Abstract
Production of food in resource-constrained environments that have poor inherent soil nutrition depends on tillage and cropping systems that provide high yields, preserve soil, water and biodiversity. This research was conducted in the Guinea savannah agroecology of Ghana, during the 2015-2016 cropping seasons to evaluate the impact of tillage and cropping systems on sustainable production of maize and soybean by resource-poor farmers. The experiment was a split-split plot design with four replications. The factors consisted of tillage system at three levels (plough, ripping and direct-seeding) laid out as main plots, fertilizer rate at three levels (0 kg/ha, half the recommended rate of 30-15-15 kg/ha and the recommended optimum rate of 60-30-30 kg/ha NPK) laid as sub-plots and cropping system at two levels (sole maize, maize-soybean intercrop) laid on the sub-sub plot. Apart from leaf area that had significant three-way interaction of tillage, cropping system and fertilizer rate (p < 0.05), all other growth parameters were affected by either two factor interaction or a sole factor. Grain yield of maize was significantly influenced by sole maize and fertilizer rate with highest yield occurring under the full rate (3.4 t/ha) compared with the half rate (2.7 t/ha), amounting to yield difference of about 700 kg/ha. Yield of soybean under the integrated production was affected by interaction of tillage system and fertilizer rate. Highest soybean yield (1.4 t/ha) was recorded under the ploughed condition at the full rate of fertilizer application. Though sole maize, ploughed and with full rate of fertilizer application, gave similar benefit/cost ratio as that of the integrated production with half rate of fertilizer application, the intercropped system with half fertilizer rate resulted in 45% more increases in profit compared to the sole production with full fertilizer rate. Integrated production of maize and soybean, with half the recommended rate of NPK (30-15-15 kg/ha) is therefore recommended to resource-poor farmers in northern Ghana.
Highlights
The pineapple is one of the main export crops of Côte d'Ivoire
The internal browning of the pulp is shows more intense in the pineapple Smooth Cayenne that among the variety MD2
The application of a high amount of potassium in pineapple cultivation leads to a decrease in phenol biosynthetic enzymes which are phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL) and tyrosine ammonia-lyase (TAL), a reduction of total phenol content in the pineapple fruits
Summary
The pineapple is one of the main export crops of Côte d'Ivoire. In the recent past, pineapple export generated more than 45 billion CFA per year to the Ivorian State and contributed 0.6% to the GDP [1]. There has been a drastic decline of the Ivorian production (213 620 tones in 1999 to 20 900 tones in 2014), followed by the loss of its status as a premier supplier of fresh pineapple on the European market The causes of this crisis are multiple, among which there was the aging of planting material, the depletion of soils due to the monoculture, the acidity of the fruit, the high rate of chemical residues, the internal browning etc. Potassium is absorbed by the plants under its ionic form K+ to regulate the osmotic pressure as well as the opening and closing of the stomata [5, 6]. This mineral is used as a cofactor in the enzymatic reactions and biochemical [5]. According to Antonio, et al [7], the application of a high amount of potassium in the pineapple inhibits the internal browning of the fruit at maturity
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