This new edition of a bestseller examines plant nutrition's role as one of the most important limiting factors that must be overcome to optimize food production. Extensively revised and updated, the new edition provides comprehensive coverage of on topics such as genetic, physiological, and agronomic bases of crop growth. It covers soil-plant-climatic relationships that govern the growth and mineral nutrition of crops in temperate and tropical regions. The book contains two new chapters covering remediation of heavy metal contaminated soils and cover crops as well as several new figures, references, and tables-- Provided by publisher.