bibliographic data sheet pn-aaj-867 priorities for alleviating soil-related constraints to food ...

476 Pages·2010·11 MB·English

BIBLIOGRAPHIC DATA SHEET PN-AAJ-867

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PRIORITIES FOR ALLEVIATING SOIL-RELATED CONSTRAINTS TO FOOD PRODUCTION

IN THE TROPICS
PERSONAL AUTHORS
CORPORATE AUTHORS IRRI
CORNELL UNIV., N.Y. COLLEGE OF AGR. AND LIFE
SCIENCES
1960. 471P.
ARC NUMBER -
CONTRACT NUMBER - UNKNOWN
PROJECT NUMBERS -
SUBJECT CLASS AF22OOOOGG50
VESCRIPTORS - SOIL MICROBIOLOGY SOIL PHYSICS
SOIL PROPERTIES SOILS
TROPICS AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION
AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH AGRICULTURE
NITROGEN FIXATION ACID SOIL
PHOSPHORUS SALINITY
SOIL EROSION
-;I FOR ALLVATN,.
INENAI AL C REEARC NT-uP AND
i A..~
X 44
PRIORITIES FOR ALLEVIATING

JOINTLY SPONSORED AND PUBLISHED BY THE

INTERNATIONAL RICE RESEARCH INSTITUTE

AND TIHE

NEW YORK STATE COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE AND LIFE

SCIENCES, CORNELL UNIVERSITY

INCOOPERATION WITH TIlE
UNIVERSITY CONSORTIUM OF SOILS FOR -1HE TROPICS
1980
INTERNATIONAL RICE RESEARCH INSTITUTE
LOS BAIROS, LAGUNA, PHILIPPINE S
P.O. BOX 933, MANILA, PHILIPPINES
Ifie International Rice Research Institute receives support
from a number of donors including the Ford Foundation,
The Rockefeller Foundation, the European Economic
Community, the United Nations Development Programme,
tie OPEC Special Fund, the Asian Development Bank,
the Intern.tional Development Research Centre, the
World Bank, and the international aid agencies of the
following governments: United States, Canada, Japan,
United Kingdom, Netherlands, Australia, Federal Republic
of Germany, New Zealand, Belgium, Denmark, and
Sweden.
The responsibility for this publication rests with the
International Rice Research Institute.
Contents

Foreword v
Welcome address 1
N. C. 3RADY
GENERAL SESSION
Toward an internationally coordinated program for research on soil factors
constraining food production in the tropics 5
L. D. SWINDALE
Soil-related constraints to agricultural development in tile tropics 23
R. DUDAL
Discussion summary 38
OCCURRENCE OF MAJOR SOILS CONSTRAINTS
Soil-related constraints, soil properties, and soil taxonomy: a terminology
for exchange of scientific information 41
W. M. JOHNSON
Major production systems related to soil properties in humid tropical
Africa 55
F. R. MOORMANN and D. J. GREENLAND
Major production systems and soil-related constraints in Southeast Asia 79
F. J. DENT
Soil constraints in relation to major farming systems in tropical America 107
P. A. SANCHEZ and T. T. COCHRANE
Production systems, soil-related constraints, and potentials in the semi­
arid tropics, with special reference to India 141
J. KAMPEN and J. BURFORD
Discussion summary 166
KNOWLEDGE GAPS FOR IMPORTANT SOIL-RELATED CONSTRAINTS
Soil acidity in well-drained soils of the tropics as a constraint to food
production 171
E. KAMPRATH
Acidity of wetland soils, including Histosols, as a constraint to food
production 189
N. VAN BREEMEN
Soil salinity as a constraint on food production in the humid tropics 203
F. N. PONNAMPERUMA and A. K. BANDYOPADHYA
Phosphorus deficiency in tropical soils as a constraint on agricultural
output 217
B. DABIN
Sulfur deficiency in soils in the tropics as a constraint to food
production 233
G. J. BLAIR, C. P. MAMARIL, and M. ISMUNAIi
Potassium deficiency in soils of the tropics as a constraint to food
production 253
G. KEMMLER
Micronutrients in soils of the tropics as constraints to food production 277
A. S. LOPES
Nitrogen as a constraint to nonlegumLe food crop production 299
D. R,.BOULI)IN, R. S. REID, and P. J. STANGEL
Constraints to biological nitrogen fixation in soils of the tropics 319
A. APP, 1. R. BOULDIN, P. J. DART, and I. WATANABE
Water stress as a constraint to crop production in tile tropics 339
T. C. IISIAO, J. C. O'TOOLE, and V. S. TOMAR
Mechanical impedance to land preparation as a constraint to food
production in the tropics (with special reference to fine sandy soils in
West Africa) 371
It. NICOU and C. CHARREAU
Mechanical impedance to root growth 389
II. NI. TAYLOR
Soil erosion as v.constraint to crop production 405
R. LAL
Constraints tc, soil fertility evaluation and extrapolation of research
results 425
S. W. BUOL and J. J. NICHOLAIDES III
Discussion summary 439
RESEARCH PRIORITIES
Discussion suminiary 451
RESEARCH COORDINATION AND INTERNATIONAL COLLABORATION

