Language: English
Published on: 2007-01
Hardcover
Dr. Li Shengxiu has had a long and distinguished career working in the dryland areas of China. It is particularly fitting that he is culminating his career with a comprehensive book that is only possible because of the knowledge and understanding that he has gained from many years of dedicated study and research. Dr. Li has covered many aspects of dryland agriculture in China. He begins with an introduction that gives an overview of the long history of agriculture in China with special emphasis on the dryland regions. The book is divided into five parts. The firs part (Chapters 1-6) describes the climate, topography, vegetation, and soils of Chinese drylands. The second part (Chapters 7-9) discusses the major natural constraints including lack of water as well as wind and water erosion. Nutrient management and water management are covered in the third part (Chapters 10-12) and the fourth part (Chapters 13-16). The final part (Chapters 17-22) looks at farming systems that involves crop selection, methods for planting, crop resistance to drought and controlling pests. Dr. Li is keenly aware of both the benefits and the risks associated with agriculture in dryland areas. Therefore, in presenting strategies for developing drylands, he also considered the environmental and social risks and their consequences.
This book will be of vital importance to a wide range of readers including students, researchers, change agents, and policy makers. Strategies presented are based on sound research information and a clear understanding of how these findings can be applied to real conditions. With a growing worldwide interest in sustaining the soil resource base, this book fills an important need because it offers unusual insights of the battles waged by the Chinese people over centuries to produce food and fiber while trying to control erosion. More importantly, it documents many of the practices that enabled China to make dramatic increases in crop production during the past 30 years and presents strategies that Dr. Li’s thought will be required in the future to sustain the resource base under even more intensive crop production.
Contents
1.Foreword
2.Preface
3.Chapter 1 Introduction to Dryland Agriculture in China
(1) Difference between rainfed and dryland agriculture
(2) Dryland areas
(3) Importance of dryland agriculture
(4) Advantages of drylands for agricultural development
(5) Disadvantages of drylands for agricultural development
(6) History of dryland agriculture in China
(7) Achievements made in the past
4.Chapter 2 Types of Dryland Agriculture in China
(1) Introduction
(2) Dryland delineation systems in the world
(3) Dryland delineation (zonification) systems in China
(4) Dryland agriculture regionalization systems in China
(5) Brief outlines of major agricultural areas in China
(6) Agricultural systems in northwest dryland areas
5.Chapter 3 Main Characteristics of the Climates
(1) Introduction
(2) Formation of the dryland climate
(3) Characteristics of different drylands
(4) Distribution and amount of precipitation
(5) Evaporation temperature distributions
(6) Water deficits
6.Chapter 4 Topography, Landform and Geomorphologic Features of Dryland Areas in China
(1) Geomorphologic feature
(2) Geological backgrounds of landforms
(3) Terrains formed by water
(4) Terrains formed by winds
(5) Terrains formed inmountains
(6) Terrains of Plateaus
7.Chapter 5 Vegetation in Dryland Areas of China
(1) Introduction
(2) Relation of vegetation to environmental features
(3) Horizontal and vertical distribution of vegetation
(4) Vegetation in subhumid areas
(5) Vegetation in semiarid areas
(6) Vegetation in arid desert regons
(7) Plant species diversity in dryland areas
8.Chapter 6 Soils in Dryland Areas
(1) Oasis soil sequence
(2) Desert soil sequence
(3) Aeolian sandy soil sequence
(4) Chestnut soil, brown soil and sierozem sequences
(5) Loessial soil sequence
(6) Drab soil sequence
(7) Saline-alkali soil sequence
9.Chapter 7 Water Resources and Water-Saving Agriculture in Dryland Areas of China
(1) Introduction
(2) Water resources in China and in the dryland areas
(3) Water resources in different dryland areas
(4) Impact of water deficits
(5) Effective management of water resources
(6) Reallocation of water between different regions for increasing water supply
