Soil Fungi and Soil Fertility

Soil Fungi and Soil Fertility, Second Edition is an introduction to soil microbiology, incorporating significant advances in knowledge and understanding of the way micro-organisms live and function under laboratory and natural conditions. This book is comprised of nine chapters, discusses soil microbiology, and shows how the living ecosystem of the soil helps maintain soil fertility and crop production. This text begins with a description of the soil as a habitat, encompassing both its physical and chemical characteristics. The root systems, soil fauna, and soil micro-organisms or the Protist Kingdom all form the living inhabitants of the soil. The components of soil fungi from the organization and growth of its branching system called mycelium to the asexual reproduction and final dispersion are explained. This book also discusses genetic mechanisms in fungi and nuclear division that is a compensatory reduction in the number of chromosomes back to the haploid number that must occur. This text also presents a comparison of further studies of the fungal communities through microscopic and cultural methods, as well as other methods that would yield better soil fungi and soil fertility. Also considered are factors that affect the competitive saprophytic colonization of substrates by soil fungi, and then how these fungi exploit their colonized substrates for survival. This monograph then examines the root-infecting fungi through their ability to feed on living plant tissues and how a balanced host-parasite relationship actually benefits the fungi community.This book is suitable for soil mycologists, soil researchers, agriculturists, and university undergraduates interested in soil microbiology.