Mulching in Agroecosystems: Plants, Soil & Environment

This book provides insights into recent developments in the use of mulching in agroecosystems with emphasis on the major pros and cons. Increase in human population, climatic changes and agricultural intensification have put enormous pressure on soil and water resources. As a result, we are confronted with challenges to enhance nutrient and water use efficiencies and conserve soil organic matter without compromising crop yields and food security. Increasing the soil organic matter (SOM) via residue return increased nutrient availability and soil physical and biological properties. Management practices, such as straw mulching or incorporation, have significant effects on soil health. Straw addition also increases functionality related to carbon and N metabolism via increasing the microbes and thus greatly contributes to CO2 and N2O emissions. However, the co-use of organic and inorganic fertilizer reduces the N2O emission without compromising crop yield. Mulching has long been advocated to conserve soil moisture and increase the efficiency of macro- and micro-nutrients by improving soil physical, chemical, and biological properties. These effects of mulch are translated into better crop yields while improving soil health and quality in the long run. Therefore, the use of mulching techniques is on the rise in organic as well as conventional agriculture. The book is of great interest for researchers, academics, agriculture extensionists, soil and plant scientist, fertilizer industry, farmers, agro-industrial workers, farm managers, NGOs, and climate and civil society activists.

Dr. Kashif Akhtar now is Postdoctoral Researcher in College of Life Science and Technology, Guangxi University, Nanning, China. His main research interests are soil quality & stabilization, predicting the effects of environmental changes on the soil and plant health, sustainable crop production, GHG emission, plant-soil-microbe interactions, C stocks, waste management, and C3/C4 vegetation shift.

Dr. Muhammad Arif is Professor/Director Farms, Department of Agronomy, The University of Agriculture Peshawar, Pakistan. His research areas of interests are seed priming, crop nutrition and dual purpose crops, and use of biochar as soil amendment.

Dr. Muhammad Riaz is Associate Professor at Department of Environmental Sciences & Engineering, Government College University Faisalabad, Pakistan. His main research interests are biogeochemical carbon and nitrogen cycling under changing climate and land use in agroecosystems; biochar for carbon sequestration, organic matter stabilization, and food security; sustainable soil quality management using multiple and multiscale approaches.

Dr. Haiyan Wang is Associate Professor at College of Agriculture and Biotechnology, Zhejiang University. Her main research interests are pesticide and environmental chemistry.