10.Chapter 8 Wind Erosion and Desertification
(1) Introduction
(2) Forms of wind erosion
(3) Serious wind erosion and its induced dust storms
(4) Wind-eroded landforms
(5) Desertification
(6) Types of desertification
(7) Control of wind erosion and desertification
11.Chapter 9 Water Erosion Control
(1) Introduction
(2) Formation, chronology and stratigraphy of the loess
(3) Seriousness of soil loss by water erosion
(4) Problems induced by water erosion
(5) Type of water erosion
(6) Factors affecting water erosion
(7) Water erosion control
12.Chapter 10 Nitrogen in Dryland Soils and Its Management
(1) Introduction
(2) Nitrogen cycle
(3) Contents and distribution of nitrogen in dryland soils
(4) The composition of soil nitrogen
(5) Mineralization of organic nitrogen
(6) The changes of inorganic nitrogen in soil
(7) Nitrate accumulation in plants
(8) Pollution of natural watercourse by nitrogen
(9) Application of nitrogenous fertilizer to the soil on the drylands
(10) Improvement of N use efficiency by genetic methods
13.Chapter 11 Management of Dryland Phosphorus and Sulfur
(1) Phosphorus
(2) Sulfur
14.Chapter 12 Management of Potassium, Iron and Micronut-rients and Trace Beneficial Elements in Dryland Soils
(1) Potassium
(2) Iron
(3) Micronutrients
(4) Beneficial trace elements
(5) Management of micronutrients in dryland areas
(6) Research needs
15.Chapter 13 Prescription for Fertilization in Dryland Regions of China
(1) Introduction
(2) Background of fertilization
(3) Different approaches for fertilizer recommendation
(4) Principal prescription fertilization methods and their developments in dryland areas
(5) Effect of prescription fertilization and problems existed
16.Chapter 14 The Interaction of Nutrient and Water on Dryland Crop Production
(1) Introduction
(2) Importance of water and nutrient interaction
(3) Effects of nutrient input on water use efficiency and crop yield
(4) Effects of soil water supply on nutrient utilization
(5) Interaction of water and nutrients on crop yields
(6) Summary
17.Chapter 15 Comprehensive Management of Nutrients of Drylands for Full Use of Water
(1) Importance of soil fertility on crop production
(2) Nutrient status of the dryland soils
(3) Ways for improvement of soil fertility
(4) Strategies and ways for raising soil fertility of the drylands
18.Chapter 16 Water Movement in Dryland Soil
(1) Introduction
(2) Basic characteristics of soil water
(3) Movement of water in soil
(4) Properties of soil water movement by evaporation
(5) Characteristics of water cycle on drylands
(6) Prediction of soil moisture
19.Chapter 17 Conservation and Efficient Use of Water by Conventional Farming Systems
(1) Introduction
(2) Principles and ways for efficient use of water
(3) Full storage of precipitation in soil
(4) Conservation of water by reducing evaporation
(5) Supplementary irrigation
20.Chapter 18 Moisture Conservation and Utilization by Mulching
(1) Introduction
(2) Moisture conservation by mulching cultivation
(3) Crop residue mulching with minimum-tillage or no-tillage
21.Chapter 19 Crop Resistance to Drought and Its Use in Practice of Dryland Agriculture
(1) Introduction
(2) Influence of drought on crop yield and biological functions
(3) Type of crop resistance to drought
(4) Morphological properties of drought-resistant crops
(5) Effects of drought stress on physiological and biochemical processes in crop plants
(6) The physiology and biochemistry of drought resistance in crop plants
(7) Methods for identification of crops’ resistance to droughts and indices of crop drought resistance
(8) Conclusion
22.Chapter 20 Planting and Sowing Systems in Dryland Areas
(1) Introduction
(2) Choices of suitable Crops
(3) Development of new cultivars
(4) Planting systems
(5) Sowing crops by suitable methods
23.Chapter 21 Pest Control
(1) Weeds and their control
(2) Controls of insects and mite
(3) Diseases of major crops
24.Chapter 22 Strategies for Development of Dryland Agriculture
(1) Social and economic issues
(2) Major natural constrains
(3) Management of different drylands
(4) Full uses of modern science and technology
(5) Government reacting policy
(6) Extension service for rural society
25.References
26.Appendix 1 Some geographical names(spellings) used in the literature and at present (standardized)
27.Appendix 2 Agricultural Regions in China
28.Index
