Introduction
Soils, Plant Growth and Crop Production is a component of Encyclopedia of Food and Agricultural Sciences, Engineering and Technology Resources in the global Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems (EOLSS), which is an integrated compendium of twenty one Encyclopedias.
Plants, and crops in particular, grow and develop through the uptake of water and nutrients by the root system in soils and their transformation into biomass through processes governed by photosynthesis. The quality and amount of products harvested from this biomass depend largely on the intrinsic properties of the soil, i.e. the moisture and nutrients made available for uptake by the roots.
These volumes describe in a synthetic form the impact of the most important soil properties on general agronomy, crop production, cultivation methods, and yields, including the specific management aspects which take away some production constraints. Changes in general agronomy as a result of plant breeding, climatic change and competition between newly introduced crops are discussed.
The three volumes with contributions from distinguished experts in the field discusses about soils, plant growth and crop production in several related topics. These volumes are aimed at the following five major target audiences: University and College students Educators, Professional practitioners, Research personnel and Policy analysts, managers, and decision makers and NGOs.
Editor(s) Biography
Willy Verheye is a former, now retired Research Director at the National Science Foundation, Flanders, and a Professor in the Geography Department, University of Ghent, Belgium. He holds a M.Sc. in physical geography (1961), a PhD. in soil science (1970) and a Post-Doctoral Degree in soil science and land use planning (1980).
He has been active for more than thirty-five years both in the academic world, as a professor/ research director in soil science, land evaluation, and land use planning, and as a technical and scientific advisor for rural development projects, especially in developing countries. His research has mainly focused on the field characterization of soils and soil potentials, and on the integration of socio-economic and environmental aspects in rural land use planning. He was a technical and scientific advisor in more than 100 development projects for international (UNDP, FAO, World Bank, African and Asian Development Banks, etc.) and national agencies, as well as for development companies and NGOs active in inter-tropical regions.
W. Verheye is the author or co-author of more than 100 peer reviewed papers published in national and international journals, chapters in books and contributions to the Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems (EOLSS). He is Honorary Editor for the EOLSS, Themes on: Soil Sciences, Land Use and Land Cover, and : Crops and Soil Sciences
