Books in the ASA, CSSA, and SSSA Books series

Fescue toxicosis continues to be one of the most devastating problems in forage-livestock agriculture. Because there is presently no cure, using the most up-to-date management and prevention approaches are crucial. The 2nd edition of this important guide presents an easy-to-understand description of this complex problem, along with recommendations that are practical for real farm use.

The new graduate student must select a graduate committee, plan course work, find an original research topic, and design a research plan that ultimately leads to a defensible thesis or series of publishable research articles. Whether a graduate student plans a research career or not, he or she typically must complete an original, independent, analytical study, even though few beginning students know how or where to begin. A little help would be good, right? This process-oriented manual holds the fundamentals students in the sciences need to trek the graduate school path--it is their "backpack." Open it and see what it can do for you.

In Soil Fertility Management in Agroecosystems, Editors Amitava Chatterjee and David Clay provide a thoughtful survey of important concepts in soil fertility management. For the requirements of our future workforce, it is imperative that we evolve our understanding of soil fertility. Agronomists and soil scientists are increasingly challenged by extreme climatic conditions. Farmers are experimenting with integrating cover crops into rotations and reducing the use of chemical fertilizers. In other words, there is no such a thing as a simple fertilizer recommendation in today's agriculture. Topics covered include crop-specific nutrient management, program assessment, crop models for decision making, optimization of fertilizer use, cover crops, reducing nitrous oxide emissions, natural abundance techniques, tile-drained conditions, and soil biological fertility.

Hemp as a Modern U.S. Commodity Crop provides an overview of industrial hemp as an agronomic crop in western cropping systems. Emphasis is given to the long history of hemp, mostly in the United States, and to current production issues pertinent in the US as well as Europe and Canada. There are many questions still to be answered - starting with those to be addressed by the most basic classical plant breeding techniques and continuing to the most modern analytical techniques of plant tissues and genetics.

"Co-sponsored by the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture."

Our book addresses the needs of practitioners, engineers, scientists, regulators, resource managers, planners, and others with a need to know about septic systems. It arose after discussions about the need for a text that integrated current understanding of the hydrologic, physical, chemical, and biological processes involved in the treatment of wastewater using soil. In our experience, people working with septic systems - ourselves included - have a fragmented understanding of what these systems are, how they function, how wastewater moves through soil, how and which pollutants are removed, and how these systems impact the environment and public health. The relevant information is scattered across disciplines, information sources and audiences. This book is an attempt to collect and integrate this information in one place, and provide a scientific framework for understanding soil-based wastewater treatment.

What is the urban-rural interface? Is it a visual phenomenon, a place where country gives way to neighborhoods and shopping areas in a startling way? Is it a simple factor of population density? There is nothing simple about the urban-rural interface--editors David Laband, Graeme Lockaby, and Wayne Zipperer present the broad spectrum of interdisciplinary complexities at play. Organized into three sections on changing ecosystems, changing human dimensions, and the dynamic integration of human and natural systems, this book is a must read for anyone who works in the real world, where natural and human systems are joined. This is the new sustainability science, an emerging discipline that integrates social and economic values with the physical, chemical, and ecological functions of ecosystems. The goal is optimal management, since our human impact is often significant and far-reaching in both space and time.

Among crop nutrients, nitrogen has the most complex chemistry and behavior in soil, gives the largest yield responses, and is the most difficult to manage. Managing Nitrogen in Crop Production condenses the latest research and thinking from leading experts in nitrogen. The result will increase your understanding of nitrogen and your odds of managing it successfully.

Grass: the 1948 yearbook of agriculture: Washington, D.C., U.S. Dept of Agriculture, included on CD-ROM.

Generalized Linear Mixed Models in the Agricultural and Natural Resources Sciences provides readers with an understanding and appreciation for the design and analysis of mixed models for non-normally distributed data. It is the only publication of its kind directed specifically toward the agricultural and natural resources sciences audience. Readers will especially benefit from the numerous worked examples based on actual experimental data and the discussion of pitfalls associated with incorrect analyses.

Aflatoxin contamination represents a serious threat to a healthy food supply. Resulting from mold on corn, peanuts, and other grains and grain products, aflatoxins are extremely toxic. Understanding the nature of fungi infection and the factors that favor aflatoxin formation is important to grain producers, dealers, and other professionals who control grain from the field to the site of consumption to prevent serious loss of large quantities of grain or grain products. Producers of poultry, cattle, sheep, pigs, and even pet food need to be aware of the threat of aflatoxin. Participants in the grain industry who grow, store, or process corn and other grains subject to potential infection by aflatoxin should be aware of the risks of fungal infection and aflatoxin contamination, and proper management strategies. The authors focus on the binding of aflatoxin in animal feeds by employing calcium smectite. Readers will be especially glad to know that aflatoxin can often be controlled with a natural mineral material to bind aflatoxin in animal feeds at a modest cost.--