Farmers’ Perception of Soil Fertility Depletion and Its Influence on Uptake of Integrated Soil Nutrient Management Techniques: Evidence from Western Kenya

2011 ◽  
pp. 1055-1059 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Odendo ◽  
G. Obare ◽  
B. Salasya
Keyword(s):  
Soil Fertility ◽  
Nutrient Management ◽  
Soil Nutrient ◽  
Western Kenya ◽  
Management Techniques

scholarly journals Soil Fertility Management for Better Crop Production

Agronomy ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 1349
Author(s):  
John Havlin ◽  
Ron Heiniger
Keyword(s):  
Soil Fertility ◽  
Crop Production ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Nutrient Management ◽  
Root Zone ◽  
Nutrient Use Efficiency ◽  
Soil Nutrient ◽  
Crop Productivity ◽  
Soil Fertility Management ◽  
Fertility Management

Increasing crop productivity per unit of land area to meet future food and fiber demand increases both soil nutrient removal and the importance of replenishing soil fertility through efficient nutrient management practices. Significant progress in enhancing nutrient-use efficiency in production agriculture requires improved estimates of plant-available nutrients in the root zone, enhanced crop response to applied nutrients, and reduced offsite nutrient transport. This special issue, Soil Fertility Management for Better Crop Production, presents 15 manuscripts that advance our knowledge of interrelated soil, plant, and management factors important to increasing the nutrient availability and crop recovery of applied nutrients.

scholarly journals Evaluation of soil nutrient management practices of taro farmers in Taveuni, Fiji

2014 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 61 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sofina Nisha ◽  
Surendra Prasad ◽  
Jagdish Bhati
Keyword(s):  
Soil Fertility ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Nutrient Management ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Soil Health ◽  
Soil Nutrient ◽  
Soil Fertility Management ◽  
Chemical Fertilizers ◽  
Fertility Status ◽  
Different Types

There is evidence that the soil health in Taveuni, Fiji is deteriorating over time threatening livelihoods of taro producers. The present study was conducted to understand the soil nutrient management practices followed by taro farmers in Taveuni. The study revealed that the farmers in Taveuni use various organic and chemical fertilizers and various other soil fertility management practices such as mulching, crop rotation with legumes, yagona and agroforestry. The quantity of nitrogen, phosphorous and potash (NPK) applied to taro crop on different types of soils was meager. The study further revealed that there was imbalanced and insufficient use of chemical fertilizers and organic sources of soil nutrients. The main cause of low use of fertilizers was that the farmers in Taveuni do not know the fertility status of their farms as no soil testing was ever done and majority of them are also not fully aware of various low-cost organic methods of maintaining soil fertility of farms.

scholarly journals The Potential of Termite Mound Spreading for Soil Fertility Management under Low Input Subsistence Agriculture

Agriculture ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (10) ◽  
pp. 1002
Author(s):  
Amsalu Tilahun ◽  
Wim Cornelis ◽  
Steven Sleutel ◽  
Abebe Nigussie ◽  
Bayu Dume ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Soil Fertility ◽  
Soil Properties ◽  
Nutrient Management ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Soil Nutrient ◽  
Spatial Arrangement ◽  
Soil Conditions ◽  
Termite Mound ◽  
Termite Mounds ◽  
Spatially Differentiated

Termites can play a localized prominent role in soil nutrient availability and cycling because mound materials are often enriched in nutrients relative to surrounding soil. Mound materials may thus prove to be useful amendments, though evidently mound spatial arrangement needs to be considered as well. Furthermore, it is not known if gradients of soil properties exist from termite mound to interspace sites. Studying both aspects would be required to decide whether spreading of mounds or spatially differentiated management of surrounding crop to accommodate soil fertility gradients would be valid nutrient-management strategies. Mound abundance and mass were estimated at 9 and 4 mounds ha−1, representing 38.9 and 6.3 t ha−1 on Nitisols and Vertisols, respectively. Soil physical and chemical properties were measured on samples collected from internal and external parts of mounds and adjacent soils at 0.5, 1 and 10 m away from mounds. In general, termite mounds were enriched in plant nutrients and SOC on Vertisols but not on Nitisols. Termite mounds constituted only 0.3 to 1.3% of the 0–15 cm SOM stock on a per ha basis but nevertheless the immediate vicinity of termite mounds was a relative fertile hotspot. Hence, under the studied condition, we suggest spatial arrangement of crop around termite mounds according to soil fertility gradient and spatially differentiated nutrient management strategies. Our result suggests recommendation of termite mound spreading for soil nutrient amendment has to consider plant nutrient stock in termite mounds on per ha basis besides their nutrient enrichment. Interesting topics for future investigation would be growth experiment for different crops with mound materials treatment. It would also be interesting to study the effect mound building termite on soil properties under different soil conditions, slope class and land use.

scholarly journals Potential of East African phosphate rock deposits in integrated nutrient management strategies

2006 ◽  
Vol 78 (4) ◽  
pp. 781-790 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bashir Jama ◽  
Peter Van Straaten
Keyword(s):  
Soil Fertility ◽  
Phosphate Rock ◽  
Nutrient Management ◽  
Phosphorus Deficiency ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Ammonium Citrate ◽  
Management Approach ◽  
Soil Fertility Management ◽  
Western Kenya

