Effect of contour rainwater-harvesting and integrated nutrient management on sorghum grain yield in semi-arid farming environments of Zimbabwe

Abstract

The application of insufficient amounts of mineral fertiliser, coupled with unreliable precipitation, has caused a drastic reduction in the yield of sorghum in the smallholder-farming areas of Zimbabwe. This calls for innovative interventions to improve production under changing climatic conditions. This study evaluated the effect of contour-based rainwater-harvesting methods and the use of cattle manure + N nutrient amendment on sorghum yield. A split-split plot experiment was conducted where rainwater-harvesting practice, sorghum variety, cattle manure + N and distance from rainwater-harvesting structure were treatment factors. The results showed that the yield of sorghum was significantly higher under the tied contour and infiltration pits than standard contour at all distances from rainwater-harvesting practices and seasons. In all seasons sorghum varieties Macia and Sc Sila showed higher yield under the tied contour and infiltration pits than standard contour. However, regardless of the distance from rainwater-harvesting practice and season the sorghum variety, Macia showed a higher grain yield than Sc Sila. At each incremental level of N application to cattle manure, Macia had a higher grain yield than Sc Sila, and no significant grain yield benefits were shown in each variety at N application to cattle manure above 50 kg N ha−1.

Description

The Version of Scholarly Record of this Article is published in Acta Agriculturae Scandinavica, Section B — Soil & Plant Science, 2022, available online at: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/09064710.2021.2005130 . © 2022 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited Keywords: rainwater-harvesting; semi-arid; cattle manure; sorghum; rain-fed; climate change; Africa; Zimbabwe; small-holder farming.

Keywords

Citation

Friday N. M. Kubiku, George Nyamadzawo, Justice Nyamangara & Ronald Mandumbu (2022) Effect of contour rainwater-harvesting and integrated nutrient management on sorghum grain yield in semi-arid farming environments of Zimbabwe, Acta Agriculturae Scandinavica, Section B — Soil & Plant Science, 72:1, 364-374, DOI: 10.1080/09064710.2021.2005130

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