250 likes | 394 Views
On solid ground. 3rd Conference on Sustainable Agriculture: The Art of Farming - Innovative Solutions for a Sustainable Mainstream Agriculture SAI, Brussels, 11 May 2010. Prem S. Bindraban Director ISRIC – World Soil Information Senior Researcher – Agrosystems Research Wageningen UR.
E N D
On solid ground 3rd Conference on Sustainable Agriculture: The Art of Farming - Innovative Solutions for a Sustainable Mainstream Agriculture SAI, Brussels, 11 May 2010 Prem S. Bindraban Director ISRIC – World Soil Information Senior Researcher – Agrosystems Research Wageningen UR
Basic production ecological principles Model-plants Prem Bindraban + water - nutrients • water • + nutrients + water + nutrients - water - nutrients Based on own experiments P.S. Bindraban
Rainfed + fertilizers Rainfed - fertilizers Marcel Galiba Location specific soil management
Functional role difficult to assess Loss of biodiversity and SOM due to land clearing Soil productivity • (Living organisms)? • Decomposition • Improves soil structure • Texture • Sand • Silt • Clay • Soil Organic Matter • Nutrients (Source, CEC) • Soil structure (pores) • Water holding capacity • Infiltration • Erosion Land with appropriate soil characteristics
Functionality –Important characteristics • Cation-Exchange Capacity = f(SOM, Clay) (r2 > 0.8) • Permanent Wilting Point = f(SOM, Clay) (r2 > 0.8) e.g. Bell and van Keulen, 1995. Soil Sci.Soc. Am. J. 59: 865-871
Marcel Galiba N u t r i e n t d e p l e t i o n N o d a t a L o w M o d e r a t e 1 ton grain H i g h V e r y h i g h 11-15 kg N/ha Deteriorating soils Stoorvogel et al.
Fertilizing the Sahel (Bindraban et al., 1999) Cereal yields limited by available soil nutrient (- nutrients) Cereal yields limited by available (rain) water (+ nutrients) Bindraban et al., 1999
Extraction of residues from soils detrimental to soil fertility Soil Carbon loss Zingore, et al., Europ J. Soil Sci 56: 727-736
Nutrient interactions Different rates of N with (solid symbols) and without P (open symbols) on a smallholder homefield (circles) and outfield (triangles) on a sandy granitic soil (Zingore et al., 2007, 2008)
Interactions with weather Yield response of maize varying with annual rainfall patterns at 3 levels of fertilizer application (0, 17 and 52 kg N/ha) (source: Twomlow, Mugabe et al. 2008)
Infestation Variability Water management Erosion Nutrient mining Nutrient management Production Managing and improving soils is complex (field) Weeds, pests, diseases Rainfall Irrigation Fertilization Short and long term Risk
A-horizon E-horizon Bhs-horizon Soil variation - natural
Site specific management of soils – essential to maintain soil quality
Green Water Credits Payment of Environmental Services Creating a financial and institutional mechanism in water management services that supports rural livelihoods
wet year Erosion in dry year Blue Water in dry year wet year
Soils – provides solid ground for global development issues ? • Climate change • Food production • Input requirement (N, P, K, H2O, …) • Degradation • De- / Re-forestation (REDD) • Bio-energy • Marginal lands (micro nutrients, toxicity, salinity, acidity, …) • … Good world soil data
GlobalSoilMap.net approach We need your help !! Soil depth And you may need us.
Questions? Prem.Bindraban@wur.nlDirector ISRIC – World Soil Information Agrosystems Research – Wageningen UR