A meta-analysis of long-term effects of conservation agriculture on maize grain yield under rain-fed conditions

Conservation agriculture involves reduced tillage, permanent soil cover and crop rotations to enhance soil fertility and to supply food from a dwindling land resource. Recently, conservation agriculture has been promoted in Southern Africa, mainly for maize-based farming systems. However, maize yields under rain-fed conditions are often variable. There is therefore a need to identify factors that influence crop yield under conservation agriculture and rain-fed conditions. Here, we studied maize grain yield data from experiments lasting 5 years and more under rain-fed conditions. We assessed the effect of long-term tillage and residue retention on maize grain yield under contrasting soil textures, nitrogen input and climate. Yield variability was measured by stability analysis. Our results show an increase in maize yield over time with conservation agriculture practices that include rotation and high input use in low rainfall areas. But we observed no difference in system stability under those conditions. We observed a strong relationship between maize grain yield and annual rainfall. Our meta-analysis gave the following findings: (1) 92% of the data show that mulch cover in high rainfall areas leads to lower yields due to waterlogging; (2) 85% of data show that soil texture is important in the temporal development of conservation agriculture effects, improved yields are likely on well-drained soils; (3) 73% of the data show that conservation agriculture practices require high inputs especially N for improved yield; (4) 63% of data show that increased yields are obtained with rotation but calculations often do not include the variations in rainfall within and between seasons; (5) 56% of the data show that reduced tillage with no mulch cover leads to lower yields in semi-arid areas; and (6) when adequate fertiliser is available, rainfall is the most important determinant of yield in southern Africa. It is clear from our results that conservation agriculture needs to be targeted and adapted to specific biophysical conditions for improved impact

Planossolos e Gleissolos Utilizados na Fabricação de Cerâmica Artesanal no Semiárido de Minas Gerais

O conhecimento etnopedológico tem fornecido informações importantes sobre o modo de vida das populações rurais a respeito de suas tradições ancestrais, como a arte de elaborar peças artesanais a partir do barro advindo de solos com características próprias a esse uso. O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar física, química e mineralogicamente Planossolos e Gleissolos explorados para a produção de artefatos de cerâmica artesanal em Minas Gerais. Nos barreiros, foram coletados dois perfis de Planossolos (P1 e P2) e um Gleissolo (P3) usados como matéria-prima na produção artesanal de cerâmica. Foram realizadas análises físicas e químicas, limites de liquidez (LL) e plasticidade (LP), índice de plasticidade (IP) e de atividade coloidal (IA), além da mineralogia da fração argila. Os horizontes selecionados pelos ceramistas para a fabricação de cerâmica artesanal (BA, Btg e BCg, do P1; Btg1 e Btg2, do P2; e C2g e C3g, do P3) apresentaram os maiores teores de argila e silte, IP e IA, importantes para a qualidade final da cerâmica. O horizonte Cg do perfil P1 possui potencial de ser utilizado para a produção artesanal, em virtude do seu IP, superior aos dos horizontes normalmente usados, além dos teores de argila, silte e areia fina e suas características mineralógicas. A proporção ideal das frações areia, silte e argila e a porcentagem de matéria orgânica na definição de um bom material para cerâmica são difíceis de estabelecer e variam principalmente em razão de aspectos quantitativos e qualitativos da argila nos solos

Micronutrient needs of tropical food crops

The trace element requirements of tropical crops are reviewed with special reference to their role, the differences between crop species, the differences between cultivars, paths of trace element uptake, effects of climate, the importance of crop management and yield levels

Biophysical interactions in tropical agroforestry systems

sequential systems, simultaneous systems Abstract. The rate and extent to which biophysical resources are captured and utilized by the components of an agroforestry system are determined by the nature and intensity of interac-tions between the components. The net effect of these interactions is often determined by the influence of the tree component on the other component(s) and/or on the overall system, and is expressed in terms of such quantifiable responses as soil fertility changes, microclimate modification, resource (water, nutrients, and light) availability and utilization, pest and disease incidence, and allelopathy. The paper reviews such manifestations of biophysical interactions in major simultaneous (e.g., hedgerow intercropping and trees on croplands) and sequential (e.g., planted tree fallows) agroforestry systems. In hedgerow intercropping (HI), the hedge/crop interactions are dominated by soil fertility improvement and competition for growth resources. Higher crop yields in HI than in sole cropping are noted mostly in inherently fertile soils in humid and subhumid tropics, and are caused by large fertility improvement relative to the effects of competition. But, yield increases are rare in semiarid tropics and infertile acid soils because fertility improvement does not offse