Variations in soil fertility under cotton crops in the Bénoué cotton-growing area in Northern Cameroon

Guibert Hervé, Fesneau Corinne, M'Biandoun Mathurin. 2008. Variations in soil fertility under cotton crops in the Bénoué cotton-growing area in Northern Cameroon. In : Beltwide Cotton Conferences, Nashville, Tennessee, January 8-11, 2008. National Cotton Council of America. Memphis : NCCA, 1635-1641. Beltwide Cotton Conferences, Nashville, États-Unis, 8 Janvier 2008/11 Janvier 2008.

Résumé : The status of soils under cotton crops must be compared before and after a sufficiently long cropping period in order to detect variations that have occurred. Continuous monitoring of plots in research stations to determine such patterns is, however, long and costly. To overcome this problem, a study was carried out in 2004 on plots that had been monitored previously. Scientists, technicians and farmers who participated in the first assessment were also involved in the present study, so the plots could be accurately located. The second assessment was conducted using the same analytical techniques as those described in the first assessment. A database was compiled with data from 58 plots on ferruginous soils in the Bénoué cotton-growing area, with the interval between two assessments ranging from 4 to 21 years. The results presented here concern 27 plots. The study revealed that: (i) the soil organic matter and available P contents had barely declined, (ii) the soil CEC had sharply decreased along with the N, K, Ca and Mg soil mineral contents, and (iii) this decline in mineral reserves paralleled the mineral budget of the crops. These hypotheses should be confirmed by processing the remaining collected data, but it was found that the characteristics of these especially fragile soils decreased. These results were readily and cost-effectively obtained. The geographical coordinates of the fields in which soil samples were collected were unfortunately not determined, and the soil analysis results were not adequately stored. This calls for the construction of databases to pool raw research results that are accessible to everyone. Research would thus fulfil its role of producing and providing public access to collected information.

Classification Agris : P35 - Fertilité du sol
F01 - Culture des plantes

Auteurs et affiliations

• Guibert Hervé, CIRAD-PERSYST-UPR SCA (BEN)
• Fesneau Corinne, Université de Bourgogne (FRA)
• M'Biandoun Mathurin, IRAD (CMR)

Source : Cirad - Agritrop (https://agritrop.cirad.fr/551709/)

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