Trees, Crops and Soil Fertility Concepts and Research Methods
Soil science benefits from the availability of a wide array of practicable
methods. There are a number of very useful compendia in which sets of
these methods are collected together to provide easy reference for the
intending practitioner. The need for yet another handbook might
therefore be questioned. This book, however, fulfils several needs that are
not met in previous volumes.
First and foremost it is unique in its format and purpose – being not a
compendium of protocols but a reasoned discussion of the value and utility
of different methods. Major advances in science are dependent on, and
sometimes even driven by, the availability of suitable methods by which key
questions or hypotheses may be answered. Progress may be said to be a
product of the match between developments in concept and those in
technique. The structure and content of this book are designed to review
the ways in which current thinking in terms of the major problems of soil
fertility can be methodologically attacked. As such the book should be useful
not only in helping to solve problems but also in provoking new questions.
The book is written within a particular context – soil fertility
development under agroforestry. At first this may seem very specific and
thus limited in appeal and application. But over the last decade or so
agroforestry research has been one of the most influential in developing
new insights into soil biology and fertility and thus provides a very suitable
framework for review of progress. Furthermore, the influence of trees on
soil is profound and of significance beyond agroforestry systems, so the
book is likely to be of interest in the wider spheres of agriculture, forestry
and ecological sciences.
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