The El Niñ o-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is correlated with the short rainy season (September -December) in East Africa. Seasonal climate forecasts made on this basis are being disseminated in the hope that this information will be useful in regional or even local planning and resource management. In order to improve the likelihood of success in using regional forecasts in Uganda, particularly in the agricultural sector, climate analysis was performed at the sub-regional level with distinctions being made between unimodal (short season peak in August) and bimodal (short season peak in November) rainfall zones. Monthly climate data from 1931 to 1960 were available for 33 sites. Averaging across all stations, it is shown that Pacific Ocean NINO3 region sea-surface temperatures (SSTs) from July to September (JAS) are significantly correlated with both the concurrent August -September (AS) rainfall (r= −0.75) and the following November-December (ND) rainfall (r= 0.57), but with opposite signs. When station data are separated into uni-and bimodal sites, it becomes clear that the importance of ENSO events is different in the two zones. In the unimodal zone, El Niñ o events are associated with a depression of the August peak in rainfall, but a lengthening of the season, potentially providing an opportunity for growing later-maturing crops. At bimodal sites, there is very little impact in August but November rainfall is enhanced in El Niñ o years and depressed in La Niña years. Given a forecast of ENSO, the primary strategies that will be useful in farm management will differ by rainfall zone and will revolve around the choice of crop or cultivar and the timing of planting in order to make optimal use of the growing period.

No abstract

No abstract

trient availability, (ii) increased porosity/ improved infiltration, (iii) increased surface rooting. Alternatively, The objective of this study was to determine whether mulching increased surface rooting could have a negative impact mitigated the impact of nematodes on banana (Musa AAA) inocuif nematodes reside primarily in the upper layers of the lated with Radopholus similis (Cobb) Thorne and Helicotylenchus multicinctus (Cobb) Golden. The study was conducted at Interna-soil profile, that is, a larger percentage of total root tional Institute of Tropical Agriculture's (IITA's) Sendusu station, biomass could potentially be exposed to nematode activ-Uganda. Treatments included mulched and bare soil with or without ity in the event of preferential surface rooting. Our nematode inoculation. Mulched treatments produced over three times objectives in this study were to determine the effect of more biomass than bare soil treatments. This increase in biomass was mulching on above-and below-ground biomass, soil and likely due to improved fertility as a result of mulching, since mulched foliar nutrient levels, and soil water uptake in banana treatments had higher concentrations of soil organic C, P, and exinoculated with R. similis and H. multicinctus. changeable K and Mg, and foliar K. Mulched banana took up more water from both the 0-to 0.3-m and 0.3-to 0.5-m depths than banana mats (three successive generations grown as a production unit) Center, P.O. Box 7878, Kampala, Uganda (now deceased); S.J. Riha, spaced at 3 by 3 m. Analysis of variances (ANOVA) were

No abstract