Soil and Plant Nutrition

As a fundamental part of feeding growing global populations and animals, soil and plant management requires significant innovations for maintaining sustainable development that aims for sustainable high productivity and low environmental hazards. Proper soil and plant management is crucial for supporting plant growth and improving crop productivity and yield. Effective management practices ensure optimal soil health, nutrient availability, and water retention, while preventing soil degradation and promoting long-term agricultural viability. Therefore, the focus of the “Soil and Plant Nutrition” Section of Agronomy is to utilize soil resources and plants wisely.

This section focuses on two key aspects:

1. Addressing Long-standing Issues:
• Removing pollutants, including heavy metals, organic pollutants, pesticide residues, and microplastics;
• Restoring degraded soils by addressing issues such as infertility, salinity, acidification, compaction, and erosion;
• Recovering soil biodiversity and reestablishing soil biomes, including insects and earthworms;
• Reutilizing waste from farming, husbandry, and fisheries.

2. Designing an Integrated Soil and Plant Management System:
• Maximizing Productivity: Achieving optimal productivity while minimizing input costs, environmental damage, and risks to human health;
• Carbon Management: Managing carbon and carbon cycling to reduce the carbon footprint of agricultural practices;
• Nutrient Efficiency: Enhancing nitrogen use efficiency, minimizing reactive nitrogen loss, and utilizing phosphorus, potassium, and other essential nutrients wisely;
• Climate Adaptation: Implementing climate-smart agriculture practices to adapt to ongoing global climate change;
• Soil and Plant Amendments: Using plant and soil amendments to improve nutrition and growth and addressing soil constraints to enhance fertility;
• Plant Biological Interaction: Investigating beneficial plant–plant and plant–microbe interactions for improved crop health and nutrition;
• Fertilizer Impact: Evaluating the effects of synthetic and biological fertilizers on plant growth, nutrition, and soil carbon cycling;
• Soil Health and Technology: Exploring soil health and plant nutrition in changing environments and investigating novel technologies and microbial inoculants for improved soil fertility and plant production;
• Irrigated and Hydroponic Systems: Managing plant fertility effectively in both irrigated and hydroponic production systems.