Land Degradation and Climate Change Resilient Soil and Crop Management Strategies for Maize Production in Coastal Western Africa

Abstract

A 2-yr (four cropping seasons) trial was conducted with nine maize (Zea mays L.) varieties and four fertilization treatments in three replicates to determine the appropriate variety-fertilization combinations. Fertilization treatments were: no fertilization (T1), 6 t ha-1 of farmyard manure (FYM) (T2), the national recommendation of 200 kg N 15 P 15 K 15 plus 100 kg urea (46% N) ha-1 (T3) and 3 t of FYM plus 100 kg N 15 P 15 K 15 plus 50 kg urea ha-1 (T4). Across fertilization treatments, 2-yr average grain yields were highest (6.41 to 6.76 t ha-1) for Bassar, TZEE and Obatampa varieties and lowest (4.63 and 5.07 t ha-1) for Wahala3 and Agoèbli in the first cropping season. TZEE, Dapaong, Obatampa and Bassar performed better (4.0 to 4.39 t ha-1) during the second season. Across varieties, grain yields for T4, T3 and T2 increased by 92 to 58, 69 to 42 and 57 to 34% in comparison with T1, respectively, those under T4 and T3 were 22.6 to 18 and 8 to 6% higher than that for T2, respectively, and the yield for T4 was 11 to 13.5% superior over that for T3. Fertilization treatment T4 proved suitable for improved grain yield and five varieties were no more recommended for the second cropping season.

Productive and Economic Potential Assessment of Maize (Zea mays L.) Varieties under Fertilizers Influence in the Coastal Zone of Togo

“…This type of soil represents 47% of the soils of the maritime region [22] and covers part of the arable land in Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Benin, and Nigeria [23,24]. The climate of the experimental site is the guinean type, bimodal, and allows for two maize cropping seasons, one from April to July and another from September to December [20]. Annual rainfall at the site is between 800 and 1100 mm.…”

“…This situation also explained the superiority of the maize grain yields of the first year compared to those of the second year. Some studies demonstrated the dynamics of rainfall and its effects on maize grain yield [31] or its effects on maize varieties performance [20].…”

“…Concrete research-development efforts are therefore needed in SSA to overcome these constraints through soil fertility restoration, maximization of nutrient and water use efficiency and identification of resilient crop varieties [20]. It is in this perspective that this study was carried out with the aim of finding production techniques, which could sustainably improve maize productivity and profitability in the current context of climate change and degradation of soil fertility.…”