ABSTRACT
Agroecological approaches to agricultural production may facilitate the conversion of highinput agricultural systems to more sustainable systems for addressing world food needs while maintaining environmental sustainability. The earliest farmers practiced sustainable agriculture/land management as resource limitations of one form or another affected their ability to produce food during that period. Shifting cultivation was the main agricultural practice, which restored the productivity of soil. The bush fallow system and organic farming later replaced this system, which continued till the arrival of the concept of the green revolution. Thus, agricultural heritage based on the mining of bionutrients for crop feeding was replaced by chemical fertilization to achieve high yield and profitability in the modern agriculture or post-green revolution era. However, due to the unintended introduction of degrading processes, such as the extensive use of agrochemicals and irrigation-mediated salinization, the intrinsic capacity of natural resources (soil) has become
CONTENTS
4.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 81 4.1.1 Agromicrobial Diversity ............................................................................................. 83
4.1.1.1 Culture-Based Methods ...............................................................................84 4.1.1.2 Culture-Independent Methods .....................................................................85 4.1.1.3 Communication in Agroecosystems ............................................................88
