scholarly journals Effects of ‘‘Guie’’ on Soil Organic Carbon and Other Soil Properties: A Traditional Soil Fertility Management Practice in the Central Highlands of Ethiopia

2013 ◽  
Vol 5 (7) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tadele Amare ◽  
Birru Yitaferu ◽  
Hans Hurni
2009 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 61-75 ◽  
Author(s):  
JAYNE MUGWE ◽  
DANIEL MUGENDI ◽  
MONICAH MUCHERU-MUNA ◽  
ROEL MERCKX ◽  
JONAS CHIANU ◽  
...  

SUMMARYDeclining soil fertility is a major cause of low per capita food production on smallholder farms of sub-Saharan Africa. This study attempted to provide an empirical explanation of the factors associated with farmers' decisions to adopt or not to adopt newly introduced integrated soil fertility management (ISFM) technologies consisting of combinations of organics and mineral fertilizer in Meru South district of the central highlands of Kenya. Out of 106 households interviewed, 46% were ‘adopters’ while 54% were ‘non-adopters’. A logistic regression model showed that the factors that significantly influenced adoption positively were farm management, ability to hire labour and months in a year households bought food for their families, while age of household head and number of mature cattle negatively influenced adoption. The implication of these results is that the adoption of ISFM practices could be enhanced through targeting of younger families where both spouses work on the farm full-time and food insecure households. It is also important to target farmers that lack access to other sources of soil fertility improvement. Examples include farmers that do not own cattle or those owning few and who, therefore, have limited access to animal manure.


Author(s):  
Sumit Mukati ◽  
Y. M. Kool ◽  
Deepak Thakur ◽  
Deepak Singune

Present field experiment was conducted at farmer’s field in Ringondiya village, Madhya Pradesh during rabi season 2018-19 to study the effect of integrated nutrient management practices on performance of chickpea, basic soil properties and nutrient availability. The performance of chickpea (cv. JG-322) was evaluated under seven treatments viz., T1-Control, T2-100% N:P:K (20:50:20), T3-50% N:P:K + FYM @5 t ha-1, T4-50% N:P:K + vermicomposting @2 t ha-1, T5-50% N:P:K + PSB @4 kg ha-1, T6-50% N:P:K + FYM @5 t ha-1 + PSB @4 kg ha-1 and T7-50% N:P:K + vermicomposting @2 t ha-1 +PSB @4 kg ha-1 replicated thrice in a randomized block design. The grain yield, straw yield and harvest index of chickpea were determined at harvest. Similarly, the soil pH, electrical conductivity, soil organic carbon and soil available nutrients (N, P and K) were also determined in post harvest soil samples. The results revealed that the integrated nutrient management practice significantly improved the performance of chickpea. The soil organic carbon and available nutrients were also found increased under INM practices.


2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gideon Danso-Abbeam ◽  
Gilbert Dagunga ◽  
Dennis Sedem Ehiakpor

Abstract Zai is a conventional soil rehabilitation management practice where organic matter is buried in a small pit to help restore fertility and conserve water in the soil. However, adoption of this environmentally-friendly technology is low. This study makes two key contributions. First, it identifies the determinants of adoption and intensity of adoption of Zai technology for soil fertility management. Second, it performs diagnostic tests to show that Cragg’s double-hurdle as compared to the Heckman and the standard Tobit regression models is the best econometric approach to identify factors influencing farmers’ decision to adopt and the extent of adoption of the Zai in the Upper East region, Ghana. Results from the Cragg’s double-hurdle model revealed that different set of variables affect the probability and the intensity of adoption of Zai technology. The paper concludes that farm households should be encouraged to engage in non-farm economic activities to complement their farm income and enhance the purchase of productive farm inputs. Moreover, farm-level policies oriented towards increasing access to agricultural extension services, credit facilities, and the facilitation of farmer groups are essential to improving the adoption of farm innovations such as the Zai technology.


Author(s):  
Nishant Thakur ◽  
Rakesh Sharma ◽  
Anil Kumar ◽  
Kunal Sood

Background: Overexploitation of productive lands creates serious problem of lowering the fertility status of soil and it leads to deterioration of soil. The deficiency of nutrients directly affects on the growth of crops and crop response become poor. Pea crop, like other plants, need different nutrients in varying quantities to achieve optimum growth and productivity. Soil fertility and its productivity are mainly affected by soil properties and nutrient status. Hence, it is necessary to assess the fertility status of soil with the consideration of available nutrients in soils and to recommend the specific nutrients for the proper management of soil. Methods: In this field-laboratory investigation during 2017-2019, about 135 geo-referenced soil samples were collected from 49 pea growing locations/ villages of Gohar and Sundernagar blocks of Mandi district. The collected (0-15 cm) soil samples were analyzed for different soil properties such as pH, electrical conductivity, soil organic carbon and available N, P, K, Ca, Mg, S, Fe, Mn, Cu and Zn content. Different thematic maps were prepared using Arc-GIS software version 10.2.1.Result: The investigations revealed that the soils were acidic to neutral in soil reaction and are in safe limits of electrical conductivity as the values were less than 0.8 dS m-1. Soil organic carbon status was found to be medium to high in surface layer. About 94.8 and 22.2% soil samples were recorded deficient in available N and Zn, whereas K, Cu and Zn were moderate in 53.3, 28.1 and 55.6% samples, respectively. On the basis of coefficient of variation, the soil pH and exchangeable Ca are least variable, whereas, available nutrients like N, Ca, Mg, Fe and Mn are moderately variable. However, electrical conductivity, OC, available P, K, S, Cu and Zn are highly variable in the samples under investigation. This information will also help to adopt effective strategy on fertilizer use and cropping pattern.


Author(s):  
B. P. Mondal ◽  
B. S. Sekhon ◽  
R. N. Sahoo ◽  
P. Paul

<p><strong>Abstract.</strong> Soil organic carbon (SOC) is a crucial indicator of soil fertility, maintaining soil health and sustaining the productivity of agro-ecosystem. Rapid, reliable and cost effective assessment of soil properties specially for SOC is important for monitoring soil fertility status along with soil health. Conventional chemical analysis of any soil property is hazardous, tedious and time consuming. So, the visible near infrared (VIS-NIR) reflectance spectroscopy can provide an effective alternative technique for rapid and ecofriendly measurement of soil properties. In view of this, a key soil fertility parameter SOC was examined through diffuse reflectance spectroscopy. Georeferenced surface soil samples (0&amp;ndash;15&amp;thinsp;cm) were collected from a rice-wheat field of the study area for both chemical and spectral analysis. A viable statistical technique namely partial least square regression (PLSR) technique were used to correlate the measured properties with soil reflectance spectra and for developing spectral model. The predictive performance of newly developed spectral model was evaluated through different reliable indices like root mean square of error of prediction (RMSEP), coefficient of determination (R<sup>2</sup>) and ratio of performance deviation (RPD). The result showed that the R<sup>2</sup> value for SOC is 0.44, RMSEP is 0.07 and the RPD value is 1.57 in the validation dataset. The RPD value indicating that SOC can be reliably predicted using the hyperspectral model or reflectance analysis. So, this hyperspectral modeling technique can be successfully employed for monitoring soil health as well as for sustainable agriculture.</p>


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