Use: What is needed to Support Sustainability?
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Authors
Increased demands for agricultural output per unit of land area must be met in a way that encourages improved efficiency and better stewardship of natural resources, including phosphate rock. Modern crops remove between 5 and 35 kg P/ha, with P removal exceeding 45 kg P/ha for high-yielding maize. In situations such as Sub-Saharan Africa, where soil fertility is low and P removal exceeds average inputs of 2 kg P/ha/year, the resulting nutrient depletion severely restricts yields (e.g., maize yields < 1,000 kg/ha/year) and accelerates soil degradation. In other regions, excessive P inputs produce economic inefficiencies and increase the risk of P loss, with negative environmental consequences. During the year of application, plants recover 15–25 % of the added P, with the remaining fraction converting to less soluble forms or residual P which becomes plant available over time. Improving P efficiency requires a balance between the imperatives to produce more food while minimizing P losses. Utilizing transdisciplinary approaches, a number of social, economic, and environmental goals can be simultaneously achieved if progress is made toward short- and long-term food security and global P sustainability. This chapter provides an overview of efforts to improve P use efficiency in agriculture ranging from promising germplasm, improved crop, and soil management scenarios, additives in animal diets to reduce P inputs and surplus P in the manure, and opportunities for P recycling in food and household waste. Challenges and opportunities associated with each option are discussed and transdisciplinary case studies outlined.
Original language | English |
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Title of host publication | Sustainable Phosphorus Management : A Global Transdisciplinary Roadmap |
Editors | R.W. Scholz, A.H. Roy, F.S. Brand, D.T. Hellums, A.E. Ulrich |
Number of pages | 40 |
Place of Publication | Dordrecht |
Publisher | Springer Netherlands |
Publication date | 01.01.2014 |
Edition | 1 |
Pages | 207-246 |
ISBN (print) | 978-94-007-7249-6, 978-94-024-0246-9 |
ISBN (electronic) | 978-94-007-7250-2 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 01.01.2014 |
- Transdisciplinary studies
- Sustainability Science - Phosphorus and the food chain, Integrated nutrient management, Phosphorus recovery, Phosphorus losses from use, Improving access to phosphorus