This collection reviews current research on understanding nutrient cycles, the ways crops process nutrients, the environmental effects of fertilizer use and how this understanding can be used to improve nutrient use efficiency for a more resource-efficient and climate-smart agriculture. Parts 1-3 summarise research on the primary macronutrients: nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. Chapters review what we know about nutrient cycles, crop nutrient processing, potential environmental effects and ways of optimising nutrient use efficiency (NUE). The fourth section of the book discusses secondary macronutrients and micronutrients including: calcium, iron, zinc, boron, manganese and molybdenum as well as soil organic matter. The final part of the book reviews research on optimising fertiliser use. Chapters cover topics such as assessing nutrient availability and advances in integrated plant nutrient management. Other chapters discuss enhanced efficiency fertilisers, the use of bio-effectors/bio-stimulants, fertigation techniques, foliar fertilizers and the use of treated wastes in crop nutrition.

Part 1 Primary macronutrients: nitrogen1.Advances in understanding the nitrogen cycle in crop production: David Pilbeam, University of Leeds, UK;2.Advances in understanding uptake and utilization of nitrogen in wheat: Ajit S. Nehe and M. John Foulkes, University of Nottingham, UK;3.Advances in optimising nitrogen-use efficiency in crop production: J. F. Angus, CSIRO Agriculture and Food and Graham Centre - Charles Sturt University, Australia;Part 2 Primary macronutrients: phosphorus;4.Advances in understanding crop use of phosphorus: Timothy S. George and Philip J. White, The James Hutton Institute, UK;5.Advances in understanding the environmental effects of phosphorus fertilization: Andrew N. Sharpley, University of Arkansas, USA;6.Enhancing phosphorus-use efficiency in crop production: J. L. Havlin, North Carolina State University, USA; and A. J. Schlegel, Kansas State University, USA;Part 3 Primary macronutrients: potassium7.Advances in understanding the potassium cycle in crop production: Qifu Ma and Richard Bell, Murdoch University, Australia;8.Potassium in crop physiology: Philip J. White, The James Hutton Institute, UK;9.Advances in optimizing potassium-use efficiency in crop production: Kaushik Majumdar, African Plant Nutrition Institute and Mohammed VI Polytechnic University, Morocco; Meenu Rani, formerly ICAR-Indian Institute of Farming Systems Research, India; T. Scott Murrell, African Plant Nutrition Institute and Mohammed VI Polytechnic University, Morocco and Purdue University, USA; Sudarshan Dutta, African Plant Nutrition Institute and Mohammed VI Polytechnic University, Morocco; T. Satyanarayana, formerly International Plant Nutrition Institute, India; V. K. Singh, ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, India; Jagadish Timsina, University of Melbourne, Australia and CIMMYT, Bangladesh; and B. S. Dwivedi, ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, India;Part 4 Secondary macronutrients and micronutrients10.Secondary macronutrients: advances in understanding calcium cycling in soils, uptake/use by plants and ways of optimizing calcium-use efficiency in crop production: Milan Mesic, Zeljka Zgorelec, Aleksandra Percin, Igor Bogunovic and Darija Bilandzija, University of Zagreb, Croatia;11.The effect of soil organic matter on plant mineral nutrition: O. Urrutia, J. Erro, M. Fuentes, M. Olaetxea and M. Garnica, University of Navarra, Spain; R. Baigorri, TIMAC AGRO, UK; A. M. Zamarreño, M. Movila and D. De Hita, University of Navarra, Spain; and J. M. Garcia-Mina, University of Navarra, Spain and Centre Mondial De L'Innovation Roullier, France;12.Advances in understanding iron cycling in soils, uptake/use by plants and ways of optimising iron-use efficiency in crop production: Yashbir Singh Shivay and Sunil Mandi, ICAR - Indian Agricultural Research Institute, India;13.Current advances in zinc in soils and plants: implications for zinc efficiency and biofortification studies: Gokhan Hacisalihoglu, Florida A&M University, USA; and Matthew W. Blair, Tennessee State University, USA;14.Advances in understanding boron cycling in soils, uptake/use by plants and ways of optimizing boron use efficiency in crop production: Heiner E. Goldbach, University of Bonn, Germany;15.Micronutrients: advances in understanding manganese cycling in soils, acquisition by plants and ways of optimizing manganese efficiency in crops: Sidsel Birkelund Schmidt and Søren Husted, University of Copenhagen, Denmark;16.Micronutrients: advances in understanding molybdenum in crop production: Aruna Nandety and Ali M. Missaoui, University of Georgia-Athens, USA;Part 5 Optimising fertilizer use17.Advances in assessing nutrient availability in soils: Frederikke N. Mikkelsen, Maria M. Rieckmann and Kristian H. Laursen, University of Copenhagen, Denmark;18.Advances in integrated plant nutrient management: Bijay-Singh, Punjab Agricultural University, India; and Ali M. Ali, Desert Research Center, Egypt;19.Developments in the use of fertilizers: Bryan G. Hopkins, Brigham Young University, USA;20.Bio-effectors to optimize the mineral nutrition of crop plants: Markus Weinmann and Günter Neumann, University Hohenheim, Germany;21.Advances in fertigation techniques to optimize crop nutrition: Asher Bar-Tal, Uri Yermiyahu and Alon Ben-Gal, Agricultural Research Organization (ARO), Israel;22.Advances in foliar fertilizers to optimize crop nutrition: Victoria Fernández, Technical University of Madrid, Spain; and Héctor A. Bahamonde, Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA), Argentina;23.Optimizing the use of treated wastes in crop nutrition: Sylvia Kratz, Kerstin Panten, Ewald Schnug and Elke Bloem, Julius Kühn-Institute, Germany;