Effect of conservation agriculture practices on maize yields and environmental conservation on steep slopes of Southern Uluguru mountains
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Date
2015
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Sokoine University of Agriculture
Abstract
This study was conducted at Kolero village, on the footslopes of southern Uluguru
Mountains in order to investigate the effectiveness of different Conservation
Agriculture practices on soil moisture retention its implication on maize production
and environmental conservation on the steep slopes. Two factors (tillage practice
and cover crop) each at three levels were combined to form a 3 x 3 factorial
experiment and tested in Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three
replications each. Levels for Tillage were shallow tillage, zero tillage and strip
tillage and those for cover crop were slash and burn, lablab and cowpea. Moisture
readings were taken at 0 - 30 cm, 30 - 60 cm and 60 - 90 cm soil depths. Data were
analysed using GenStat Software 14th Edition. Results showed that there were
significant differences among treatments on moisture retention at soil depth at 60 -
90 cm. Moisture retained within 0-30 cm, 30 - 60 cm and 60 - 90 cm ranged from
13.23% - 15.87%, 18.06% - 19.01% and 14.63% - 15.71%, respectively. There were
significant differences (p<0.05) among treatments on maize yield, biomass produced
and percentage of cover crop development. Conventional practice had high maize
yield (4.5 t/ha) compared to the tested CA practices. Cowpea showed to be a good
cover crop when combined with strip tillage, as it resulted in small reduction in
maize yield (5%) when compared with conventional practice. Lablab provided good
percentage cover later in the growing season than at the beginning. There was a little
improvement on soil chemical properties caused by incorporating minimum tillage
and cover crops as CA practices on maize production. Results showed that there is a
need to incorporate maize and other crop residues for effective moisture retention.
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Keywords
Agriculture Practices, Maize Yields, Environmental Conservation, Steep Slopes