The world-wide shortage of plant production menacing the survival of many people demands for more and better research, particularly on how to increase food and where it is most needed. Major problems of international concern for the scientific community are the availability in soil media of macro and micro nutrients and the efficiency of nutrient uptake by plant roots, the interactions between nutrients and other factors, the distribution of nutrients in different plant species, biochemical functions of nutrient elements, and their contribution to plant growth, yield and product quality....

The Eighth International Colloquium for the Optimization of Plant Nutrition was held in Lisbon, Portugal, 1992, and was attended by 280 scientists from 34 countries. The meeting was of high scientific standard; the programme allowed the participants ample opportunity for discussions, and exchange of results and ideas. The present volume includes 103 refereed contributions that clearly reflect the main themes of the Colloquium. The published papers are related to the following problem areas: plant analytical procedures and associated concepts; diagnosis of nutrient status of plants in relation...