Crop Ecology: Productivity and Management in Agricultural Systems

excellent book

An excellent review of conventional agroecosystems and crop ecophysiology, clearly written and appropriate for an upper level undergraduate class. That said, the authors’ clear bias for conventional over alternative systems can be grating. The “BS” to which an earlier reviewer refers? That’s called science! This isn’t a practical gardening or farming book, though the information has practical applications.

This isn't "Agriculture for Dummies", but is the text really "all equations" as another reviewer claimed? I sampled every 50 pages in the first printing.p. 50: Text, plus graphs showing how crop growth rate increases with light interception by leaves. I have found it really useful to look down on a crop from above. If I can see a lot of soil, than lots of sunlight is being wasted, evaporating water from the soil rather than driving photosynthesis and growth.p. 100: Text plus a graph showing daylength as a function of date and latitude. Very useful for crops whose flowering depends on daylength. The caption mentions that the equations used are available on another page.p. 150: Text on climate and weather, including principles of frost protection. No graphs or equations.p. 200: Finally an equation. This one tells how fast soil organic matter breaks down. This seems worthwhile, especially if you're adding crop residues or manure to soil, and it's not very complicated.p. 250: Text plus a graph showing crop water use as a function of leaf area. Very useful, especially if you irrigate. Even if you don't it's helpful in deciding how densely to plant your crop and in figuring out whether a rainfed crop is likely to run out of water.p. 300: Text plus a table giving the composition of various crops (% protein, etc.) and explaining how crop composition affects growth rate from a given amount of photosynthate. Essential information for plant breeders, or anyone who wants to understand why higher-protein crops tend to have lower yields.OK, you get the idea.

This book was of little value to me. I thought it would be more useful and practical. Instead its all equations and mathmatical formulas. Its not understandable at all. Guess I'd need a couple doctorate degrees to get anything out of it.

The book comprises basic and applied knowledge in a structured way such that crop phsyiologists as well as agronomists can gain more comprehensive knowledge about crop production.

Nice book! Loved it :)

Edición más reciente del clásico de Loomis y Conor. Esencial para estudiantes de agronomía