caa a22 4500 463208706 CHVBK 20180405153133.0 cr unu---uuuuu 170326e20070101xx s 000 0 eng 10.1007/s10705-006-9045-7 doi (NATIONALLICENCE)springer-10.1007/s10705-006-9045-7 Raising the productivity of smallholder farms under semi-arid conditions by use of small doses of manure and nitrogen: a case of participatory research [Elektronische Daten] [B. Ncube, J. Dimes, S. Twomlow, W. Mupangwa, K. Giller] Participatory on-farm trials were conducted for three seasons to assess the benefits of small rates of manure and nitrogen fertilizer on maize grain yield in semi-arid Tsholotsho, Zimbabwe. Two farmer resource groups conducted trials based on available amounts of manure, 3tha−1 (low resource group) and 6tha−1 (high resource group). Maize yields varied between 0.15tha−1 and 4.28tha−1 and both absolute yields and response to manure were strongly related to rainfall received across seasons (P<0.001). The first two seasons were dry while the third season received above average rainfall. Maize yields within the seasons were strongly related to N applied (R 2=0.77 in season 1, and R 2=0.88 and 0.83 in season 3) and other beneficial effects of manure, possibly availability of cations and P. In the 2001-2002 season (total rainfall 478mm), application of 3 and 6tha−1 of manure in combination with N fertilizer increased grain yield by about 0.14 and 0.18tha−1, respectively. The trend was similar for the high resource group in 2002-2003 although the season was very dry (334mm). In 2003-2004, with good rainfall (672mm), grain yields were high even for the control plots (average 1.2 and 2.7tha−1). Maize yields due to manure applications at 3 and 6tha−1 were 1.96 and 3.44tha−1, respectively. Application of 8.5kgNha−1 increased yields to 2.5tha−1 with 3tha−1 of manure, and to 4.28tha−1 with 6tha−1 of manure. In this area farmers do not traditionally use either manure or fertilizer on their crops, but they actively participated in this research during three consecutive seasons and were positive about using the outcomes of the research in future. The results showed that there is potential to improve livelihoods of smallholder farmers through the use of small rates of manure and N under semi-arid conditions. Springer Science+Business Media B.V., 2006 Cattle manure nationallicence Maize yields nationallicence Nitrogen fertilizer nationallicence On-farm research nationallicence Smallholder farming nationallicence Ncube B. Plant Productions Systems, Department of Plant Sciences, Wageningen University, Box 430, 6700 AK, Wageningen, The Netherlands aut Dimes J. International Crops Research Institute for the Semi Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Box 776, Bulawayo, Zimbabwe aut Twomlow S. International Crops Research Institute for the Semi Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Box 776, Bulawayo, Zimbabwe aut Mupangwa W. International Crops Research Institute for the Semi Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Box 776, Bulawayo, Zimbabwe aut Giller K. Plant Productions Systems, Department of Plant Sciences, Wageningen University, Box 430, 6700 AK, Wageningen, The Netherlands aut Nutrient Cycling in Agroecosystems Springer Netherlands 77/1(2007-01-01), 53-67 1385-1314 77:1<53 2007 77 10705 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10705-006-9045-7 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI 1 research-article jats NATIONALLICENCE 856 40 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10705-006-9045-7 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Ncube B. Plant Productions Systems, Department of Plant Sciences, Wageningen University, Box 430, 6700 AK, Wageningen, The Netherlands aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Dimes J. International Crops Research Institute for the Semi Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Box 776, Bulawayo, Zimbabwe aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Twomlow S. International Crops Research Institute for the Semi Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Box 776, Bulawayo, Zimbabwe aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Mupangwa W. International Crops Research Institute for the Semi Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Box 776, Bulawayo, Zimbabwe aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Giller K. Plant Productions Systems, Department of Plant Sciences, Wageningen University, Box 430, 6700 AK, Wageningen, The Netherlands aut NATIONALLICENCE 773 0- Nutrient Cycling in Agroecosystems Springer Netherlands 77/1(2007-01-01), 53-67 1385-1314 77:1<53 2007 77 10705 Metadata rights reserved Springer special CC-BY-NC licence nationallicence BK010053 XK010053 XK010000 NATIONALLICENCE NATIONALLICENCE NL-springer