Introduction
Agricultural Land Improvement: Amelioration and Reclamation theme 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.
The theme on Agricultural Land Improvement: Amelioration and Reclamation has two volumes with contributions from distinguished experts in the field, discusses amelioration practices and measures for radical improvement of unfavorable hydrologic, soil, and agroclimatic conditions, with a view to the most efficient use of land resources. The content of the theme is organized with state-of-the-art presentations covering the following aspects of the subject: Necessity of Development of Land Reclamation; Irrigation; Drainage of Farmlands; Chemical Amelioration of Soils; Biological and Agrotechnical Amelioration, which are then expanded into multiple subtopics, each as a chapter. 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
Boris Stepanovich Maslov was born in 1929 in Moscow oblast (Russia). He is a Doctor of Technical Sciences (1976), Professor (1979), Academician of the Russian Academy of Agricultural Sciences (1991), Honored Worker of Science and Technology of the Russian Federation (1994), Prize Winner of Council of Ministers of the USSR (1981), and Laureate of the A. N. Kostyakov Gold Medal (1993). His work in amelioration science was acknowledged by the jubilee diploma and medal of the ICID.
He graduated from the Moscow Institute of Hydraulic Engineering and Water Management (1954) with a diploma in hydraulic engineering. In 1965, he took training courses at the University of California. He worked as the head of the Science Department of the Ministry of Melioration and Water Management of the USSR (1975–85); director of the A. N. Kostyakov Research Institute of Hydraulic Engineering and Melioration (1985–8); and the head of the Department of Melioration and Water Management of the RAAS (1991–9). In 2000, he was appointed the Senior Specialist of the Engineering and Production Center on Water Management, Melioration, and Ecology. Professor Maslov’s scientific interests encompass various aspects of land drainage and irrigation, reclamation hydrogeology, environmental conservation aspects of land reclamation, and the history of soil amelioration. Professor Maslov is the author of more than 500 published works, including forty monographs, on soil reclamation, meliorative hydrogeology, environmental protection issues related to land reclamation works, and the history of amelioration science. He participated in the work of the International Commission on Irrigation and Drainage (ICID), International Peat Society (IPS), and the Society of Agricultural Engineers, among others
