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The contribution of Stylosanthes guianensis to the nitrogen cycle in a low input legume-rice rotation under conservation agriculture

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Abstract

Background and aims

Legumes integrated in crop rotations are intended to improve crop nitrogen (N) supply and yield. In conservation agriculture (CA) systems under low input conditions on highly weathered tropical soils, experimental evidence for these benefits is lacking. To understand the mechanisms and evaluate the impact of the legume N on the subsequent crop, an in-depth study on N dynamics in the soil-plant system was conducted.

Methods

In Madagascar, a CA based crop rotation with the perennial forage legume Stylosanthes guianensis (stylo) and upland rice (rice/stylo – stylo - rice/stylo) was established under three fertilization regimes. In addition, rice was grown in a non-CA bare fallow rotation without fertilizer. Over the three years N2 fixed in stylo shoots, the incorporation of stylo shoot (mulch) N into soil N pools and mulch N uptake by rice was quantified using 15N techniques and mulch and stylo root residue decomposition was investigated in a litterbag study.

Results

N2 fixed in stylo shoots ranged from 96 to 122 kg N ha−1. Between 50 to 70% of stylo mulch and root residues decomposed during the third cropping season. Without fertilizer, grain yield of rice after the fallow with stylo was about 70% greater than after bare fallow, corresponding to 11 kg N ha−1 greater N uptake. Recoveries of stylo mulch N after rice harvest were on average 64% in soil, with about 3% in each of the microbial and mineral N pools, with 39% on the soil surface, and 6% in the rice crop. The N input via stylo seed, leaf litter and belowground N totalled about three times the amount of N contained in stylo mulch, which usually is considered as major rice N source.

Conclusions

Legumes, like stylo, can improve crop N supply and yield in low input CA cropping systems on highly weathered tropical soils. To explain the impact and mechanisms involved requires a consideration of all legume-N components beyond the mulch N present at the onset of the rice-cropping season.

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Abbreviations

CA:

Conservation agriculture

CA-NON:

CA based upland rice - stylo fallow rotation were rice received no fertilizer

CA-FYM:

CA based upland rice - stylo fallow rotation were rice received farmyard manure

CA-MIN:

CA based upland rice - stylo fallow rotation were rice received mineral fertilizer

DM:

Dry matter

MC-NON:

Mono cropped upland rice - bare fallow rotation were rice received no fertilizer

%Ndfa:

Proportion of total N derived from the fixation of atmospheric N2

%Ndfm:

Proportion of N derived from stylo mulch N in a plant or soil N pool

SD:

Standard deviation

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Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful for funding from the Swiss National Science Foundation and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (Project no. IZ70Z0_131310/1). We acknowledge Adolphe Munyangabe (currently Department of Soil Sciences, FIBL, Switzerland) for lab assistance with sample preparation. Further, we warmly thank Agnès Nivotiana (FOFIFA, Antsirabe, Madagascar) for field trial maintenance and assistance with sample preparation. Appreciation is extended to Myles Stocki (University of Saskatchewan, Canada) for mass spectrometer measurements. Special thanks go to Gregor Meyer (Group of Plant Nutrition, ETH Zurich), for fieldwork assistance. The authors thank Prof. Lilia Rabeharisoa (LRI, Antananarivo, Madagascar) and Prof. Jacqueline Rakotondravelo (FOFIFA, Antananarivo, Madagascar) for their collaboration in project steering and provision of logistic support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Agricultural Sciences, ETH Zurich, Eschikon 33, 8315, Lindau, Switzerland

    O. Zemek, E. Frossard & A. Oberson

  2. UPR AÏDA, CIRAD, Avenue Agropolis, 34398, Montpellier cedex 5, France

    E. Scopel

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  1. O. Zemek
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  2. E. Frossard
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  3. E. Scopel
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  4. A. Oberson
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Contributions

OZ: Conception and design, fieldwork, laboratory analysis, data interpretation and analysis, manuscript writing; EF, AO, and ES: Conception and design, coordination, data interpretation and manuscript revision. All authors read and approved the final draft.

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Correspondence to O. Zemek.

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Responsible Editor: John A. Kirkegaard.

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Zemek, O., Frossard, E., Scopel, E. et al. The contribution of Stylosanthes guianensis to the nitrogen cycle in a low input legume-rice rotation under conservation agriculture. Plant Soil 425, 553–576 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-018-3602-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-018-3602-0

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