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Plant Nutrient Management in Rainfed Farming Systems

With Particular Reference to the Soils and Climate of the Mediterranean Region

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Rainfed Farming Systems

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Abstract

Global population growth and land-use pressure are placing increasing emphasis on expanding crop and animal output in rainfed agriculture. Rainfed areas of the world have some common features, but some unique biophysical and socio-cultural conditions. Rainfed agriculture in the Mediterranean region is characterised by cropping systems that have evolved from antiquity. The limited and seasonally variable rainfall exerts a major influence on the farming systems, which include production of cereals (wheat and barley) in harmony with livestock (sheep and goats). The region’s soils have been ‘nutrient mined’ for millennia and degraded through erosion; this poses constraints to output that are compounded by adverse socio-economic factors. The challenge to increase agricultural output centres on the adoption of technologies such as improved crop cultivars and enhanced crop nutrition. Chemical fertilisers are fundamental to producing more crop output from existing land in cultivation. The use of N and P, particularly has changed a once traditional low-input system to a high-input, relatively intensive one over the past 30 years. This chapter briefly examines the interactions of climatic and soil conditions in terms of how they impinge on crop nutrient use within a systems context, with emphasis on productivity and sustainability. Reference is made to the maintenance of chemical and physical fertility in rainfed cropping systems, balanced fertilisation, efficient use of nutrients in relation to crop rotations and soil moisture, exploitation of biological N fixation, implications of spatial and temporal variability, and factors conditioning change in the region’s rainfed agricultural sector.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    A test for micronutrients using DPTA (diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid).

  2. 2.

    See Glossary.

  3. 3.

    A strain of chickpea bred for trial purposes.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), 544, Aleppo, Syria

    John Ryan

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  1. John Ryan
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Correspondence to John Ryan .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Gawler, South Australia, Australia

    Philip Tow

  2. Alexander Avenue, Bibaringa, 5118, South Australia, Australia

    Ian Cooper

  3. Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia

    Ian Partridge

  4. Tasmanian Institute of Agricultural Rese, Leader, Vegetable Centre, Burnie, 7320, Tasmania, Australia

    Colin Birch

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Ryan, J. (2011). Plant Nutrient Management in Rainfed Farming Systems. In: Tow, P., Cooper, I., Partridge, I., Birch, C. (eds) Rainfed Farming Systems. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-9132-2_5

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