Discussion summary 461
Concluding renrks 463
Participants 466
Foreword

The green revolution has failed to fulfill expectations in most areas of the world.
Yields and production levels are only a fraction of those predioted when the
new high yielding cereal varieties were first released in the 1960s. There is a
growing recognition thlt envirnminenal factors are largely responsible for this
failure of' e,,crp varieties to live Up to cxpe2 tatiOjis.
Soil-related lb ctors are am ong the most sionificant environmental constraints
on crop productioi in the developing countries. Through practic;l experience
farmers have tavored areas with naturally highly productive soils and have
shunned those with the less productive soils. Ignorance of improved technology
and lack of inputs have constrained them from improving crop perforniance in
areas with poor soils.
Attempts to identify soil constraints and to develop or adopt technologies to
remove them are largely location specilic. But other tactors such as rese:ircl
melhodologiCes and the need fr communication and cooperation amonrg soil and
crop scientists from the difterent locations suggest the wisdom of a well-organized
international approach to the identification and removal of soil constraints.
To review knowledge of soil constraints in developing countries and to explore
ways scientists can use to ielp remnove these constraints, aim international symi­
posium was convened. Cosponsored by Cornell University and tle International
Rice Research Institute (tRRI). lie symposium was held at IRRI headquarters
in the Philippines. 4 -8 June 1979. It was also supported by univer-ities and
research agencies from both the developing and rore developed countries and
by the agricultural research centers funded I-y the Consultative Group on Inter­
national Agricultural Research. Direct finarc;ai support was provided by the
Federal Ministry for Econ omic Cooperation of the Federal Republic of Germany
and the U.S. Agency for Internat;onal Development.
The papers in this volume summarize what is knmown about major soil con­
straints on both geographic and subject matter bases. Also presented are ap­
proaclies that might be used to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of
research -.ii soils and their management. Special attention is given to international
cooperation and to mechanisms to encourage such cooperation.
Thanks are extended to the cochairmen of the Symposium Planning Coin­
mit tee. Armand Van Wambeke of Cornell and Hubert Zandstra of IRRI, and to
Matthew Drosdoff, Hubert Zandstra, and W. G. Rockwood who edited the
papers published in this volume. Likewise, appreciation is expressed to the
authors who prepared and presented these papers.
J. !. Metz N. C. Brady
Cornel. University The International Rice
Research Institute
'Welcome address

