New publications

Potassium: Mineralogy and Status in Soils, and Crop Response in Punjab, India. 69p., 2008, ISBN 978-3-9523243-9-4, DOI 10.3235/978-3-9523243-9-4. By M.S. Brar, S.S. Mukhopadhyay, N.S. Dhillon, P. Sharma and A. Singh, Department of Soils, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, India.

This bulletin aims to demonstrate the importance of potassium in soil-plant systems. It focuses on the relations between soil and mineral K, its various forms in soil and its unchecked depletion from farmlands. The situation in the state of Punjab, India, exemplifies the grave situation of soil nutrient depletion, especially potassium.

Between 1960-2005, production of food grains has increased more than eight-fold in the state, while production of cotton has tripled. Each increment in production has resulted in a steep rise in soil nutrient depletion. This is reflected in the fact that potassium levels in soils have not been replenished. The bulletin also challenges the myth that potassium is rarely a limiting nutrient in the soils of Punjab. A few experiments that demonstrate that potassium is in fact limiting in soils, must be viewed in the context of the large-scale potassium exhaustion in Punjab over the last 50 years, caused by irrigation and intensive cultivation, with little potassium credit to the soils.

Potassium: Mineralogy and Status in Soils, and Response in Punjab, India is available for download from the IPI website

To order a hard copy, please contact Dr. M.S. Brar, Senior Soil Chemist, PAU.

Plant nutrition and its prospects. Proceedings of the International Conference, Brno, 5-6 September 2007 (in Czech and English abstracts). 425p., 2008, ISBN 978-80-7375-068-8. Edited by Dr. Petr Škarpa, Mendel University of Agriculture and Forestry, Brno, Faculty of Agronomy, Department of Agrochemistry, Soil Science, Microbiology and Plant Nutrition. IPI Coordination Central Europe provided financial support to this symposium.

For copies contact Dr. Petr Škarpa, Department of Agrochemistry, Soil Science, Microbiology and Plant Nutrition Mendel University of Agriculture and Forestry, Brno, Zemĕdĕlská 1, 613 00 Brno, Czech Republic. Tel: +420 545 133 345;
Fax: +420 545 133 096; or
e-mail: xskarpa@node.mendelu.cz

Translated to Hindi: "Rice: A Practical Guide to Nutrient Management". 170p., 2008, ISBN: 978-3-9523243-3-2; DOI: 10.3235/978-3-9523243-3-2.
T.H. Fairhurst, C. Witt, R.J. Buresh, and A. Dobermann (eds)., translated to Hindi by B. Mishra, G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology (G.B. PUAT), Pantnagar, India.

The first edition of Rice: A Practical Guide to Nutrient Management (ISBN 978-981-05-7949-4) was published in 2002, reprinted in 2003 and in 2005. A second edition was published in 2007.

To make the second edition (English version) of the guide as widely accessible as possible, the publishers are selling the guide through their websites and bookstores. They have also made the guide available in electronic format (pdf) at the websites of IRRI and the Southeast Asia Program of IPNI using a Creative Commons "attribution-noncommercial-share alike" license.

For the same reasons, the Hindi version will soon be available on the websites of IPI, IRRI and IPNI.

To order a copy of the newly published Hindi version, please email to ipi@ipipotash.org.

Importance of Potash in Crop Production. 12p., 2008. By IPI and the Regional Research Station (RRS), CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Bawal-123501, Haryana.

This 12 page booklet describes the functions and benefits of potash application in Haryana predominantly to wheat, mustard, cluster bean and pearl millet. The booklet is in Hindi, and is distributed to farmers in the region by the regional research station. Download the booklet or order a hard copy on the IPI website.

Turkish Journal of Agriculture and Forestry, Volume 32, Issue 3, (2008). ISSN: 1300-011X.http://mistug.tubitak.gov.tr/

This special issue contain papers presented at the IFA Agriculture Conference on "Optimizing of Resource Use Efficiency for Sustainable Intensification of Agriculture", held in Kunming, China, from 27 February to 2 March, 2006.