Abstract
A study was conducted in the Guinea and Sudan Savannah zones in the Upper East Region of Ghana to investigate the effects of Faidherbia albida on some important soil fertility indicators. Soil sampling and analysis, litter trap, and litter bag techniques were employed to determine the soil’s content of major nutrients, the rate of litterfall production and litter decomposition, respectively. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed to determine differences among treatment means, while Tukey’s highest significant difference (HSD) was used to perform post hoc tests among means within the same sample set. Soils under F. albida tree canopies were found to contain significantly higher organic carbon and total nitrogen than those outside the canopies. Peak leaf litter production occurred during the first three months of the onset of the rainy season. Annual leaf litterfall was 340 g m-2 year-1 in the Guinea Savannah zone and 264 g m-2 year-1 in the Sudan Savannah zone. The high leaf litterfall, followed by high decomposition and mineralization at the beginning of the cropping season, the high nutrient content of its leaves, coupled with its nitrogen fixing ability, make F. albida a potential candidate for soil improvement and improved productivity of major crops in smallholder farming systems. About 37 and 59 adult F. albida trees will be required to supply significant amounts of nitrogen in the Guinea and Sudan Savannah zones, respectively. Key words: Litter bag technique, litter decomposition, litter fall, litter trap technique, soil organic carbon, soil
Highlights
Soil fertility loss is considered as one of the major biophysical causes of declining per capita food production
Due to the importance of subsistence agriculture in most tropical regions, agroforestry is faced with the task of combining the aims of increasing agricultural production and reducing crop yield losses that result from the competition with associated trees (Broadhead, 2015)
In the Guinea Savannah zone, leaves made up 51.9%, pods 32.3%, dead branches 4.1%, and flowers 11.7% of dry matter produced, whereas in the Sudan Savannah zone leaves 40.3%, pods 34.8%, dead branches 14.2%, and flowers 10.7% of litter produced by the F. albida trees
Summary
Soil fertility loss is considered as one of the major biophysical causes of declining per capita food production. The low fertility and susceptibility of semi-arid soils has necessitated the need to find sustainable agricultural production methods. One of such sustainable methods has been the intentional integration of trees with field. Due to the importance of subsistence agriculture in most tropical regions, agroforestry is faced with the task of combining the aims of increasing agricultural production and reducing crop yield losses that result from the competition with associated trees (Broadhead, 2015). Campbell et al (1994) show that trees have a positive effect on soil fertility They suggested that the primary mechanism by which trees improve soil fertility is through increased litter and soil organic matter build-up. The semi-arid zone of Ghana, where this study was carried out, is the area with the most endemic poverty in the country (Cooke et al, 2016), making it difficult for farmers to afford inorganic fertilizers (Morris, 2007)
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