These papers include two lectures which address the role of Plant Nutrition in the sustainability of agro-ecosystems and the production of enough high quality food to feed the growing world population. Recent advances in Plant Nutrition are reviewed in the 11 papers presented in each of the Symposia devoted to: genetics and molecular biology of Plant Nutrition, nutrient functions, the role of the apoplast in mineral nutrition, plant quality and plant health, salinity and plant-soil-water relations, mineral element toxicity and resistance nutrient acquisition, soil organisms/plant interactions, fertiliser use in relation to optimum yield and environment, nutrient dynamics in natural and agro-ecosystems, and plant nutrition and sustainable development. Current knowledge and research emphasis in these areas of the subject is well illustrated and the reader is provided with a comprehensive view of the state of Plant Nutrition research.

Inhalt

1. Plant nutrition research: Priorities to meet human needs for food in sustainable ways.- 2. Access and excess problems in plant nutrition.- 3. Molecular mechanisms of potassium and sodium uptake in plants.- 4. A proposed role for copper ions in cell wall loosening.- 5. The functions of cell wall polysaccharides in composition and architecture revealed through mutations.- 6. The impact of mineral nutrients in food crops on global human health.- 7. Avenues for increasing salt tolerance of crops, and the role of physiologically based selection traits.- 8. Mechanisms of metal resistance in plants: aluminum and heavy metals.- 9. Use of modelling to understand nutrient acquisition by plants.- 10. Malate plays a central role in plant nutrition.- 11. Precision agriculture: a challenge for crop nutrition management.- 12. Plant nutrient management for enhanced productivity in intensive grain production systems of the United States and Asia.- 13. Nitrogen saturation in temperate forest ecosystems: current theory, remaining questions and recent advances.