Abstract
Developing soil fertility management options for increasing productivity of staple food crops is a challenge in most parts of Sub-Saharan Africa, where soils are constrained by nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) deficiencies. A study was conducted to evaluate the response of indigenous legume populations to mineral P application, and subsequently their benefits to maize yield. Mineral P was applied at 26 kg P ha−1 before legume species were sown in mixtures at 120 seeds m−2 species−1 and left to grow over two rainy seasons (2 years). Application of P increased overall biomass productivity by 20–60% within 6 months, significantly influencing the composition of non-leguminous species. Dinitrogen fixation, as determined by the N-difference method, was increased by 43–140% although legume biomass productivity was apparently limited by nutrients other than P and N. Crotalaria pallida and C. ochroleuca accounted for most of the fixed N. Improved N supply increases the abundance of non-leguminous species, particularly Conyza sumatrensis and Ageratum conyzoides. However, abundance of common weed species, Commelina benghalensis, Richardia scabra and Solanum aculeastrum, declined by up to18%. Application of P did not significantly influence productivity of those legume species that reached maturity within 3 months. There was increased N2-fixation and biomass productivity of indifallows as influenced by specific legume species responding to P application. Compared with natural (grass) fallows, indigenous legume fallows (indifallows) increased subsequent maize grain yields by ~40%. Overall, 1- and 2-year indifallows gave maize grain yields of >2 and 3 t ha−1, respectively, against <1 t ha−1 under corresponding natural fallows. Two-year indifallows with P notably increased maize yields, but the second year gave low yields regardless of P treatment. Because of their low P requirement, indigenous legume fallows have potential to stimulate maize productivity under some of the most nutrient depleted soils.
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Acknowledgments
The study was funded by The Rockefeller Foundation through Grant 2004 FS 105. We are grateful to the support from Soil Fertility Consortium for Southern Africa (SOFECSA), Department Research and Specialist Services (DR&SS) of the Government of Zimbabwe’s Ministry of Agriculture, and participating farmers in Chikwaka and Chinyika smallholder areas.
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Tauro, T.P., Nezomba, H., Mtambanengwe, F. et al. Population dynamics of mixed indigenous legume fallows and influence on subsequent maize following mineral P application in smallholder farming systems of Zimbabwe. Nutr Cycl Agroecosyst 88, 91–101 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10705-009-9325-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10705-009-9325-0