Book Description

Specifically, this book features detailed information about tomato production, water supply and cork production compiled in three different chapters. Beside these fundamental topics covered in this book, important insights concerning uses of biological processes i.e. bioremediation are also provided. In total, five chapters are grouped into three sections namely: agriculture, water supply and vegetation as it is reflected in the book title. The first chapter provides a comprehensive and accessible overview of the production of one of the most important horticultural crops in the country: tomato. Nowadays and worldwide, there is a trend towards alternative agriculture. To meet the growing demand, many viable options need to be explored, and one of these is the use of seaweed extracts. The second chapter is provided to show the significance of algae-bacterium combination in the restoration of plant growth under heavy metal stress. The last chapter, sealing the first section, focuses exclusively on general knowledge highlighting the significance and potential use in the near future of plant extracts as natural fertilizers and for the control of plant diseases. In the second section, the editors included a unique chapter dealing with water resources to address the lack of comprehensive and unified data. Indeed, this chapter is an ideal resource for study and reference on water input and output issues covering irrigation, groundwater, river basinsThe central message of the last section is quite relevant from an economic and social point of view, especially when the editors consider the contribution of forests and woodlands to national economy through production of cork, though neglected, is quite considerable. Editors collected data on this remarkable tree species taking into account some conservation and economic values to sound the alarm that, in near future, production of cork will not be viable anymore if there is no serious revision of existing policies. The book will be of interest to various audience targets: horticulture students, lecturers and local policymakers as well environmental and agricultural officials.