N. C. BRADY
IT IS WITH GREAT PLEASURE that I join the representatives cf the cosponsor of
this conference, Cornell University, in welcoming you to the International Rice
Research Institute and to this conference on the priorities fr alleviating soil­
related constraints to food production in the tropics.
A series of cooperative efforts has made this conference possible. The two
cosponsoring organizations, IRRI and Cornel! University, eacL are associated
with groups of comparable institutions concerned with soil constraints to crop
production. Scientists at Cornell have served as part of a consortium of U.S.
universities concerned with tropilal soils. The group includes North Carolina
State University and Prairie View University and the Universities of Hawaii and
of Puerto Rico. The latter two also pl.nned and are implementing a Benchmark
Soils Project in cooperation with scientists in Africa, Latin America, and Asia,
and with FAO and USDA.
IRRI, in turn, is associated with a number of similar international agricultural
rsuarch centers with special concern for soil constraints. Sponsored by the Con­
sultative Group on International Agricultural Research, these centers include the
International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) in
India, the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) in Nigera, the
International Centre for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) in
the Middle East, and Centro Internacional ,%; la Papa (CIP) in Peru. The centers
have sponsored or cosponsored soils conferences of international interest and
provide travel and living expenses for their staff who participate in these con­
ferences.
In addtion to these organizations, other institutions have a keen interest in
soil constraints to crop production. Many of you are from universities or research
centers in the developing countries where not only you and your colleagues but
national food production experts have a deep interest in soils. Those of you from
universities and research centcrs in Europe, Japan, Canada, and Australia have
demonstrated your keen interest in soil constraints, especially in the tropics.
Likewise, scientists in the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United
Nations (FAO), the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Office
de ]a Rechcrchc Scintij-e et Technique Outre-Mer (ORSTOM), and Institut
de Recherches Agronomiques Tropicales et des Cultures Vivdrres (IRAT) have
taken the leadership in identifying and removing soil constraints.
We are very pleased that two donors have very generously provided support
to partially cover the expenses of this conference. They are the USAID Devel-
Director general, International Rice Research Institute, P.O. Box 933, Manila, Philippines.
2 Soil-related constraints to food production in the tropics
opment Support Bureau and the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation of
the Federal Republic of Germany. We express appreciation for their inputs into
this conference.
In the international research effort to help people produce more food, the
first breakthrough has been tihe develop ment of new wheat, rice, and corn varie­
tics. Great expectations rose with the early findings - expectations based on
the concept that plants with good genetic potential would automatically greatly
increase the world's food production. We now know that this is not true. The
genetic potential of new varieties is necessary, but by itself does not automa­
tically guarantee additional food. We now recognize that the environment in
which plants grow and with which the farmer works determines whether the
genetic potential is to be realized. While we recognize the importance of the
sociopolitical environments that determine whether a farmer will adopt new
technology, our primary interest in this conference is with the physical environ­
ment and, specifically, with the soil environment.
Most scientists recognize the seriousness of soil-related constraints to crop
production. But there is no well-coordinated research program to systematically
delineate major soil constraints to crop production in developing countries, and
to find practical means o! removing these constraints. The major purpose of this
confereice is to take the first step toward planning and implementing such co­
ordinated research.
At the 1978 meetings of the International Soil Science Society held in Ed­
monton, Canada. a number of soil scientists met with Dr. A. Van Wambeke of
Cornell and Dr. H. G. Zandstra of IRRI to advise on the specific objectives of the
symposium and on ways to make it most effective. The general outline developed
by )rs. Van Wambeke and Zandstra was later circulated among those who had
contributed to the Edmonton discussions and provided the general focus for the
conference program that was finally developed.
Assembled here today are soil scientists from the developing and more devel­
oped countries. Some are scientists whose work is to characterize and classify
soils. Likewise, among us are scientists who ascertain soil performance and who
want to relate that performance to soil characterization and classification. We
hope we will have the wisdom to identify what should be done and how we can
best organize ourselves to get the job done.
To help us achieve our task, the organizers of this conference have given us
two major assignments. First, we are to summarize what we consider are the
major soil constraints in the different ecological regions of the world. And then
we are to develop mechanisms and approaches for further identifying these con­
straints, and technologies to remove them. After listening to a,series of papers
on these topics, we will have group discussions about thu constraints as they
occur in different ecological situations in the world. Then, we are to identify
who might best perform the research and how it could best be coordinated.
Specific attention must be given to the inputs from national research institutes
and universities in both the developing and more developed countries, and from
international organizations.
Those are our assignments. The week ahead is of tremendous importance. I
wish you success.
GENERAL

SESSION