Abstract
Management practices that promote dual-purpose use of cover crops as forage and soil cover can encourage adoption in mixed smallholder (SH) farming systems. This study investigated the feasibility of dual-purpose use of forage sorghum (Sorghum bicolor x Sorghum bicolor var. sudanense) by testing the effects of clipping frequency and nitrogen (N) topdressing on the root biomass, crude protein (CP), acid detergent (ADF), and neutral detergent fiber (NDF) in the greenhouse and vegetative biomass on the experimental farm station. Four levels of clipping were tested: not clipped (C1), clipped once (C2), twice (C3), and thrice (C4). Nitrogen topdressing had two levels: with (N1) and without (N0) recommended supplementary N. Results show that absence of N topdressing significantly (p < 0.05) increased root biomass in C2, while increasing clipping frequency significantly (p < 0.001) decreased root biomass. During the growing period, N topdressing significantly (p < 0.001) increased CP content in C3 and C4 and NDF (p < 0.01) content in C4. At the termination stage, there was a significant interaction between clipping frequency and N topdressing on the biomass yield obtained in both 2016–2017 (p < 0.05) and 2017–2018 (p < 0.001), respectively. Clipping twice and N topdressing emerged as the best management practice for the dual-purpose of soil cover and livestock feed.
Highlights
High levels of soil erosion are compounded by inherent low levels of soil fertility.the practice of low input production systems has largely contributed to the low productivity of crops and livestock, in smallholder (SH) farms of the central Eastern Cape (EC) province of South Africa (SA) [1,2]
There was a significant interaction between clipping frequency and N topdressing on the biomass yield obtained in both 2016–2017 (p < 0.05) and 2017–2018 (p < 0.001), respectively
Crop residues that could be used for soil cover in conservation agriculture (CA), a technology deemed to be a remedy for soil degradation, are rather used for livestock feed due to a decrease of pasture productivity over years [3]
Summary
High levels of soil erosion are compounded by inherent low levels of soil fertility.the practice of low input production systems has largely contributed to the low productivity of crops and livestock, in smallholder (SH) farms of the central Eastern Cape (EC) province of South Africa (SA) [1,2]. Crop residues that could be used for soil cover in conservation agriculture (CA), a technology deemed to be a remedy for soil degradation, are rather used for livestock feed due to a decrease of pasture productivity over years [3]. Regardless of the recorded advantages of CA, reduced success has been recorded in the EC due to the failure to produce sufficient amounts of biomass for soil cover. This is despite the fact that a good supply of crop residues to soil has a number of benefits, such as reduced water run-off, and increased rainfall infiltration and water retention [4].
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