TY  - JOUR
AV  - restricted
A1  - Nyamangara, J
A1  - Makarimay, E
A1  - Masvaya, E N
A1  - Zingore, S
A1  - Delve, R J
TI  - Effect of soil fertility management strategies and resource-endowment on spatial soil fertility gradients, plant nutrient uptake and maize growth at two smallholder areas, north-western Zimbabwe
UR  - http://oar.icrisat.org/4781/
JF  - South African Journal of Plant and Soil
SN  - 0257-1862
PB  - Sabinet
N1  - AFRICARE-Zimbabwe and the Regional Universities Forum
(RUFORUM) provided funding for this work. We are grateful
to the farmers in Njelele and Nemangwe smallholder areas
for their cooperation and the Department of Agricultural,
Technical and Extension Services (AGRITEX) in Gokwe
South District for facilitating this study.
N2  - We investigate the effects of smallholder farmer resource-endowment and soil nutrient management strategies
on plant nutrient uptake and growth across soil fertility gradients under semi-arid conditions. Soil fertility gradients
as influenced by farmers? resource availability may affect the response of crops to fertilizer addition and
therefore productivity. The study was conducted in Njelele and Nemangwe smallholder areas (450-800 mm per
annum, unimodal) in north-western Zimbabwe. Soil and maize cobleaf samples were collected from fields of
farmers (varying resource endowment) located near to (homefields) and far away (outfields) from the farmers?
homesteads during the 2005-6 season. The samples were analysed for selected soil fertility indicators and soil
samples were further used to test maize growth response to various nutrient applications under greenhouse
conditions. Soil fertility (organic C, total N and available P) significantly (P<0.05) decreased from resourceendowed
to resource-constrained farmers, and from outfields to homefields, but the latter differences were only
significant for available P. Besides resource-endowment and field type, response to nutrient applications also
depended on soil texture. In sandy soil, both N and P were limiting to MAIZE growth in outfields while N was
most limiting in the homefield. It was concluded that resource-endowment and nutrient resource management
strategies employed by farmers result in soil fertility gradients which affect response of crops to fertilisation and therefore need to be factored in the development of fertiliser recommendations.
KW  - Homefields
KW  -  outfields
KW  -  semi-arid conditions
KW  -  greenhouse experiments
Y1  - 2011///
SP  - 1
ID  - icrisat4781
EP  - 10
VL  - 28
IS  - 1
ER  -