Agriculture and the Nitrogen Cycle
Assessing the Impacts of Fertilizer Use on Food Production and the Environment
Nitrogen is an essential element for plant growth and development and a key agricultural input-but in excess it can lead to a host of problems for human and ecological health. Across the globe, distribution of fertilizer nitrogen is very uneven, with some areas subject to nitrogen pollution and others suffering from reduced soil fertility, diminished crop production, and other consequences of inadequate supply.
Agriculture and the Nitrogen Cycle provides a global assessment of the role of nitrogen fertilizer in the nitrogen cycle. The focus of the book is regional, emphasizing the need to maintain food and fiber production while minimizing environmental impacts where fertilizer is abundant, and the need to enhance fertilizer utilization in systems where nitrogen is limited. The book is derived from a workshop held by the Scientific Committee on Problems of the Environment (SCOPE) in Kampala, Uganda, that brought together the world's leading scientists to examine and discuss the nitrogen cycle and related problems. It contains an overview chapter that summarizes the group's findings, four chapters on cross-cutting issues, and thirteen background chapters.
The book offers a unique synthesis and provides an up-to-date, broad perspective on the issues of nitrogen fertilizer in food production and the interaction of nitrogen and the environment.
List of Figures and Tables
Foreword
Preface
Acknowledgments
Part I: Overview
1. Nitrogen Fertilizer: An Essential Component of Increased Food, Feed
and Fiber Production
Part II: Crosscutting
Issues
2. Crop, Environmental, and Management Factors Affecting Nitrogen Use
Efficiency
3. Emerging Technologies to Increase the Efficiency of Use of
Fertilizer Nitrogen
4. Pathways of Nitrogen Loss and Their Impacts on Human Health and the
Environment
5. Societal Responses for Addressing Nitrogen Fertilizer Needs:
Balancing Food Production and Environmental Concerns
Part III: Low-input
Systems
6. Improving Fertilizer Nitrogen Use Efficiency Through an
Ecosystem-based Approach
7. Nitrogen Dynamics in Legume-based Pasture Systems
8. Management of Nitrogen Fertilizer in Maize-based Systems in Subhumid
Areas of Sub-Saharan Africa
9. Integrated Nitrogen Input Systems in Denmark
Part IV: High-input
Systems
10. Rice Systems in China with High Nitrogen Inputs
11. Using Advanced Technologies to Refine Nitrogen Management at the
Farm Scale: A Case Study from the U.S. Midwest
12. Impact of Management Systems on Fertilizer Nitrogen Use Efficiency
Part V: Interactions and
Scales
13. Fertilizer Nitrogen Use Efficiency as Influenced by Interactions
with Other Nutrients
14. An Assessment of Fertilizer Nitrogen Recovery Efficiency by Grain
Crops
15. Pathways and Losses of Fertilizer Nitrogen at Different Scales
16. Current Nitrogen Inputs to World Regions
Part VI: Challenges
17. Challenges and Opportunities for the Fertilizer Industry
18. The Role of Nitrogen in Sustaining Food Production and Estimating
Future Nitrogen Fertilizer Needs to Meet Food Demand
19. Environmental Dimensions of Fertilizer Nitrogen: What Can Be Done
to Increase Nitrogen Use Efficiency and Ensure Global Food Security?
Appendix
List of Contributors
SCOPE Series List
SCOPE Executive Committee 2001–2004
Index
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