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CROP RESIDUES FOR MULCH AND FEED IN CROP–LIVESTOCK SYSTEMS: IMPACT ON MAIZE GRAIN YIELD AND SOIL PROPERTIES IN THE WEST AFRICAN HUMID FOREST AND SAVANNA ZONES

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 June 2002

A. Larbi ,
J. W. Smith ,
I. O. Adekunle ,
W. A. Agyare ,
L. D. Gbaraneh ,
R. J. Tanko ,
J. Akinlade ,
A. T. Omokaye ,
N. Karbo  and
A. Aboh
A. Larbi
Affiliation:
International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), West African Programme, PMB 5320, Ibadan, Nigeria
J. W. Smith
Affiliation:
International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), West African Programme, PMB 5320, Ibadan, Nigeria
I. O. Adekunle
Affiliation:
International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), West African Programme, PMB 5320, Ibadan, Nigeria
W. A. Agyare
Affiliation:
Savanna Agricultural Research Institute, P.O. Box 52, Tamale, Ghana
L. D. Gbaraneh
Affiliation:
International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), West African Programme, PMB 5320, Ibadan, Nigeria
R. J. Tanko
Affiliation:
National Animal Production Research Institute, Ahmadu Bello University, Shika, Zaria, Nigeria
J. Akinlade
Affiliation:
International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), West African Programme, PMB 5320, Ibadan, Nigeria
A. T. Omokaye
Affiliation:
National Animal Production Research Institute, Ahmadu Bello University, Shika, Zaria, Nigeria
N. Karbo
Affiliation:
Savanna Agricultural Research Institute, P.O. Box 52, Tamale, Ghana
A. Aboh
Affiliation:
Institut National des Recherches Agricoles du Bénin, Cotonou, Republique du Bénin
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Abstract

A study was conducted in the humid-forest, forest-savanna, and Guinea savanna zones of West Africa from 1993 to 1999 to examine the effect of managing crop residues from cereal–legume cropping systems for mulch and fodder for sheep. Increasing the proportion of total crop residues produced from a unit area of land and used as mulch increased maize grain yield, soil organic carbon, nitrogen and available phosphorus. The extra increases obtained when more than half the crop residues were applied as mulch were relatively small, however, suggesting that 25–50% of the crop residues could be removed as feed without any detrimental effect. When any crop residues rejected by sheep were mixed with livestock urine and faeces and returned to the respective fields from where the crop residues had been removed, subsequent grain yield and soil organic carbon, nitrogen, and available phosphorus increased. The study demonstrated the possibility of managing crop residues for increased productivity in smallholder mixed crop–livestock systems.

Type
Research Article
Information
Experimental Agriculture , Volume 38 , Issue 3 , July 2002 , pp. 253 - 264
Copyright
© 2002 Cambridge University Press

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