Low cost maize stover biochar as an alternative to inorganic fertilizer for improvement of soil chemical properties, growth and yield of tomatoes on degraded soil of Northern Uganda

Background Soil fertility decline due to nutrient mining coupled with low inorganic fertilizer usage is a major cause of low crop yields across sub-Saharan Africa. Recently, biochar potential to improve soil fertility has gained signifcant attention but there are limited studies on the use of biochar as an alternative to inorganic fertilizers. In this study, we determined the efect of maize stover biochar without inorganic fertilizers on soil chemical properties, growth and yield of tomatoes (Solanum lycopersicum L.). A feld experiment was conducted in 2022 for two consecutive seasons in Northern Uganda. The experiment included fve treatments; inorganic fertilizer (control), biochar applied at rates of 3.5, 6.9, 13.8 and 27.6 t ha−1. Results In this study, maize stover biochar improved all the soil chemical properties. Compared to the control, pH signifcantly increased by 27% in the 27.6 t ha−1 while total N increased by 35.6% in the 13.8 t ha−1. Although P was signifcantly low in the 3.5 t ha−1, 6.9 t ha−1 and 13.8 t ha−1, it increased by 3.9% in the 27.6 t ha−1. Exchangeable K was signifcantly increased by 42.7% and 56.7% in the 13.8 t ha−1 and 27.6 t ha−1 respectively. Exchangeable Ca and Mg were also higher in the biochar treatment than the control. Results also showed that plant height, shoot weight, and all yield parameters were signifcantly higher in the inorganic fertilizer treatment than in the 3.5, 6.9, and 13.8 t ha−1 treatments. Interestingly, maize stover biochar at 27. 6 t ha−1 increased fruit yield by 16.1% compared to the control suggesting it could be used as an alternative to inorganic fertilizer. Conclusions Maize stover biochar applied at 27.6 t ha−1 improved soil chemical properties especially pH, N, P and K promoting growth and yield of tomatoes. Therefore, maize stover biochar could be recommended as an alternative to expensive inorganic fertilizers for tomato production in Northern Uganda

Effect of Applying Low Rates of Agricultural Lime and Chicken Manure on Selected Soil Properties on Ferralsols of Lake Victoria Agro-Ecological Zone, Uganda

Ferralsols form a dominant type of soil on which most crops are grown in the Lake Victoria agro-ecological zone. Soil acidity has been recognized among the most important agricultural problems in such soils, which adversely affect crop production and productivity. A study was conducted with the objective of determining the effect of applying low rates of lime and chicken manure on selected soil chemical properties. Using a Split Plot Factorial Randomized Complete Block Design, agricultural lime (0.0, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5 & 2.0 t·ha-1) as the main plot and chicken manure (0.0, 1.0, 2.0 & 3.0 t·ha-1) as sub-plot were applied, replicated three times. The test crop was common bean var. NABE 15. The experiment was conducted for three rainy seasons, two seasons on-station and one season on-farm on Ferralsol soil in the Lake Victoria crescent of central Uganda. The results showed that applying low rates of lime with chicken manure significantly (p This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution International License (CC BY 4.0). http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Effect of applying low rates of lime and manure on bean growth and yield on Ferralsols of Lake Victoria crescent agro-ecological Zone-Central Uganda

An experiment was conducted to determine the effect of applying low rates of lime and chicken manure on bean (var. NABE 15) growth and yield on Ferralsols. Using split plot factorial randomized complete block design, lime (0.0, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0 t ha-1) as the main plot and chicken manure (0.0, 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0 t ha-1) as sub plot, were replicated three times. The experiment was conducted for three rainy seasons, two seasons’ on-station and one season on-farm using promising combinations from the on-station experiments. In Mukono, increased grain yield of 117% over the control was observed at 2.0 t ha-1 lime with 1.0 t ha-1 manure. Applying 1.5 t ha-1 lime with 2.0 or 3.0 t ha-1 manure resulted in a yield increase of 81.1 and 103.6% over the control respectively. Applying 0.5 t ha-1 lime or 1.0 and 2.0 t ha-1 manure alone caused minimal yields. In Masaka 0.5 t ha-1 lime with 3.0 t ha-1 manure, resulted in 95% yield increase over the control. The control and 0.5 t ha-1 lime yielded the least. All the BCRs were less than one; there was net gain in nutrients (N . P . K) for the subsequent crop.This article is published as Kabango, F., Byalebeka, J., Semalulu, O., Lenssen, A. W., Majaliwa, M. J. G., & Kyebogola, S. (2022). Effect of applying low rates of lime and manure on bean growth and yield on Ferralsols of Lake Victoria crescent agro-ecological Zone-Central Uganda. African Journal of Agricultural Research, 18(12), 1110-1120. doi:10.5897/AJAR2022.16176. Posted with permission.Author(s) agree that this article remain permanently open access under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 International License</a