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Understanding variability in crop response to fertilizer and amendments in sub-Saharan Africa

Improved understanding of soil fertility factors limiting crop productivity is important to develop appropriate soil and nutrient management recommendations in sub-Saharan Africa. Diagnostic trials were implemented in Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Nigeria and Tanzania, as part of the African Soils Informatio...

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Autores principales: Kihara, Job, Nziguheba, Generose, Zingore, Shamie, Coulibaly, Adama, Esilaba, Anthony, Kabambe, Vernon, Njoroge, Samuel, Palm, Cheryl, Huising, Jeroen
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Elsevier 2016
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4913530/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27489394
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2016.05.012
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author Kihara, Job
Nziguheba, Generose
Zingore, Shamie
Coulibaly, Adama
Esilaba, Anthony
Kabambe, Vernon
Njoroge, Samuel
Palm, Cheryl
Huising, Jeroen
author_facet Kihara, Job
Nziguheba, Generose
Zingore, Shamie
Coulibaly, Adama
Esilaba, Anthony
Kabambe, Vernon
Njoroge, Samuel
Palm, Cheryl
Huising, Jeroen
author_sort Kihara, Job
collection PubMed
description Improved understanding of soil fertility factors limiting crop productivity is important to develop appropriate soil and nutrient management recommendations in sub-Saharan Africa. Diagnostic trials were implemented in Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Nigeria and Tanzania, as part of the African Soils Information Service (AfSIS) project, to identify soil fertility constraints to crop production across various cropping systems and soil fertility conditions. In each country, one to three sites of 10 km × 10 km were included with each site having 12–31 field trials. The treatments tested included a control, an NPK treatment, three treatments in which the N, P and K nutrients were omitted one at a time from the NPK treatment, and three treatments in which secondary and micronutrients (Ca, Mg, S, Zn and B) simply referred here as multi-nutrients, manure and lime were added to the NPK. The field trials were conducted for 1–2 seasons; the test crop was maize except in Mali where sorghum was used. Nitrogen was limiting in all sites and generally the most limiting nutrient except in Sidindi (Kenya) and Kontela (Mali) where P was the most limiting. The general pattern in Kiberashi (Tanzania) shows none of the nutrients were limiting. K is mainly limiting in only one site (Mbinga) although incidences of K limitation were seen in almost all sites. Addition of multi-nutrients and manure further improved the yields of NPK in most sites. Cluster analyses revealed that maize crop in 11% of fields were highly responsive to nitrogen application, 25% (i.e., 21% poor and 4% fertile) ‘non-responsive’ to any nutrient or soil amendment, 28% being ‘low responsive’ and 36% of ‘intermediate response’. This study indicates that constraints to crop production vary considerably even within a site, and that addressing limitations in secondary and micronutrients, and increasing soil carbon can improve response to fertilizers. For sustainable crop production intensification in smallholder farming systems in SSA, there is need to develop management strategies to improve efficiency of fertilizer use and of other inputs, recognizing the site-specific nutrient response patterns at various spatial scales.
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spelling pubmed-49135302016-08-01 Understanding variability in crop response to fertilizer and amendments in sub-Saharan Africa Kihara, Job Nziguheba, Generose Zingore, Shamie Coulibaly, Adama Esilaba, Anthony Kabambe, Vernon Njoroge, Samuel Palm, Cheryl Huising, Jeroen Agric Ecosyst Environ Article Improved understanding of soil fertility factors limiting crop productivity is important to develop appropriate soil and nutrient management recommendations in sub-Saharan Africa. Diagnostic trials were implemented in Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Nigeria and Tanzania, as part of the African Soils Information Service (AfSIS) project, to identify soil fertility constraints to crop production across various cropping systems and soil fertility conditions. In each country, one to three sites of 10 km × 10 km were included with each site having 12–31 field trials. The treatments tested included a control, an NPK treatment, three treatments in which the N, P and K nutrients were omitted one at a time from the NPK treatment, and three treatments in which secondary and micronutrients (Ca, Mg, S, Zn and B) simply referred here as multi-nutrients, manure and lime were added to the NPK. The field trials were conducted for 1–2 seasons; the test crop was maize except in Mali where sorghum was used. Nitrogen was limiting in all sites and generally the most limiting nutrient except in Sidindi (Kenya) and Kontela (Mali) where P was the most limiting. The general pattern in Kiberashi (Tanzania) shows none of the nutrients were limiting. K is mainly limiting in only one site (Mbinga) although incidences of K limitation were seen in almost all sites. Addition of multi-nutrients and manure further improved the yields of NPK in most sites. Cluster analyses revealed that maize crop in 11% of fields were highly responsive to nitrogen application, 25% (i.e., 21% poor and 4% fertile) ‘non-responsive’ to any nutrient or soil amendment, 28% being ‘low responsive’ and 36% of ‘intermediate response’. This study indicates that constraints to crop production vary considerably even within a site, and that addressing limitations in secondary and micronutrients, and increasing soil carbon can improve response to fertilizers. For sustainable crop production intensification in smallholder farming systems in SSA, there is need to develop management strategies to improve efficiency of fertilizer use and of other inputs, recognizing the site-specific nutrient response patterns at various spatial scales. Elsevier 2016-08-01 /pmc/articles/PMC4913530/ /pubmed/27489394 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2016.05.012 Text en © 2016 The Authors http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Kihara, Job
Nziguheba, Generose
Zingore, Shamie
Coulibaly, Adama
Esilaba, Anthony
Kabambe, Vernon
Njoroge, Samuel
Palm, Cheryl
Huising, Jeroen
Understanding variability in crop response to fertilizer and amendments in sub-Saharan Africa
title Understanding variability in crop response to fertilizer and amendments in sub-Saharan Africa
title_full Understanding variability in crop response to fertilizer and amendments in sub-Saharan Africa
title_fullStr Understanding variability in crop response to fertilizer and amendments in sub-Saharan Africa
title_full_unstemmed Understanding variability in crop response to fertilizer and amendments in sub-Saharan Africa
title_short Understanding variability in crop response to fertilizer and amendments in sub-Saharan Africa
title_sort understanding variability in crop response to fertilizer and amendments in sub-saharan africa
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4913530/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27489394
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2016.05.012
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