HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Barrios, E. Articles by Sprent, J. I. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by Barrios, E. Articles by Sprent, J. I. Agricola Articles by Barrios, E. Articles by Sprent, J. I.

Relating Preseason Soil Nitrogen to Maize Yield in Tree Legume-Maize Rotations

CIAT, Apartado Aereo 6713, Cali, Colombia

F. Kwesiga

SADC/ICRAF Agroforestry Project, Makoka Agricultural Research Station, P.O. Box 134, Zomba, Malawi

R. J. Buresh^* and R. Coe

International Centre for Research in Agroforestry (ICRAF), P.O. Box 30677, Nairobi, Kenya

J. I. Sprent

Dep. of Biological Sciences, Univ. of Dundee, Dundee DD1 4HN, UK

*Corresponding author (r.buresh{at}cgiar.com).

ABSTRACT

Legumes can be an important source of N for cereals in tropical, subsistence farming systems that use little or no fertilizers. Our objective was to identify measures of soil N availability, following growth of diverse legumes, that correlated with yield of a subsequent unfertilized maize (Zea mays L.) crop. Unfertilized maize followed nine 3-yr-old systems (six monocultures of planted trees legumes, a groundnut [Arachis hypogea L.]-maize-soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] rotation, an uncultivated fallow with natural regrowth of vegetation, and unfertilized maize monoculture) in two experiments on a Ustic Rhodustalf in eastern Zambia. Total soil C and N before maize planting were not related to grain yield of maize. Preseason soil inorganic N (NO₃ + NH₄), aerobic N mineralization, and light-fraction N (N in macroorganic matter, 150–2000 µm and <1.37 Mg m^-3) at 0- to 15- cm depth correlated (P < 0.01) with maize grain yield. Preseason inorganic N combined with light-fraction N accounted for 59% of the variance in maize grain yield. The predictability of maize yield was slightly improved (64% of the variance) by including the population of the parasitic weed striga [Striga asiatica (L.) Kuntze] with preseason inorganic N and light-fraction N. The results suggest that yield of unfertilized, rain-fed maize following different rotational systems on a N-limiting soil in an area with monomodal rainfall was strongly related to the additive effects of preseason soil inorganic N and a soil N fraction related to N mineralization.

Received for publication October 16, 1997.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				C. Shang and H. Tiessen Carbon Turnover and Carbon-13 Natural Abundance in Organo-Mineral Fractions of a Tropical Dry Forest Soil under Cultivation Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J., November 1, 2000; 64(6): 2149 - 2155. [Abstract] [Full Text]