| CODE | AGR1700 | ||||||||||||||||
| TITLE | Soil Fertility and Nutrient Management | ||||||||||||||||
| UM LEVEL | 01 - Year 1 in Modular Undergraduate Course | ||||||||||||||||
| MQF LEVEL | 5 | ||||||||||||||||
| ECTS CREDITS | 6 | ||||||||||||||||
| DEPARTMENT | Rural Sciences and Food Systems | ||||||||||||||||
| DESCRIPTION | Objectives: An introduction the fundamentals of plant nutrition and the management of the soil's nutritional resources for a rational and sustainable crop production Contents: An examination of soil forming processes and an introduction to soil morphology. A brief description of Maltese soils. A brief survey of the complex soil biota; microbial community, soil fauna; plant root and its environment. An introduction to Soil Physics; soil particle size; soil texture, soil structure; soil moisture, pF, soil potential, Soil water movement, soil temperature, introduction to Soil Chemistry; inorganic and organic soil fractions; cation exchange, pH and solute concentration. A general introduction to plant nutrition, nutrient availability and uptake; the general study of major plant nutrients, nitrogen, sulphur, phosphorus, potassium, calcium and magnesium. The importance of minor elements in plant nutrition: iron, manganese, zinc, copper, molybdenum and boron. Non-essential plant nutrients and toxic elements. Composition of fertilisers in common use; application of fertilisers and crop responses; fertiliser requirements of various plants. Fertiliser experiments: scope, design and application. Plant water requirements; water stress and its effect on resistance to disease; irrigation requirements. Reading List: - Epstein and Bloom, Mineral Nutrition of Plants: Principles and Perspectives; Mengel et al, Principles of Plant Nutrition |
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| STUDY-UNIT TYPE | Lecture | ||||||||||||||||
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The availability of optional units may be subject to timetabling constraints. Units not attracting a sufficient number of registrations may be withdrawn without notice. It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2023/4. It may be subject to change in subsequent years. |
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