Browsing by Author "Msaky, John J."

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    Assessment of nutrient and biomass yield of medium and long duration pigeon pea in a pigeon pea-groundnut intercropping system in Malawi
    (Journal of Sustainable Society, 2013) Phiri, Austin Tenthani; Msaky, John J.; Mrema, Jerome; Kanyama-Phiri, George Yobe; Harawa, Rebbie
    Preliminary assessment of the performance of the medium and long duration pigeon pea in a pigeon pea- groundnut intercropping system was conducted at Chitedze Agricultural Research Station (S 13 0 59’ 23.2”, E033 0 38’ 36.8”) in the 2011/2012 cropping season. An experiment involving eight treatments replicated three times in a randomized complete block design was established. Two pigeon pea varieties, long (ICEAP 04000) and medium duration (ICEAP 00557) and groundnut (CG 7) were grown as monocultures and intercrops. The intercrops involved planting either of the pigeon pea varieties with groundnut. Baseline soil data indicate that the soil pH was acid to moderately acid both in the top (mean=5.4-5.7) and the sub soil (mean=5.4-5.6) in all the treatment plots, with mostly low to marginally adequate total nitrogen content both in the top (mean=0.08- 0.14%) and the sub soil (mean=0.09-0.13%). The soil organic carbon content was medium in the top soil (mean=0.9-1.6%) as well as sub soil (mean=1.1-1.6%) across the treatment plots. At the same time soil phosphorus was low to marginally adequate in the top soil (mean=16.8-27.6 mg kg -1 ) and marginally adequate in the sub soil (mean=20.8-25.6 mg kg -1 ), suggesting low soil fertility. The assessment of the above ground groundnut biomass indicate a mean yield range of 479-656 kg ha -1 . While the assessment of the total biomass yield of the pigeon pea varieties indicate a mean yield range of 2,034-2,593 kg ha -1 . In terms of estimated nitrogen yields returned to the soil, the medium duration pigeon pea-groundnut intercrop (mean=50.6 kg N ha -1 ) and the long duration pigeon pea-groundnut intercrop (mean=49.6 kg N ha -1 ) gave significantly (p<0.05) higher yields than by the monocultures of long duration pigeon pea (mean=41.1 kg N ha -1 ) and medium duration pigeon pea (mean=41.0 kg N ha -1 ). Statistically (p<0.05), the lowest amount of estimated nitrogen yield was generated by the groundnut sole crop (mean=12.8 kg N ha -1 ). Overall, the intercrops showed yield advantage (total LER >1.0) compared with the monoculture on equal land area. For the Malawian smallholder farmers, this suggests that mineral N supplementation in a legume-cereal rotation system for enhanced crop productivity might be less in the double legume-cereal rotation mode than in a legume monoculture-cereal rotation system.
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    Pedological characterization and fertility assessment of Mbimba substation soils under coffee production in Mbozi district, Tanzania
    (International Journal of Advances in Scientific Research and Engineering (ijasre), 2019-10) Mfaume, Dismas P.; Msanya, Balthazar M.; Msaky, John J.
    Pedological characterization was carried out on soils of Mbimba Mbozi, Tanzania. A representative soil profile (TaCRI-P1) was identified, excavated and described using FAO (2006) Guidelines. Four disturbed soil samples and three undisturbed core samples were taken from the profile horizons for physico-chemical laboratory analysis. The pedon developed under udic moisture and thermic temperature regimes was very deep (> 150 cm), well drained and had dark brown to black topsoil colour over dark brown to dark reddish subsoil colour. Soil texture ranged from clay loam to clay. Soil pH was rated as very strong acid to medium (4.73 - 5.98) for all horizons. Organic carbon was low to medium; N was very low to low; CEC was medium to high and exchangeable bases ranged from low to high. Bulk densities were high (2.24 - 2.44 g/cc) for topsoil and low (0.33 - 0.91) for subsoil. Soil moisture retention properties indicated that surface horizon (0 - 5 cm) retained more water followed by intermediate (45 - 50 cm) horizon and the subsoil (95 - 100 cm) respectively. According to USDA Soil Taxonomy and World Reference Base for Soil Resources, the pedon at Mbimba was classified as Typic Palehumults and as Haplic Alisols, respectively. These taxa reflected properties that may guide on the use and management of soils. Before lime application, the upper two horizons of the pedon had total nitrogen level ranging between 0.04 - 0.17%, Phosphorus 2.91 - 4.59 mgkg-1 Potassium 2.36 - 1%, , Calcium 2.36 - 2.35 cmol(+)kg-1 and Magnesium 0.71 - 1.93 cmol(+)kg-1 which were low to medium. Thus, application of inorganic (N, P, K - rich), Ca+Mg and organic fertilizers is recommended to increase nutrient availability. Use of CaMg(CO3)2 as soil amendment should be taken into consideration to raise soil pH and enhance balanced nutrient availability for coffee growth.