Tree-crop interactions in maize-eucalypt woodlot systems in southern Rwanda

Abstract

Abstract We studied the interaction between Eucalyptus saligna woodlots and maize crop in southern Rwanda. Three sites were selected and in each, a eucalypt woodlot with mature trees and a suitable adjoining crop field of 12.75 m × 30 m was selected. This was split into two plots of 6 m × 12 m and further subdivided into nine sub-plots running parallel to the tree-crop interface. Maize was grown in both 6 m × 12 m plots and one of these received fertiliser. Soil moisture, nutrients and solar radiation were significantly reduced near the woodlots, diminishing grain yield by 80% in the 10.5 m crop-field strip next to the woodlot. This reduction however affects only 10.5% of the maize crop field, leaving 89.5% unaffected. Spreading the loss to a hectare crop field, leads to an actual yield loss of 0.21 t ha−1, equivalent to 8.4%. Expressing yield loss in tree-crop systems usually presented as a percentage of yield recorded near the trees to that obtained in open areas may be misleading. Actual yields should be reported with corresponding crop field areas affected. Variation in grain yield coincided with those for soil moisture, soil N and K; all increasing from the woodlot-maize interface up to 10.5 m and remaining similar to the values in open areas thereafter. Solar radiation continued to increase with distance up to 18 m from the woodlot-maize interface. Harvest index in unfertilised maize exceeded that in the fertilised treatment reflecting the crop’s strategy to allocate resources to grain production under unfavourable conditions. Fertilisation increased maize yield from 1.3–2.6 t ha−1 but the trend in the woodlot effects on maize remained unaltered.