pasture Integration 18.10 Livestock and the Environment 18.11 Summary and Conclusions 19 Soils and Tropical Tree-Based Systems 19.1 Plantation Forestry 19.2 Plantation Forestry Species 19.3 Growth Stages of Tree Plantations 19.4 Hydrology of Tropical Forestry Plantations 19.5 Agroforestry 19.6 More People, More Trees 19.7 Agroforestry Tree Species 19.8 Classification of Agroforestry Systems 19.9 Simultaneous Agroforestry 19.10 Sequential Agroforestry: A Different Story 19.11 Tree Crops 19.12 Environmental Consequences 19.13 Summary and Conclusions Index