Nitrogen and phosphorus capture and recovery efficiencies, and crop responses to a range of soil fertility management strategies in sub-Saharan Africa

Chikowo Régis, Corbeels Marc, Mapfumo P., Tittonell Pablo, Vanlauwe Bernard, Giller Ken E.. 2010. Nitrogen and phosphorus capture and recovery efficiencies, and crop responses to a range of soil fertility management strategies in sub-Saharan Africa. Nutrient Cycling in Agroecosystems, 88 (1) : 59-77.

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10705-009-9303-6

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Quartile : Q2, Sujet : SOIL SCIENCE

Résumé : This paper examines a number of agronomic field experiments in different regions of sub- Saharan Africa to assess the associated variability in the efficiencies with which applied and available nutrients are taken up by crops under a wide range of management and environmental conditions. We consider N and P capture efficiencies (NCE and PCE, kg uptake kg-1 nutrient availability), and N and P recovery efficiencies (NRE and PRE, kg uptake kg-1 nutrient added). The analyzed cropping systems employed different soil fertility management practices that included (1) N and P mineral fertilizers (as sole or their combinations) (2) cattle manure composted then applied or applied directly to fields through animal corralling, and legume based systems separated into (3) improved fallows/cover cropscereal sequences, and (4) grain legume-cereal rotations. Crop responses to added nutrients varied widely, which is a logical consequence of the wide diversity in the balance of production resources across regions from arid through wet tropics, coupled with an equally large array of management practices and inter-season variability. The NCE ranged from 0.05 to 0.98 kg kg-1 for the different systems (NP fertilizers, 0.16-0.98; fallow/cover crops, 0.05-0.75; animal manure, 0.10-0.74 kg kg-1), while PCE ranged from 0.09 to 0.71 kg kg-1, depending on soil conditions. The respective NREs averaged 0.38, 0.23 and 0.25 kg kg-1. Cases were found where NREs were[1 for mineral fertilizers or negative when poor quality manure immobilized soil N, while response to P was in many cases poor due to P fixation by soils. Other than good agronomy, it was apparent that flexible systems of fertilization that vary N input according to the current seasonal rainfall pattern offer opportunities for high resource capture and recovery efficiencies in semi-arid areas. We suggest the use of cropping systems modeling approaches to hasten the understanding of Africa's complex cropping systems.

Mots-clés Agrovoc : phosphore, culture maraîchère, azote

Mots-clés géographiques Agrovoc : Afrique au sud du Sahara

Classification Agris : P35 - Fertilité du sol
F04 - Fertilisation
F08 - Systèmes et modes de culture

Champ stratégique Cirad : Axe 1 (2005-2013) - Intensification écologique

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