Soil Health Management for Plantation Crops: Recent Advances and New Paradigms

This edited volume elucidates state-of-the-art information and provides new paradigms of soil health-based pathways for sustaining plantation crops and diversified systems. The book covers soil characteristics, soil fertility constraints, issues of soil contamination, the impact of climate change on plantation soils, indicators of soil health and soil health assessment, fertility management for healthy soils, soil amendments, soil biodiversity, and biological functions and micro-biome as well as meta-genomic approach.

Plantation crops are perennials, cultivated in tropical and sub-tropical agroecosystems in a contiguous area, and comprise estate crops which include tea, coffee, and rubber and small holders’ plantation crops such as coconut, areca nut, oil palm, cashew, cocoa, and spices. These are high-value crops with considerable significance in livelihood security, commerce, and trade, and are grown in ecologically vulnerable regions such as coastal belts, hilly areas, andregions with high rainfall and high humidity, which makes maintenance of soil health a major challenge. Sustainable agricultural production depends on the health, quality, and functionality of the soil. The book includes technological options to achieve sustainable production encompassing soil health improvement through multi-strata, multi-species cropping systems, integrated farming systems, conservation agriculture practices, cover cropping and green manuring, crop residue recycling, bio-fertilizer and bio-stimulant technologies and organic farming systems.

This book is an essential resource for researchers, plantation professionals, educators, and policymakers. It provides valuable insights and practical solutions for addressing emerging issues in soil health management and is a must-read for students of agriculture, forestry, ecology, microbiology, soil science, and environmental sciences.

Dr George V Thomas is Formerly Director of ICAR- Central Plantation Crops Research Institute, Kasaragod, India. He has a research and research management career spanning 36 years in plantation crops and contributed significantly in soil microbiology, soil fertility, plant-microbe interactions, biomass recycling, organic farming and bio-formulations development for management of soil health and fertility leading to sustainable improvement in yields of these crops. His work towards creating wealth from waste biomass of coconut has fetched him the prestigious ICAR Outstanding Team Research Award, as team leader. He was chairman, International Coconut Genetic Resources Network; President, Indian Society for Plantation Crops, Editor, Journal of Plantation Crops and Fellow of four Professional Societies. Dr Thomas has to his credit over 200 research publications including research papers, reviews, technical bulletins and book chapters and edited 10 books. He also served as Emeritus Scientist and Director, Council for Food Research and Development, Kerala, India.

Dr.V. Krishnakumar isa former Principal Scientist (Agronomy) & Head, ICAR-CPCRI, Regional Station, Kayamkulam, Kerala. As an Agronomist, he has specialized in Soil Health Management and Crop Nutrition, Crop Pluralism and Cropping System Management, and Organic Farming in Plantation Crops. He has edited fourteen books and published more than 100 research and technical articles apart from contributing chapters in various books, technical bulletins, popular articles etc. As a member of the team, he has bagged the prestigious “Outstanding Interdisciplinary Team Research in Agriculture and Allied Sciences for the Biennium 2005-06” instituted by the ICAR. He has served as Editor of the Journal of Plantation Crops and is a Fellow of the Indian Society for Plantation Crops. He currently functions as a member of the Editorial Board of ‘Current Science’ being published by the Current Science Association, Bengaluru, India.