Table Of ContentTeogenes Senna de Oliveira
Richard Willian Bell Editors
Subsoil
Constraints
for Crop
Production
Subsoil Constraints for Crop Production
Teogenes Senna de Oliveira
Richard Willian Bell
Editors
Subsoil Constraints for Crop
Production
Editors
Teogenes Senna de Oliveira Richard Willian Bell
Soils Department Centre for Sustainable Farming Systems,
Federal University of Viçosa Food Futures Institute
Viçosa, Minas Gerais, Brazil Murdoch University
Murdoch, WA, Australia
ISBN 978-3-031-00314-1 ISBN 978-3-031-00317-2 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-00317-2
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Preface
The productivity of crops is strongly influenced by properties of the subsoil, but
surprisingly little attention is paid in agronomy, crop science and soil science to the
identification, alleviation, and management of subsoil constraints. The last book on
the subject was published 27 years ago by Jayawardene and Stewart (1994).
However, a recent survey of high-impact soils journals reveals that in the last three
decades 73 % of 1,146 published papers did not even mention soil depth, and of
those that did, the average depth of soil investigation was only 27 cm (Yost and
Hartemink 2020). Hence, the present literature continues to be dominated by studies
of topsoil and a neglect of the subsoil. The present volume is intended to increase
the focus of soil and crop research on subsoil constraints. It is intended to inform
agronomists and crop scientists of the advances in knowledge about subsoil proper-
ties and their management and inspire a new generation of researchers to focus on
the subsoil and the alleviation of the subsoil constraints to crop production.
The study of subsoil constraints for crop production depends on a deeper under-
standing of root systems, and their exploration of the soil profile including the sub-
soil. The other component of subsoil constraints derives from a knowledge of the
subsoil properties themselves. In the present volume, chapters examined acidity,
salinity and other salt-related constraints, nutrients, soil physical constraints, sandy
and gravel subsoils, and soil biological constraints.
Subsoil constraints are particularly relevant in rainfed agriculture where deep
roots are critical for accessing plant-available stored water and nutrients. Indeed, up
to 75% of N, 85% of P and 70% of K may be acquired from the subsoil if root
growth is not constrained. Subsoil constraints result in water and nutrients resources
not being utilised, or being under-utilised, by plants during the growing season.
Alleviation of subsoil constraints represents a promising untapped opportunity to
increase crop productivity, and in doing so, to enhance food security.
One of the limitations to improved alleviation and management of subsoil con-
straints is the limited delineation of where such constraints occur. In specific areas,
subsoil constraints have been mapped, and there are technologies being developed
to alleviate these constraints, for example, in southern Australia. In most parts of the
world, such information is lacking. Hence, researchers and policymakers are not in
v
vi Preface
a position to articulate the potential impact of research on subsoil constraints or to
identify the best places to undertake research and technology development.
The present volume arose from a short course that was run at the Federal
University of Vicosa, Minas Gerais, Brazil, in 2016. The short course was the inspi-
ration of Professor Bob Gilkes, who conducted pioneering research on a range of
subsoil constraints in agricultural and post-mining land in south-west Australia,
Brazil, and Thailand over many decades. Recognising similarities between the
deeply weathered regoliths in southern Australia and in south-east Brazil, he pro-
posed the short course to increase awareness of, and increase research on, subsoil
constraints. Following the short course, it was agreed that a book on the subject was
needed, and the present editors agreed to undertake that task after Springer agreed
to publish this volume.
In both Australia and Brazil, the development of vast areas of land for agriculture
has depended on soil science to identify subsoil constraints and develop technolo-
gies to alleviate these constraints. Hence, we decided that the book chapters would
be written as collaborations between Brazilian and Australian authors, and we have
been able to accomplish that with most of the chapters. However, the subject of
subsoil constraints has a much greater global relevance. Large areas of deeply
weathered regolith occur across tropical regions in Latin America, Asia and Africa
and also in many other parts of the world due to past climatic influences. These
areas are prospective regions for the identification of subsoil constraints and the
application of the technologies reviewed in the current volume. Our aim is to high-
light the opportunities for increased crop production by alleviating subsoil con-
straints and to inspire agronomists, crop scientists and soil scientists to develop
programmes of research on subsoil constraints across the globe.
