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"What Dr Samuel Johnson did for English, Professor Amir Kassam has
done for Conservation Agriculture (CA). He is eminently well
qualified and has enlisted more than a hundred battle-hardened
champions to contribute 26 chapters amounting to over a thousand
scholarly pages. The content is formidable. Volume one, Systems and
Science, embraces: the need for CA; global developments; soil
health and landscape management; the roles of minimum soil
disturbance, mulch and cover crops; crops and cropping systems,
vegetable systems, perennial systems; integration of cropping and
livestock; mechanization; certification; institutional and policy
support. Volume two, Practice and Benefits, includes management of
crops and cropping systems, soil, weeds, insect pests and disease,
nutrients, carbon, and biodiversity; climate change mitigation and
adaptation; benefits to farmers and society; ecosystem services;
and rehabilitation of degraded farmland...This book can change the
future."review by David Dent in International Journal of
Environmental Studies This volume summarises research on key
components for successful Conservation Agriculture (CA). Chapters
review the latest research on ways of optimising no-till techniques
to minimise soil disturbance in relation to seeding, weeding and
other operations. Chapters also review ways to improve soil health
in CA, including mulch cover, cover crops, rotations and
intercropping. The book also includes case studies on optimising CA
in particular systems, including rice, root, tuber and
horticultural crops as well as integrating livestock in CA systems.
The book concludes by looking at certification schemes and
institutional support to promote good CA practice.
This collection features four peer-reviewed literature reviews on
biodiversity management practices in agriculture. The first chapter
reviews biodiversity management practices and benefits in
Conservation Agriculture (CA) systems. After looking at the
importance of soil microorganisms, the chapter looks at how CA
systems contribute to soil biological activity, particularly the
way cover crops and rotations, with a no-till regime, can enrich
soil and the multitude or organisms living in it. The second
chapter synthesizes and reviews the published information on grass
hedges and their soil benefits, to better understand the potential
of grass hedges for managing water erosion as well as improving
soil health in agricultural lands. The third chapter reviews
research on ways of modifying the agricultural landscape to reverse
the decline in a range of fauna and flora. The chapter also reviews
the characteristics and types of field margins, as well as their
role in agroecosystems. The chapter concludes with a discussion on
managing field margins to promote insect biodiversity and rare
arable plant populations. The final chapter considers the impact of
agricultural intensification on agricultural landscapes, farming
systems and biodiversity. The chapter highlights how hedgerows can
contribute to the multifunctionality of agroecosystems in
intensively-managed agricultural landscapes, focussing on improved
pest regulation and enhanced pollination services.
This collection features four peer-reviewed literature reviews on
cover crops in agriculture. The first chapter describes the
contribution of cover crops to improving soil health. The chapter
reviews their key role e.g. supplying a food source for soil
organisms, providing a source of carbon to help build soil organic
matter, enhancing nutrient dynamics in the soil and improving soil
structure. The second chapter considers recent research on the
benefits of cover crops in organic cultivation in areas such as
soil structure and erosion control as well as nutrient cycling. It
also looks at the wider role of cover crops in control of weeds,
diseases and pests, promoting biodiversity and reducing greenhouse
gases (GHGs). The third chapter highlights the use of different
cover crops species to promote live or dead soil mulch cover in
Conservation Agriculture systems. It also reviews how cover crops
effect aspects such as soil acidity and nutrient availability, soil
physical and biological properties, soil nematode control, weed
control and grain yield. The final chapter reviews the role of
cover crops in weed control. Cover crops are important additions to
crop rotations because they suppress weeds during rotational
periods when crops are absent and provide ecosystem services that
enhance soil quality and fertility.
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