Crop production depends on the successful implementation of the soil, water, and nutrient management technologies. Food production by the year 2020 needs to be increased by 50 percent more than the present levels to satisfy the needs of around 8 billion people. Much of the increase would have to come from intensification of agricultural production. Importance of wise usage of water, nutrient management, and tillage in the agricultural sector for sustaining agricultural growth and slowing down environmental degradation calls for urgent attention of researchers, planners, and policy makers. Crop models enable researchers to promptly speculate on the long-term consequences of changes in agricultural practices. In addition, cropping systems, under different conditions, are making it possible to identify the adaptations required to respond to changes. This book adopts an interdisciplinary approach and contributes to this new vision. Leading authors analyze topics related to crop production technologies. The efforts have been made to keep the language as simple as possible, keeping in mind the readers of different language origins. The emphasis has been on general descriptions and principles of each topic, technical details, original research work, and modeling aspects. However, the comprehensive journal references in each area should enable the reader to pursue further studies of special interest. The subject has been presented through fifteen chapters to clearly specify different topics for convenience of the readers.

Agronomy deals with the science and technology of producing and using plants for food, fuel, fiber, and land reclamation. The importance of agronomy provides farmers with agricultural information about how to grow and care for plants and soils in certain environments. Factors such as climate, roots, moisture, weeds, pests, fungi, and erosion can pose significant challenges when farmers attempt to produce a plentiful harvest. In order to discover ways of integrating crops into the environment in ways that will allow them to prosper, agronomists study these agricultural hurdles. Throughout history, scientific and technological advances have greatly impacted the agriculture industry. Early farmers improved their crop production by inventing the first hoes. Today, farmers improve crop production through the use of global positioning systems (GPS). How did these changes happen? How did people learn about new ideas? How have these ideas changed farming methods? In recent times, research and development in this area have made innovations in farming products and practices.Fundamentals Of Agronomy presents the comprehensive coverage in the pursuit of improving the yield of crops, protecting crops against diseases and pest, making livestock healthy all the time, designing the best method of crops storage and even helping in predicting the climate conducive for agricultural practice cannot be over emphasized. Crop protection is very vital in agriculture. Disease affects plants and leads to delay in metabolic activities, stunted growth, shedding of flowers and fruits and sometimes the actual death of the plant. Cultural and chemical controls are most of the time used. Culturally, crop rotation is adopted, burning remains after harvesting, regular weeding of the soil, proper spacing of crops using of high yielding and resistant varieties and practicing of irrigation during dry season are adopted.This book will be of interest to students, professional practitioners, educators, and advisers who work directly with farmers, companies, and others in the agriculture community to implement the latest methods and tools for growing crops profitably and sustainably.

This book contains 12 chapters focusing on: (i) experimental planning; (ii) sample preparation; (iii) weighing and dispersing; (iv) acid-digestion, ashing and extracting procedures; (v) analysis of soil and compost; (vi) analysis of fertilizers; (vii) analysis of animal feed and plant materials; (viii) analysis of silage; (ix) near infrared spectroscopy; (x) methods in equine nutrition; (xi) methods for organic farmers and growers; and (xii) quality assurance and control.

This book has been written in short, as a 'practical text book' in Agronomy subject, based on theoretical background, for thorough knowledge of that subject, after a long teaching experience in the universities. Practical classes, with lesson numbers have been fitted, immediately after theoretical discussions, in different sub-chapters in Chapters, on the same studies. The lesson, has been divided into 'Introduction', 'Objective', 'Materials required' & 'Procedure'. In some cases, 'assignments' have also been given.