Soil and management‐related factors contributing to maize yield gaps in western Kenya

Munialo, Sussy; Dahlin, A. Sigrun; Onyango, M Cecilia; Oluoch‐Kosura, Willis; Marstorp, Håkan; Öborn, Ingrid

doi:10.1002/fes3.189

Cited by 21 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 55 publications

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“…Overall yield-limiting factors of pears. From the perspective of soil, agronomy practice, and internal factors, our results showed that soil factors have the most significant effect on the yield of pear orchards, which is in agreement with the results of Sussy et al (2020). It is likely that soil is a direct source of nutrients for trees and directly affects the growth and development of crops (Song, 2017).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 87%

Quantifying Key Internal and External Yield-limiting Factors for Chinese Pear in Smallholder Dominant Areas

et al. 2021

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Pear (Pyrus spp.) is the third-largest economic crop in China after apples (Malus pumila Mill.) and citrus (Citrus reticulata Blanco), and it is mainly cultivated by smallholders. Currently, the yield of Chinese pear ranks midlevel globally, with only 17.9 t⋅ha−1⋅year−1, which is lower than that of the United States (36.0 t⋅ha−1⋅year−1). However, the factors limiting pear production dominated by smallholders are unclear. We interviewed 75 smallholders about 18 yield-related indicators for pear-typical planting areas. The boundary line model was used to analyze the contribution of internal factors and dominant external factors affecting yield and to simulate strategies for increasing yield through the scenario analysis. The results showed that the average gap between the average and highest attainable yields for smallholders was 10.5 t⋅ha−1⋅year−1 in Luniao County. Among individual yield-limiting factors, chemical fertilizer nitrogen (N) input (13.3%) was the most significant, followed by the soil-available N content (12.0%) and leaf magnesium content (12.0%). Overall, the contribution of all soil factors (42.7%) was the largest compared with the other factor categories. However, the contribution of internal factors could not be ignored and accounted for 25.3% of the total. A scenario analysis showed that comprehensive strategies considering soil, management, and internal factors achieved the largest yield improvement (14%), as did reducing the fertilizer application rate (66%) compared with only using soil or leaf diagnosis methods. Therefore, integrated methods should be considered when developing pear orchard management measures and include soil, management, and internal factors.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 87%

Quantifying Key Internal and External Yield-limiting Factors for Chinese Pear in Smallholder Dominant Areas

et al. 2021

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“…Because of low levels of SOC, a high productivity of maize for the study sites could not be expected without the application of synthetic fertilisers (NP). According to Munialo et al (2020), the critical values of soil TN are above 0.2% indicating soils of the study sites are poor in nitrogen and this nutrient limits the productivity of crops including maize. The average values of available P for all the study sites were below the critical levels for optimum crop yield, which ranges from 10.9 ppm to 21 ppm as revised by Bai et al (2013).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Yield-limiting plant nutrients for maize production in northwest Ethiopia

et al. 2022

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Summary The potential yield of improved maize varieties usually cannot be fully realised mainly due to inappropriate soil nutrient management practices in most parts of Ethiopia. Site-specific fertiliser recommendations are rarely used in the farming systems of Ethiopia. There is also a lack of data to develop or validate decision support tools for targeting specific crop production. A study was conducted for three consecutive rainy seasons (2016–2018) in the maize belt of the north-western parts of the Amhara National Regional State of Ethiopia. The objectives were to obtain the maximum achievable yield potential of maize, determine the most yield-limiting nutrients and create a database of maize responses to applied nutrients so that decision support tools could be developed for the study areas. Treatments were individual nutrients (nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K)) and combinations of the three. In some treatments, NPK was also combined with sulphur, zinc, lime and compost. Two hybrid maize varieties (BH-540 and BH-660) adaptable to the study areas were used. BH-540 was used for the Mecha district, while BH-660 was used for the south Achefer, Jabitahnan–Burrie–Womberma districts. Maize yield increased by more than 50% due to fertiliser applications compared to without fertiliser. The study showed that the possibility of increasing maize productivity to more than 12 t ha-1 for the study sites. The most yield-limiting nutrient in the study sites was N, followed by P; K was not a yield limiting. Without N the yield of both varieties was non-significant from the control (without added nutrients). Maize grain yield did not respond to application of lime, compost, zinc and sulphur. The result also showed very high variability across sites, indicating that it is important for policymakers, farmers and investors to consider site-specific fertiliser recommendations. Finally, a database containing intensive plant response to NPK for maize was generated and could be used as input in site-specific decision support tools development.

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“…Soil and management-related factors contributing to maize yield gaps in western Kenya [84] South Africa Potato 2020…”

Section: Ghana Cocoa 2020mentioning

confidence: 99%

Monitoring and Analyzing Yield Gap in Africa through Soil Attribute Best Management Using Remote Sensing Approaches: A Review

Khechba¹,

Laamrani²,

Dhiba³

et al. 2021

Remote Sensing

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Africa has the largest population growth rate in the world and an agricultural system characterized by the predominance of smallholder farmers. Improving food security in Africa will require a good understanding of farming systems yields as well as reducing yield gaps (i.e., the difference between potential yield and actual farmer yield). To this end, crop yield gap practices in African countries need to be understood to fill this gap while decreasing the environmental impacts of agricultural systems. For instance, the variability of yields has been demonstrated to be strongly controlled by soil fertilizer use, irrigation management, soil attribute, and the climate. Consequently, the quantitative assessment and mapping information of soil attributes such as nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), potassium (K), soil organic carbon (SOC), moisture content (MC), and soil texture (i.e., clay, sand and silt contents) on the ground are essential to potentially reducing the yield gap. However, to assess, measure, and monitor these soil yield-related parameters in the field, there is a need for rapid, accurate, and inexpensive methods. Recent advances in remote sensing technologies and high computational performances offer a unique opportunity to implement cost-effective spatiotemporal methods for estimating crop yield with important levels of scalability. However, researchers and scientists in Africa are not taking advantage of the opportunity of increasingly available geospatial remote sensing technologies and data for yield studies. The objectives of this report are to (i) conduct a review of scientific literature on the current status of African yield gap analysis research and their variation in regard to soil properties management by using remote sensing techniques; (ii) review and describe optimal yield practices in Africa; and (iii) identify gaps and limitations to higher yields in African smallholder farms and propose possible improvements. Our literature reviewed 80 publications and covered a period of 22 years (1998-2020) over many selected African countries with a potential yield improvement. Our results found that (i) the number of agriculture yield-focused remote sensing studies has gradually increased, with the largest proportion of studies published during the last 15 years; (ii) most studies were conducted exclusively using multispectral Landsat and Sentinel sensors; and (iii) over the past decade, hyperspectral imagery has contributed to a better understanding of yield gap analysis compared to multispectral imagery; (iv) soil nutrients (i.e., NPK) are not the main factor influencing the studied crop productivity in Africa, whereas clay, SOC, and soil pH were the most examined soil properties in prior papers.

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Soil and management‐related factors contributing to maize yield gaps in western Kenya

Cited by 21 publications

References 55 publications

Quantifying Key Internal and External Yield-limiting Factors for Chinese Pear in Smallholder Dominant Areas

Quantifying Key Internal and External Yield-limiting Factors for Chinese Pear in Smallholder Dominant Areas

Yield-limiting plant nutrients for maize production in northwest Ethiopia

Monitoring and Analyzing Yield Gap in Africa through Soil Attribute Best Management Using Remote Sensing Approaches: A Review

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