Volume 52 features a number of advances in the crop and soil sciences. These include a comprehensive review of agricultural and environmental issues associated with poultry manure management; aspects of rainwater utilization efficiency in rainfed lowland rice; a discussion of wetland functions as reflected in hydric soils and hydric soil development of the prairie potholes of central North America; advances in soil quantity-intensity (Q/I) relationships; an index used to assess nutrient availability in soils; and morphological and physiological traits associated with wheat yield increases in Mediterranean environments. Poultry waste managementRainwater utilization efficiency in rainfed lowland riceWetland soils of the prairie potholesSoil potassium quantity-intensity relationshipsMorphological and physiological traits associated with wheat yield increases in Mediterranean environments