Poverty is a severe problem in Africa, Asia, South America and even in pockets of the developed world. Addressing poverty alleviation via the expanded use of biological nitrogen fixation in agriculture was the theme of the 15th International Congress on Nitrogen Fixation. Because nitrogen-fixation research is multidisciplinary, exploiting its benefits for agriculture and environmental protection has continued to attract research by diverse groups of scientists, including chemists, biochemists, plant physiologists, evolutionary biologists, ecologists, agricultural scientists, extension agents, and inoculant producers. The 15th International Congress on Nitrogen Fixation was held jointly with the 12th International Conference of the African Association for Biological Nitrogen Fixation. This joint Congress was hosted in South Africa at the Cape Town International Conv- tion Centre, 21–26 January 2007, and was attended by about 200 registered participants from 41 countries world-wide. During the Congress, some 100 oral and approximately 80 poster papers were presented. The wide range of topics covered and the theme of the Congress justifies this book’s title, Nitrogen Fixation: Applications to Poverty Alleviation.

The world's most comprehensive, well documented, and well illustrated book on this subject. With extensive subject and geographical index. 113 photographs and illustrations - mostly color. Free of charge in digital PDF format on Google Books

This is the world's most comprehensive, well documented, and well illustrated book on this subject. With extensive subject and geographical index. 91 photographs and illustrations - mostly color, Free of charge.

This book gathers review articles that analyze current agricultural issues and knowledge, then propose alternative solutions. It will therefore help all scientists, decision-makers, professors, farmers and politicians who wish to build a safe agriculture, energy and food system for future generations.

This book covers aspects of biological nitrogen fixation along with the unique signaling and interaction between the diazotrophic bacteria and plants, especially the non-legumes. Nitrogen is the most important growth-limiting nutrient in the ecosystems and biological nitrogen fixation involving microbial symbionts, mainly rhizobia and legumes holds enormous interest across the globe. However, free-living rhizobacteria of non-legumes especially cereals, also establish themselves within the root system, fixing nitrogen and contributing to plant productivity, soil fertility, and agricultural sustainability. These non-symbiotic nitrogen fixers additionally exhibit various plant growth-promoting traits elevating productivity, fortifying nutrient content, and managing water stress in plants. The recent perspectives highlighting the mechanisms and background of non-symbiotic nitrogen fixation provide answers to unravel the potential of nitrogenase and various spectra of habitats of rhizobia and other diazotrophic bacteria. Further, the application of genetic engineering and the development of nitrogen-fixing cereals can provide a possible solution to the problem of food shortage. The book includes various scientific inputs providing comprehensive knowledge about the emergence of agricultural sustainability through nitrogen-fixing bacteria. The book illustrates the systematic mechanisms involved in biological nitrogen fixation through various illustrations, schematic drawings, and flow charts aiding in better understanding. The chapters elaborate on the physiology and metabolism of plant-bacteria interaction in different crops under diverse environmental conditions. Thus, the volume will provide a holistic scenario helping in advancing the novel plant-microbe interactions, cell-signaling, and plant-molecular interactions. The book will assist the agronomists, microbiologists, ecologists, plant pathologists, molecular biologists, environmentalists, policymakers, conservationists, and NGOs to develop biofertilizers and bioinoculants using various genera of microbes and contribute to the targets of sustainable goals in an eco-friendly manner.

Soils into which crop plants root and from which they obtain essential minerals and water contain huge arrays of microbes. Many have highly beneficial effects on crop growth and productivity, others are pathogens causing diseases and losses to yield and quality, a few microbes offer protection from these pathogenic forms and others have little or no effect. These intimate and often complex inter-relationships are being explored with increasing success providing exciting opportunities for increasing crop yields and quality in sustainable harmony with the populations of beneficial soil microbes and to the detriment of pathogens. This book explores current knowledge for each of these aspects of soil microbiology and indicates where future progress is most likely to aid in increasing crop productivity by means which are environmentally benign and beneficial.

Continued population growth, rapidly changing consumption patterns and the impacts of climate change and environmental degradation are driving limited resources of food, energy, water and materials towards critical thresholds worldwide. These pressures are likely to be substantial across Africa, where countries will have to find innovative ways to boost crop and livestock production to avoid becoming more reliant on imports and food aid. Sustainable agricultural intensification - producing more output from the same area of land while reducing the negative environmental impacts - represents a solution for millions of African farmers. This volume presents the lessons learned from 40 sustainable agricultural intensification programmes in 20 countries across Africa, commissioned as part of the UK Government's Foresight project. Through detailed case studies, the authors of each chapter examine how to develop productive and sustainable agricultural systems and how to scale up these systems to reach many more millions of people in the future. Themes covered include crop improvements, agroforestry and soil conservation, conservation agriculture, integrated pest management, horticulture, livestock and fodder crops, aquaculture, and novel policies and partnerships.