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Fertilizers and Environment: Issues and Challenges

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Crop Production and Global Environmental Issues

Abstract

About 50 % of the increase in agricultural produce during the twentieth century was achieved by application of inorganic fertilizers to crop plants. Fertilizer application is still an important farm input that is required to achieve challenging yield targets of the twenty-first century. However, fertilizer application is known to deteriorate the environment around us. Therefore, better fertilizer use efficiency (FUE) is suggested for economical yields and a safer environment. This chapter first introduces the concept of FUE for a safer environment and then, subsequent topics detail factors affecting FUE and known management practices to enhance FUE at agricultural farms. Future research challenges relating to FUE and the environment are identified. The chapter, as a whole, summarizes important literature for farmers, policy makers, and scientists.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Plant Biology, University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA, 6009, Australia

    Tariq Aziz

  2. Institute of Soil and Environmental Science, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, 38000, Pakistan

    Tariq Aziz, M. Aamer Maqsood, Shamsa Kanwal, H. R. Ahmad & M. Sabir

  3. Department of Soil Science, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan, 60800, Pakistan

    Shahid Hussain

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  1. Tariq Aziz
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  2. M. Aamer Maqsood
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    Khalid Rehman Hakeem

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Aziz, T., Maqsood, M.A., Kanwal, S., Hussain, S., Ahmad, H.R., Sabir, M. (2015). Fertilizers and Environment: Issues and Challenges. In: Hakeem, K. (eds) Crop Production and Global Environmental Issues. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-23162-4_21

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