Impact of Conservation Agriculture on Soil Moisture and Biomass Water Productivity | InformativeBD

O. A. Akilapa, from the institute of Nigeria. L. O. Adebisi, from the institute of Nigeria and C. O. Farayola, from the institute of Nigeria. wrote a Research Article about, Impact of Conservation Agriculture on Soil Moisture and Biomass Water Productivity. entitled, Effect of conservation agriculture on soil moisture content and biomass water productivity: Case study of crop residues as soil cover. This research paper published by the International Journal of Agronomy and Agricultural Research (IJAAR). an open access scholarly research journal on Agronomy . under the affiliation of the International Network For Natural Sciences| INNSpub. an open access multidisciplinary research journal publisher.

Abstract

One of the important principles of Conservation Agriculture is the permanent soil cover with crop residues which enhances soil and water productivity that leads to improved agricultural productivity. The effect of crop residues on soil moisture content, relative growth rate and biomass water productivity were examined in a completely randomized design at the University of Reading, Berkshire district, England. Straw treatment was significant on moisture content and water use efficiency at (p< 0.01) respectively while there is no significant difference on mean relative growth rate and dry final biomass weights. The study concluded that soil moisture content is conserved with increased use of crop residues as soil cover. The study therefore recommended that project based research on Conservation Agriculture should be carried out by governments and NGO’s that will involve farmers; also they should provide support for the knowledge diffusion of Conservation Agriculture to local farmers since it will improve yield and productivity. Extension agents and other agencies that work with farmers should also be properly trained to be able to disseminate this technology to farmers.

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Introduction 

Conservation Agriculture (CA) is a resource saving concept of agricultural production which aims to achieve acceptable profits and sustainable production levels while saving environmental costs (STOA, 2009). It is based on three basic principles which are minimum soil disturbance or zero tillage operations; permanent soil cover with crop residues or the use of cover crops; and diversification of crops through crop rotation, mainly the rotation of staple crops with legumes depending on farming systems (Dumanski et al., 2006). One of the important principles of Conservation Agriculture is the permanent soil cover with crop residues which enhances soil and water productivity (Hobbs et al., 2007), its water saving capacity through the reduction of evaporation, increased infiltration and run-off reduction has made it very important in improving agricultural productivity (Ling-ling et al., 2011)

Soils under CA are expected to be 100% covered by crop residues and a minimum of 30% coverage is allowed under this system and anything below this is not regarded as Conservation Agriculture (Kassam et al., 2009). Crop residues help in preventing erosion by intercepting rain drops and reducing its energy before hitting the soil, thereby preventing the clogging of soil micro pores and reducing the risk of runoff and erosion (Hobbs et al., 2007); it was found to increase crop yields in Mexico, where zero till plots with residues resulted in higher yields than those without residues (Sayre and Hobbs, 2004); it reduces weed infestation by reducing light access to the weeds and also by the release of allelopatic chemicals that suppresses the growth of weeds by inhibition of surface weed seed germination (Hobbs et al., 2007); it was found to reduce evaporation, soil temperature, increasing aggregate stability, soil porosity and improving water infiltration (Giller et al., 2009); it was also found to reduce the risk of crop failure and drought due to a better water use efficiency in semiarid regions (Scopel et al., 2004; Bationo et al., 2007; Parry et al, 2005). Water availability for crop use is often a major problem to crop production in the tropics (Muchow et al., 1994) and improved use of crop residue can provide a more efficient management of water quality (Unger, 1994; Steiner, 1994). The effect of water conservation using crop residue may potentially lead to increase crop yields in tropical environments especially areas where there are potential risks of drought stress (Lal, 1998).

There have been studies on water conservation capacity of crop residues used as soil cover which is successfully done by the reduction of evaporation of soil moisture and the reduction of water loss through run-off and a reduction of wind and water pressure (Klocke et al., 2004; Klocke et al., 2006; Gicheru, 1994; Powell and Unger, 1997) but there are few studies on the effect of crop residues on water productivity. Therefore, this study examined the effect of conservation agriculture on soil moisture content and biomass water productivity: case study of crop residues as soil cover. 

Hence, this study seeks to:

 • Examine the effect of crop residues on soil moisture content; 

• Examine the effect of crop residues on relative growth rate;

 • Examine the effect of crop residues on water use efficiency; and

 • Examine the effect of crop residues on biomass production

Reference

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Source : Effect of conservation agriculture on soil moisture content and biomass water productivity: Case studyof crop residues as soil cover