ABSTRACT
Fertilization of soil has a very long history in China. The earliest inscriptions about manuring the fields were found on bones and tortoise shells of the Shang Dynasty (16th-llth century BC). As a result, China has many folk sayings, such as: ‘The essence of farming lies in manure’ and ‘Water determines whether or not we have a harvest, and fertilizer determines whether the harvest is big or small’. The Nobel laureate N.E. Borlaug (1994) noted that ‘today China has become the world’s largest cereal producer. Her spectacular agricultural progress is due to various factors. Certainly, the development of high-yielding varieties and improved irrigation systems have played major roles. But perhaps even more important has been the efforts to improve and maintain soil fertility’.
