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The effect of managing improved fallows of Mucuna pruriens on maize production and soil carbon and nitrogen dynamics in sub-humid Zimbabwe

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Abstract

Mucuna pruriens has emerged as a successful forage or green manure legume for use in the smallholder animal-livestock systems of Zimbabwe. The efficiency of N recovery from mucuna residues in subsequent maize crops can be low and the loss of nitrate nitrogen from the soil profile prior to maize N demand is proposed as a reason for this. An experiment was established in the 1999–2000 wet season at seven on-farm sites in a communal farming district of Zimbabwe (average rainfall 650–900 mm) on acidic (pH < 5), and inherently infertile soils with texture ranging from sandy/sandy loam (n = 5) to clay (n = 2). Improved fallows of mucuna grown for 19 weeks produced between 4.7 and 8.5 t/ha dry matter (DM) at the sandy/sandy loam sites and between 9.5 and 11.2 t/ha DM at the clay sites. This biomass was then either cut and removed as hay, or ploughed in as a green manure. Weedy fallow treatments, which represent typical farmer practice, produced 3.3–6.3 t/ha DM. A maize crop was then grown on these same sites in the following 2000–2001 wet season and the dynamics of soil N and C and maize production were investigated. Where mucuna was green manured, a positive linear response (r2 = 0.72) in maize yield to increasing mucuna biomass (containing 101–348 kg N/ha) was found. On the sandy sites, and where no P fertiliser was applied to the previous mucuna phase, a maize grain yield of 2.3 t/ha was achieved following the mucuna green-manure system; this was 64% higher than the maize yield following the weedy fallow and 100% higher than the maize yield following the mucuna ‘removed’ hay system. Apparent nitrogen recoveries in the range of 25 to 53% indicate that there are large quantities of nitrogen not utilised by the subsequent maize phase. The loss of 73 kg/ha of nitrate N from the soil profile (0–120 cm) early in the wet season and prior to maize N demand is proposed as a reason for low N recovery. No change in labile C (measured with 333 mM KMnO4) was detected through the soil profile at this time and it is suggested that labile C movement occurred between the sampling times.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems, 306 Carmody Rd, St Lucia 4067, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

    Anthony M. Whitbread

  2. Department of Crop Science, University of Zimbabwe, Harare, Zimbabwe

    Obert Jiri & Barbara Maasdorp

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  1. Anthony M. Whitbread
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  2. Obert Jiri
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Whitbread, A.M., Jiri, O. & Maasdorp, B. The effect of managing improved fallows of Mucuna pruriens on maize production and soil carbon and nitrogen dynamics in sub-humid Zimbabwe. Nutrient Cycling in Agroecosystems 69, 59–71 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1023/B:FRES.0000025291.62043.11

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/B:FRES.0000025291.62043.11

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