Edaphic Stresses and Agricultural Sustainability: An Indian Perspective

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• 作者：P. S. Minhas ; G. P. Obi Reddy
• 关键词：Land degradation ; Edaphic stresses ; Soil quality ; Marginal soils ; Wastelands
• 刊名：Agricultural Research
• 出版年：2017
• 出版时间：March 2017
• 年：2017
• 卷：6
• 期：1
• 页码：8-21
• 全文大小：
• 刊物主题：Cell Biology; Plant Ecology; Plant Genetics & Genomics; Plant Sciences; Biodiversity; Plant Biochemistry;
• 出版者：Springer India
• ISSN：2249-7218
• 卷排序：6

文摘

Increase in agricultural productivity in India is likely to come primarily from sustained intensification, but the increases in the recent past have been accompanied by severe degradation of agroecosystems and the resultant edaphic constraints. The emerging nutrient deficiencies with mining (8–10 million tonnes of NPK annually) along with acidity (pH < 5.5 in 17.93 M ha), salinity (6.73 M ha) and soil contaminants are the most common chemical stresses. Among the physical stresses, severe soil erosivity (water 82.47 M ha and wind 12.40 M ha), shallow soils (26.4 M ha), soil hardening (21.4 M ha) and low water holding capacity (13.75 M ha) threaten the soil productivity. The soils are inherently low in low organic carbon, and climate change is further impacting the farming systems. Conservative estimates show that about two-third losses in agricultural production are caused by these edaphic factors. Therefore, to alleviate the adverse effects of multiple edaphic factors, a holistic approach to build up systems perspectives is urgently required. The new tools emerging especially in the areas of conservation agriculture, precision irrigation technologies, biotechnology and omic sciences etc., are opening up new opportunities for tackling these stresses.