1. Soil health in India: Past History and Future Perspective -- 2. Organic farming in relation to soil health -- 3. Plant Growth Promoting Rhizobacteria: A Booster for Ameliorating Soil Health and Agriculture Production -- 4. Vemicompost and Soil Health -- 5. Impact of Agricultural Practice on Soil Health -- 6. Contribution of Biochar in Improving Soil Health -- 7. Soil Health and Foliar Fertilisers -- 8. Wild Plants from Coastal Habitats as a Potential Resource for Soil Remediation -- 9. Abiotic and Biotic Factors Influencing Soil Health and/or Soil Degradation -- 10. Seaweeds: Soil Health Boosters for Sustainable Agriculture -- 11. Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi - The Potential Soil Health Indicators -- 12. Significance and Management of Green Manures -- 13. Green Manuring and Its Role in Soil Health Management -- 14. Mighty microbes: Plant growth promoting microbes in soil health and sustainable agriculture -- 15. Fertilizers and Pesticides: Their Impact on Soil Health and Environment -- 16. Portraying Microbial Beneficence for Ameliorating Soil Health and Plant Growth -- 17. Role of Soil Organisms in Maintaining Soil Health, Ecosystem Functioning and Sustaining Agricultural Production -- 18. Bacterial Inoculants: How These Microbes Can Sustain Soil Health and Crop Productivity? -- 19. Role of Rhizomicrobiome in Maintaining Soil Fertility and Crop Production. .

This book gathers the latest insights into soil health and its sustainability, providing an up-to-date overview of the various aspects of soil quality and fertility management, e.g., plant-microbe interactions to maintain soil health; and the use of algal, fungal and bacterial fertilizers and earthworms for sustainable soil health and agricultural production. It first dicusses the past, present, and future scenarios of soil health, and then explores factors influencing soil health, as well as the consequences of degradation of soil health for sustainable agriculture. Lastly it highlights solutions to improve and maintain soil health so as to achieve greater productivity and sustainability without damaging the soil system or the environment. Soil health is defined as the capacity of a soil to function within ecosystem frontiers, to sustain biological productivity, to maintain environmental quality and to promote plant, animal and human health. Soil health is established through the interactions of physical, chemical and biological properties, e.g., soil texture, soil structure, and soil organisms. Healthy soil provides adequate levels of macro- and micronutrients to plants and contains sufficient populations of soil microorganisms. As a result of the increasingly intensified agriculture over the past few decades, soils are now showing symptoms of exhaustion and stagnating or declining crop yields. Exploring these developments as well as possible solutions based on holistic and sustainable approaches, this book is a valuable resource for researchers in the area of soil and environmental science, agronomy, agriculture, as well as students in the field of botany, ecology and microbiology.