Soil Fertility

Soil fertility and plant nutrition encompasses the management of essential elements necessary for plant growth, typically to achieve selected management objectives. Although soil fertility plays a vital role in natural systems, the scope of this article is limited to plant production for human uses (e.g., food, feed, fiber, energy, and landscape esthetics). An element is considered essential if it is required for plant metabolism and for completion of the plant’s life cycle (Epstein and Bloom, 2005; Havlin et al., 2005).

• CULTIVATION
• GRAZING
• COMPOSTING
• COVER CROPS & GREEN MANURES
• THE BIOCHEMICAL SEQUENCE