Phosphorus deficiency affects around 80% of the acid soils of western Kenya, but fertilizer use is limited due to high prices. This paper explores the potential of local phosphate rocks (PR) as a remedy within the context on an integrated soil fertility management approach. A promising phosphate rock is Minjingu PR (MPR, Tanzania), a sedimentary/biogenic deposit which contains about 13% total P and 3% neutral ammonium citrate (NAC) soluble P. On-farm trials in P-deficient soils in western Kenya demonstrate MPR to be as effective as triple superphosphate (TSP, 20% P) at equal P rates. The benefits are most pronounced with the integration of agroforestry technologies that improve soil fertility. Besides Minjingu PR, Busumbu PR from Uganda (BPR) is potentially another source of P. It is typical of the abundant but unreactive igneous PRs in eastern, central and southern Africa. Agronomic performance of BPR is poorer, though its lower cost and location near to P-deficient areas in western Kenya make it attractive in some situations. The policy implications of these findings are discussed further in the paper.

scholarly journals Assessment of Potato Farmland Soil Nutrient Based on MDS-SQI Model in the Loess Plateau

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (7) ◽  
pp. 3957
Author(s):  
Yingying Xing ◽  
Ning Wang ◽  
Xiaoli Niu ◽  
Wenting Jiang ◽  
Xiukang Wang
Keyword(s):  
Organic Matter ◽  
Soil Organic Matter ◽  
Soil Fertility ◽  
Soil Quality ◽  
Soil Nutrients ◽  
Organic Matter Content ◽  
Soil Nutrient ◽  
Matter Content ◽  
Soil Organic Matter Content ◽  
Farmland Soil

Soil nutrients are essential nutrients provided by soil for plant growth. Most researchers focus on the coupling effect of nutrients with potato yield and quality. There are few studies on the evaluation of soil nutrients in potato fields. The purpose of this study is to investigate the soil nutrients of potato farmland and the soil vertical nutrient distributions, and then to provide a theoretical and experimental basis for the fertilizer management practices for potatoes in Loess Plateau. Eight physical and chemical soil indexes were selected in the study area, and 810 farmland soil samples from the potato agriculture product areas were analyzed in Northern Shaanxi. The paper established the minimum data set (MDS) for the quality diagnosis of the cultivated layer for farmland by principal component analysis (PCA), respectively, and furthermore, analyzed the soil nutrient characteristics of the cultivated layer adopted soil quality index (SQI). The results showed that the MDS on soil quality diagnosis of the cultivated layer for farmland soil included such indicators as the soil organic matter content, soil available potassium content, and soil available phosphorus content. The comprehensive index value of the soil quality was between 0.064 and 0.302. The SPSS average clustering process used to classify SQI was divided into three grades: class I (36.2%) was defined as suitable soil fertility (SQI < 0.122), class II (55.6%) was defined as moderate soil fertility (0.122 < SQI < 0.18), and class III (8.2%) was defined as poor soil fertility (SQI > 0.186). The comprehensive quality of the potato farmland soils was generally low. The proportion of soil nutrients in the SQI composition ranged from large to small as the soil available potassium content = soil available phosphorus content > soil organic matter content, which became the limiting factor of the soil organic matter content in this area. This study revolves around the 0 to 60 cm soil layer; the soil fertility decreased gradually with the soil depth, and had significant differences between the respective soil layers. In order to improve the soil nutrient accumulation and potato yield in potato farmland in northern Shaanxi, it is suggested to increase the fertilization depth (20 to 40 cm) and further study the ratio of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium fertilizer.

American beech and sugar maple sapling relative abundance and growth are not modified by light availability following partial and total canopy disturbances

2015 ◽  
Vol 45 (6) ◽  
pp. 632-638 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kim Bannon ◽  
Sylvain Delagrange ◽  
Nicolas Bélanger ◽  
Christian Messier
Keyword(s):  
Soil Fertility ◽  
Acer Saccharum ◽  
Sugar Maple ◽  
Light Availability ◽  
Soil Nutrient ◽  
Fagus Grandifolia ◽  
American Beech ◽  
Clear Cutting ◽  
Canopy Opening ◽  
Unmanaged Forest

Studies have reported divergent results on the effect of soil fertility and canopy opening on understory density and growth of sugar maple (AS; Acer saccharum Marsh.) and American beech (FG; Fagus grandifolia Ehrh.). The main objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of a gradient of canopy opening and soil fertility on the density and growth of AS and FG saplings in southwestern Quebec, Canada. We investigated 56 stands containing both AS and FG that were subjected to different disturbance history types (DHTs) (UF, unmanaged forest; PC, partial cut; and CC, clearcut) on various soil types. AS and FG absolute and relative sapling density varied greatly among the 56 stands; however, no significant effects of DHT, soil nutrient availability, or their interaction were found. Both species responded positively in terms of radial growth to canopy openings, with FG growth being slightly better than AS growth in PC stands compared with other canopy treatments. Contrary to our hypothesis, AS did not show significantly higher growth than FG following clear-cutting. These results do not support the idea that AS abundance and growth could be promoted by increasing the intensity of the canopy opening during harvest, at least on the generally acidic and base-poor soils that were investigated.

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