Characteristics of soils in selected maize growing sites along altitudinal gradients in East African highlands

Abstract

Maize is the main staple crop in the East African Mountains. Understanding how the edaphic characteristics change along altitudinal gradients is important for maximizing maize production in East African Highlands, which are the key maize production areas in the region. This study evaluated and compared the levels of some macro and micro-elements (Al, Ca, Fe, K, Mg, Mn, Na and P) and other soil parameters (pH, organic carbon content, soil texture [i.e. % Sand, % Clay and % Silt], cation exchange capacity [CEC], electric conductivity [EC], and water holding capacity [HC]). Soil samples were taken from maize plots along three altitudinal gradients in East African highlands (namely Machakos Hills, Taita Hills and Mount Kilimanjaro) characterized by graded changes in climatic conditions. For all transects, pH, Ca, K and Mg decreased with the increase in altitude. In contrast, % Silt, organic carbon content, Al and water holding capacity (HC) increased with increasing altitude. The research provides information on the status of the physical–chemical characteristics of soils along three altitudinal ranges of East African Highlands and includes data available for further research.

Corn yield (Zea mays L.) improves with the use of eucalyptus biochar

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Data on soil P H of Barddhaman district, India

“…Samples are randomly collected giving emphasis on agricultural land and forest area. To ignore the exposed layer samples are gathered in depth of 25 cm from the soil surface which conserve the natural properties of it [1] .…”

Spatially continuous dataset at local scale of Taita Hills in Kenya and Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania

“…The temperature, relative humidity and rainfall required for carrying out the spatial interpolation were obtained from local weather stations. Automatic onset ™HOBO data loggers (hourly records) and GENERAL R wireless rain gauges were installed at station across study sites to keep track of daily temperatures, relative humidity and rainfall, respectively [1] , [2] . The x – y coordinates position and altitudes were recorded using a Global Positioning System (GPS) (German eTrex Vista (R) ).…”