Viçosa, MG, Brazil Teogenes Senna de Oliveira
Murdoch, WA, Australia Richard Willian Bell
Contents
1 Introduction to Subsoil Constraints for Crop Production . . . . . . . . . 1
Teogenes Senna de Oliveira and Richard Willian Bell
2 The Geological, Geomorphological, Climatic, and Hydrological
Background of Tropical Regoliths and Hostile Subsoils:
The Brazilian Landmass. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Carlos Ernesto Gonçalves Reynaud Schaefer,
José João Lelis Leal de Souza, Fábio Soares de Oliveira,
Guilherme Resende Corrêa, and Elpídio Inácio Fernandes Filho
3 Soil Acidity and Acidification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Clayton Robert Butterly, Telmo Jorge Carneiro Amado,
and Caixian Tang
4 Salinity, Sodicity and Alkalinity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Pichu Rengasamy, Claudivan Feitosa de Lacerda,
and Hans Raj Gheyi
5 Pyritic Subsoils in Acid Sulfate Soils and Similar Problems
in Mined Areas with Sulfidic Rocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
José João Lelis Leal de Souza and Walter Antônio Pereira Abrahão
6 Physical Subsoil Constraints of Agricultural and Forestry Land . . . 125
Teogenes Senna de Oliveira and Raphael Bragança Alves Fernandes
7 Subsoil and Surface Soil Constraints of Mined Land and Tailings . . 161
Hwat Bing So, Ivo Ribeiro da Silva, Lucas Carvalho Gomes,
and Teogenes Senna de Oliveira
8 Sand and Gravel Subsoils . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
Craig A. Scanlan, Karen W. Holmes, and Richard Willian Bell
9 Soilborne Pathogens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
Andréa Bittencourt Moura, David Backhouse,
Ismail Teodoro de Souza Júnior, and Cesar Bauer Gomes
vii
viii Contents
10 Root Systems of Agricultural Crops and Their Response to Physical
and Chemical Subsoil Constraints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225
Mirian Cristina Gomes Costa and Ítalo Antônio Cotta Coutinho
11 Roots and Beneficial Interactions with Soil Microbes . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263
Bruno Coutinho Moreira, Paulo Prates Júnior, Bernard Dell,
and Maria Catarina Megumi Kasuya
12 Nutrient Acquisition with Particular Reference to Subsoil
Constraints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289
Qifu Ma, Richard Willian Bell, and Edson Marcio Mattiello
13 Water Acquisition by Roots From the Subsoil: Impact of Physical
Constraints on the Dynamics of Water Capture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323
Wendy H. Vance and Stephen P. Milroy
14 Deep Soil Carbon: Characteristics and Measurement with Particular
Bearing on Kaolinitic Profiles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 347
Podjanee Sangmanee, Bernard Dell, David Henry, and
Richard Harper
15 Live Subsoils: Tropical Regolith and Biota Interactions . . . . . . . . . . . 373
Carlos Ernesto Gonçalves Reynaud Schaefer
and Fábio Soares de Oliveira
16 Subsoil Constraints for Crop Production: Recent Advances,
New Technologies, and Priorities for Further Research . . . . . . . . . . . 397
Richard Willian Bell and Teogenes Senna de Oliveira
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 423
Contributors
Walter Antônio Pereira Abrahão Soils Department, Federal University of
Viçosa, Viçosa, MG, Brazil
Telmo Jorge Carneiro Amado Agronomy Faculty, Soil Science Department,
Santa Maria Federal University, Santa Maria, RS, Brazil
David Backhouse School of Environmental and Rural Science, University of New
England, Armidale, NSW, Australia
Richard Willian Bell Centre for Sustainable Farming Systems, Food Futures
Institute, Murdoch University, Murdoch, WA, Australia
Clayton Robert Butterly Faculty of Veterinary and Agricultural Sciences, School
of Agriculture and Food, University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC, Australia
Department of Animal, Plant and Soil Science, School of Life Sciences, La Trobe
University, Bundoora, VIC, Australia
Guilherme Resende Corrêa Geography Institute, Federal University of
Uberlândia, Uberlândia, MG, Brazil
Mirian Cristina Gomes Costa Soil Science Department, Federal University of
Ceará, Fortaleza, CE, Brazil
Ítalo Antônio Cotta Coutinho Biology Department, Federal University of Ceará,
Fortaleza, CE, Brazil
Ivo Ribeiro da Silva Soils Department, Federal University of Viçosa, Viçosa,
MG, Brazil
Claudivan Feitosa de Lacerda Agricultural Engineering Department, Federal
University of Ceará, Campus do Pici, Fortaleza, CE, Brazil
Bernard Dell Agriculture and Forest Sciences, Murdoch University, Murdoch,
WA, Australia
ix
x Contributors
Fábio Soares de Oliveira Geography Department, Federal University of Minas
Gerais, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil
Teogenes Senna de Oliveira Soils Department, Federal University of Viçosa,
Viçosa, MG, Brazil
Ismail Teodoro de Souza Júnior Plant Protection Department, Federal University
of Pelotas, Pelotas, RS, Brazil
José João Lelis Leal de Souza Soils Department, Federal University of Viçosa,
Viçosa, MG, Brazil
Raphael Bragança Alves Fernandes Soils Department, Federal University of
Viçosa, Viçosa, MG, Brazil
Elpídio Inácio Fernandes Filho Soils Department, Federal University of Viçosa,
Viçosa, MG, Brazil
Hans Raj Gheyi Recôncavo of Bahia Federal University, Cruz das Almas,
BA, Brazil
César Bauer Gomes Embrapa Temperate Agriculture, Brazilian Agricultural
Research Corporation, Pelotas, RS, Brazil
Lucas Carvalho Gomes Soils Department, Federal University of Viçosa, Viçosa,
MG, Brazil
Richard Harper Agriculture and Forest Sciences, Murdoch University, Murdoch,
WA, Australia
David Henry Murdoch University, Murdoch, WA, Australia
Karen W. Holmes Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development,
South Perth, WA, Australia
Paulo Prates Júnior Microbiology Department, Federal University of Viçosa,
Viçosa, MG, Brazil
Maria Catarina Megumi Kasuya Agriculture and Forest Sciences, Murdoch
University, Murdoch, WA, Australia
Qifu Ma Centre for Sustainable Farming Systems, Food Futures Institute, Murdoch
University, Murdoch, WA, Australia
Edson Marcio Mattiello Soils Department, Federal University of Viçosa, Viçosa,
MG, Brazil
Stephen P. Milroy Centre for Crop and Food Innovation, Food Futures Institute,
Murdoch University, Murdoch, WA, Australia
Bruno Coutinho Moreira Agricultural Engineering College, Federal University
of San Francisco Valley, Petrolina, PE, Brazil
