By Agbim, N. N.
Over the years, the author has investigated the roles of a number of biological processes in improving soil fertility. The main objective of these studies has been the preservation of our rather fragile soil capital on a long-term basis. In relatively more recent times, this capital has been increasingly eroded as a result of exploitative cropping practices occassioned essentially by the pressure will meet the little constituents of a run-away
population' growth and population of farm land resource b i l ~ .
This paper highlights three areas of re-search : (1)
the utilization of organic matter in soil fertility maintenance and conservation, (2) wild legumes as untapped
resources for the future with particular reference to their
N2-fixing potential and the (3 ) the role of blue-green algea
(free-living or in symbiosis) in improving the nitrogen
economy of our puddy ecosystems.