Contribution of nuclear science in agriculture sustainability

Abstract EN

Sustainable agricultural systems employ natural processes to achieve acceptable levels of productivity and food quality while minimizing adverse environmental impacts.

Sustainable agriculture must, by definition, be ecologically sound, economically viable, and socially responsible.

Sustainable agriculture must nurture healthy ecosystems and support the sustainable management of land, water and natural resources, while ensuring world food security.

To be sustainable, agriculture must meet the needs of present and future generations for its products and services, while ensuring profitability, environmental health and social and economic equity.

The global transition to sustainable food and agriculture will require major improvements in the efficiency of resource use, in environmental protection and in systems resilience.

In Mediterranean environments, crops are grown mainly in the semiarid and sub-humid areas.

In arid and semiarid areas dryland farming, techniques are of renewed interest in the view of sustainability.

They are aimed to increase water accumulation in the soil, reduce runoff and soil evaporation losses, choose species and varieties able to make better use of rainwater, and rationalize fertilization plans, sowing dates, and weed and pest control.

Fertilization plans should be based on well-defined principles of plant nutrition, soil chemistry, and chemistry of the fertilizer elements.

Starting from the calculation of nutrient crop uptake (based on the actually obtainable yield), dose calculation must be corrected by considering the relationship between the availability of the trace elements in soil and the main physical and chemical parameters of the soil (pH, organic matter content, mineralization rate, C/N, ratio of solubilization of phosphorus, active lime content, presence of antagonist ions, etc.).

In the Egyptian Atomic Energy Authority, Soil and Water Research Department, nuclear techniques including radio and stable isotopes in addition to radiation gave the scientific staff the chance to manage and plan suitable and accurate programs for achieving the sustainable concept of agricultural sector.

The recognition of profitable and proper management practices makes the integration between different agricultural issues easier and more effective.