Utilisation of Cover Crops: Implications for Conservation Agriculture Systems in a Mediterranean Climate Region of South Africa

Smit, Ernst H.; Strauß, Johann; Swanepoel, Pieter A.

doi:10.21203/rs.3.rs-174522/v1

Cited by 3 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 4 publications

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“…They however also evaluated the inclusion of cover crops as a means to increase the diversity of cereal systems, but did not show an economic benefit from this inclusion. This is in contrast to the findings of Smit (2019) while evaluating the utilisation of cover crops in existing cereal rotation systems. Grazing two different cover crop mixtures showed positive results on soil mineral content and subsequent wheat quality.…”

Section: The Importance Of Ca For Rain-fed Productioncontrasting

confidence: 86%

Conservation Agriculture in rainfed annual crop production in South Africa

Strauss

Swanepoel

Laker

et al. 2021

South African Journal of Plant and Soil

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The pressures from population growth, changing diets and climate change are driving the need to transform global food production to ensure efficiency, improved reliability and more sustainable production methods. The arable land for crop production and permanent pastures in South Africa account for 10 to 12 percent of the total land surface. South Africa is classified as semi-arid, with the average rainfall below the world average. Dryland agriculture thus has to identify and promote management systems with high water-use efficiency; this is crucial in a country with a debilitating water deficit. Climate change is expected to exacerbate climate variability in South Africa and thus exert even more pressure on rain-fed dryland production. Conservation Agriculture is a holistic set of principles aimed as a guide to sustainable, reliable and climate smart farming practices. Although initially set as a guide for grain farmers the principles are also applicable, through adaptation of the three basic principles, to other agricultural commodities. The three principal system have been extensively promoted with successful adoption and adaptation in many countries. This paper aims to highlight the research results and challenges of rain-fed Conservation Agriculture in South Africa.

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Section: The Importance Of Ca For Rain-fed Productioncontrasting

confidence: 86%

Conservation Agriculture in rainfed annual crop production in South Africa

Strauss

Swanepoel

Laker

et al. 2021

South African Journal of Plant and Soil

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“…Furthermore, soybean also has the ability to form a barrier that prevents oxygen leakage and enhances O2 diffusion to root tips (Langan et al, 2022). The MCS rotational system performed the best over the study period, confirming that including a cover crop as a third crop in rotational systems with maize and soybean improve the system's productivity (Magdoff and Van Es, 2021;Smit et al, 2021). Benefits associated with cover crop include minimising runoff and soil erosion, preventing runoff and increasing organic matter, which is a principal source of energy for soil microorganisms (Lal, 2016;Magdoff and Van Es, 2021).…”

Section: Gross Margin (Ha -1 )mentioning

confidence: 81%

Production and profitability of maize and soybean grown in rotation in the North-Western Free State, South Africa

de,

Nel,

van

2024

Afr. J. Agric. Res.

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The production and profitability of maize in the North-Western Free State is important for the livelihood of South Africa's population. Most of the country's maize is produced in the area despite its sandy soils and semi-arid climate. Crop rotation has been identified as a management practice which has potential to maintain and improve crop production and profitability. This study's objective was to determine the effect of different rotational systems on the production and profitability of maize and soybean in this area. A field trial was set up where maize, soybean and cover crops were used to compare rotational systems with monoculture maize. Trials were monitored for three consecutive years with yield and enterprise data collected and analysed accordingly. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed that although climate played a role, maize in rotational systems with soybean and cover crop performed 14% better than monoculture maize. In addition, soybean production and profitability increased up to 40% over time when incorporated with maize. These results emphasise the importance of crop rotation as a means of ensuring economic viability and agricultural sustainability. It is recommended that maize in the North-Western Free State be grown in rotation with soybean and cover crop to ensure sustainability.

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Aligning Conservation Agriculture among various disciplines in South Africa

Swanepoel

2021

South African Journal of Plant and Soil

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Conservation agriculture (CA) is widely acknowledged as a set of management principles that support soil conservation (Govaerts et al. 2009;Smith et al. 2017;Kassam et al. 2019). The term CA is loosely used among South African farmers, industry experts and academia to refer to any action that has soil-conservation goals. However, this inaccurate reference causes confusion and may lead to misperceptions of CA as simply a sustainable crop-production system. The principles of CA include minimum soil disturbance, protecting the soil with an organic soil cover, and including a diversity of crops, either in crop rotation or association (Hobbs et al. 2008). Management principles can be broadly applicable to many farming systems and crops. In South Africa, CA is used successfully for field crops under rainfed conditions, particularly in smallholder systems but also in commercial and broadacre production systems. The term CA has been less frequently used in reference to systems involving crops grown under irrigation, permanent (i.e. orchards and vineyards) and semi-permanent crops (i.e. sugarcane) or to cultivated pastures. Yet, the management principles of CA are reported to be largely universal and could be applied in most production systems (Kassam et al. 2019).To share and exchange CA research experiences and lessons, and to identify research gaps in the field of CA in South Africa, a workshop was facilitated with a wide range of representatives from across the CA community. The broad objectives of the workshop were to: i) facilitate participants' sharing of information and experiences focusing on lessons learnt with regard to the contribution of CA to sustainable crop production and improved food security; ii) identify key issues in the development, promotion and adoption of CA in commercial and subsistence farming; iii) involve participants' in collective discussion of key challenges faced within CA practices; iv) link the challenges to underlying knowledge gaps and plan collaborative approaches to best address these gaps (in the form of concept notes that might be the basis of future research proposals); and v) promote networking to support the scaling-up of CA in South Africa. In accordance with information gathered from participants in the workshop, this article aims to align approaches to CA among various disciplines in South Africa and outlines a research agenda for CA in South Africa. MethodsA workshop was held in Bloemfontein, South Africa, on 23 January 2019, and attended by approximately 200 delegates from universities and other tertiary educational institutions, research institutions, government, and private companies involved in CA in South Africa. The workshop was structured to have an opening session where the aim and objectives of the workshop were shared. This was followed by eight

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Utilisation of Cover Crops: Implications for Conservation Agriculture Systems in a Mediterranean Climate Region of South Africa

Cited by 3 publications

References 4 publications

Conservation Agriculture in rainfed annual crop production in South Africa

Conservation Agriculture in rainfed annual crop production in South Africa

Production and profitability of maize and soybean grown in rotation in the North-Western Free State, South Africa

Aligning Conservation Agriculture among various disciplines in South Africa

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