Optimizing The Soil Physical Environment Toward Greater Crop Yields

Optimizing the Soil Physical Environment Toward Greater Crop Yields contains the proceedings of an invitational panel convened during the International Symposium on Soil-Water Physics and Technology held at The Hebrew University Faculty of Agriculture in Rehovot, Israel, August 29 to September 5, 1971. Organized into 13 chapters, this book begins with a discussion on the criteria for determining the aims and direction of research in soil physics and technology. Some chapters deal with the transformation and fluxes of energy and matter in the field, particularly water, soil temperature, soil structure, soil salinity, radiation climate, and nutrient supply and uptake. The book also explores the methods of measuring, managing, and modifying the crop production system to greater agricultural advantage. This book will reflect not only what is known, but also what is missing in the incomplete conception of this environment.

Criteria for determining the aims and directions of research in soil physics and technology; Efficiente management of water in agriculture; Soil temperature and crop growth; Improving the water properties of sand soil; Improvement of soil structure by chemical means; Rooot development in relation to soil physical conditions; The field water balance and water use efficiency; Control of soil salinity; Programming irrigation for greater efficiency; Water utilization by dryland rowcrop; The control of the radiation climate of plant communities; Nutrient supply and uptake in relation to soil physical conditions; Analysis of growth parameters and their fluctuations in searching for increased yields.