Precision of farmerbased fertility ratings and soil organic carbon for crop production on a Ferralsol

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dc.creatorMusinguzi, P.
dc.creatorEbanyat, Peter
dc.creatorTenywa, J.S.
dc.creatorBasamba, T.A.A.
dc.creatorTenywa, M.M.
dc.creatorMubiru, D.
dc.date2015
dc.date2016-04-21T07:16:36Z
dc.date2016-04-21T07:16:36Z
dc.date.accessioned2026-06-27T16:02:19Z
dc.descriptionAbstract. Simple and affordable soil fertility ratings are essential, particularly for the resource-constrained farmers in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), in planning and implementing prudent interventions. A study was conducted on Ferralsols in Uganda to evaluate farmer-based soil fertility assessment techniques, hereafter referred to as farmers' field experiences (FFE), for ease of use and precision, against more formal scientific quantitative ratings using soil organic carbon (SQR-SOC). A total of 30 fields were investigated and rated using both techniques, as low, medium and high in terms of soil fertility – with maize as the test crop. Both soil fertility rating techniques were fairly precise in delineating soil fertility classes, though the FFE was inefficient in distinguishing fields > 1.2 % SOC with medium and high fertility. Soil organic carbon, silt and clay were exceptionally influential, accounting for the highest percentage in grain yield of 50 % in the topsoil (0–15 cm) and 67 % for the mean concentrations from 0 to 15 and 15 to 30 cm. Each unit increase in SOC concentration resulted in 966 to 1223 kg ha−1 yield gain. The FFE technique was effective in identifying low-fertility fields, and this was coherent with the fields categorized as low (SOC < 1.2 %). Beyond this level, its precision can be remarkably increased when supplemented with the SQR-SOC technique.
dc.identifierhttps://hdl.handle.net/10568/73000
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/123456789/120719
dc.languageen
dc.publisherCopernicus GmbH
dc.rightsOpen Access
dc.sourceMusinguzi, P., Ebanyat, P., Tenywa, J.S., Basamba, T.A., Tenywa, M.M. & Mubiru, D. (2015). Precision of farmer based fertility ratings and soil organic carbon for crop production on a Ferralsol. Solid Earth Discussions, 7(1), 1237-1261.
dc.subjectferralsol
dc.subjectsoil fertility
dc.subjectcrop production
dc.subjectsoil organic
dc.subjectsoil degradation
dc.subjectsoil management
dc.subjectmaize
dc.titlePrecision of farmerbased fertility ratings and soil organic carbon for crop production on a Ferralsol
dc.typeJournal Article

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Instituto Internacional de Agricultura Tropical (IITA)