Soils In South Africa Research Articles

Draft genome sequence of Bacillus velezensis strains AOA1 and AKS2, the potential plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria.

This report describes the draft genome sequence of Bacillus velezensis strains AOA1 and AKS2 isolated from maize rhizosphere soil in South Africa. Bacillus velezensis plays important biological roles as plant growth promoting rhizobacterium (PGPR). Bacillus velezensis strains also exhibit numerous biotechnological application potentials in agriculture and diverse industrial settings.

AI-Based Estimation of Swelling Stress for Soils in South Africa

Soil swelling is one of the major causes of structural failure, due to excessive moisture saturation and desaturation moisture. In situ measurement of swelling stress is somewhat impossible and requires tedious routine site observation. The use of artificial intelligence to predict the swelling stress of in situ soil is highly recommended, because of the complex behavior of soil upon moisture absorption. Because of this challenge, this study is channeled towards the prediction of swelling stress using basic geotechnical properties to save the challenges of repeating geotechnical experimental tests. In this study, the swelling stress of soils collected from 15 locations in 5 sites across South Africa has been predicted by using the artificial neural network (ANN), genetic programming (GP), and evolutionary polynomial regression (EPR)-based intelligent techniques. Multiple data were collected through laboratory experiments on the predictors: gravimetric moisture content (GMC), plasticity index (Ip), dry density (γd), free swell index (FSI), degree of saturation (S), matric suction (Ψm) and the target, and swelling stress (Psm). This predictive model was aimed at proposing models, which will help earthwork designers and constructors in South Africa overcome the rampant visit to the laboratory in search of soil data needed for geotechnical engineering designs. The soils showed their potential for swelling, which was eventually confirmed by the sensitivity analysis of the intelligent models. The performance indices of the models showed that ANN outclassed the other techniques with a performance accuracy of 93.6% at an error of 1.9%. Also, the sensitivity analysis showed that the plasticity index and matric suction were the most influential to the models. With the predicted models, future earthworks in South Africa can quickly forecast swelling stress prior to designs and construction more so in hydraulically bound environments.

Opportunity for Increasing the Soil Quality of Non-arable and Depleted Soils in South Africa: a Review

Opportunity for Increasing the Soil Quality of Non-arable and Depleted Soils in South Africa: a Review

Alien invasive Leucaena leucocephala successfully acquires nutrients by investing in below-ground biomass compared to native Vachellia nilotica in nutrient-amended soils in South Africa.

Soils in grasslands and savannas of southern Africa are acidic and nutrient-poor. Legume plants, such as Vachellia nilotica and alien invasive Leucaena leucocephala, are a major component of the vegetation there. Vachellia nilotica can establish in drought-prone environments, and is invasive in high rainfall areas. Leucaena leucocephala is an emerging invasive in South Africa and is ranked among the world’s 100 most invasive alien species. Alien plants can invade native habitats through their adaptability to low-resource soils, and thus can out-compete and displace native vegetation. We investigated the effects of phosphorus (P) deficiency and soil acidity on legume–microbe symbiosis, nitrogen (N) nutrition and carbon (C) growth costs of these two legumes in grassland soils. We used as inoculum and growth substrate soils collected from a long-term (>65 years) nutrient and lime-addition trial, the Veld Fertilizer Trial (VFT), located at Ukulinga Research Farm near Pietermaritzburg in South Africa. We used soils from three VFT treatments: soils fertilized with superphosphate (336 kg ha−1) applied once per year (+P), soils fertilized with superphosphate (336 kg ha−1) applied once per year with dolomitic lime (2250 kg ha−1) applied once every 5 years (P+L) and soils with no superphosphate and no dolomitic lime applications (Control). Seeds of V. nilotica and L. leucocephala were germinated and grown independently in these soils in green house conditions and harvested after 125 days for measurement of growth, legume–microbe symbiosis, N nutrition and C growth costs. Results showed that the two legumes had different growth adaptations. Vachellia nilotica grown in control soils and +P soils nodulated with various Burkholderia spp., while L. leucocephala did not nodulate in all soil treatments. Both legumes utilized for growth both atmospheric- and soil-derived N across all treatments thereby decreasing C growth costs. Vachellia nilotica grown in +P soils accumulated the most biomass and N nutrition. Leucaena leucocephala maximized specific N assimilation rates by investing in below-ground biomass accumulation in control soils. This shows that L. leucocephala possesses traits that are successful in acquiring nutrients by investing in below-ground biomass and relying on utilization of N from both the soil and the atmosphere.

Plant Health Status Affects the Functional Diversity of the Rhizosphere Microbiome Associated With Solanum lycopersicum

The microorganisms inhabiting soil perform unique functions in the growth and development of plants. However, little is known about how plant health status affects their potential functions. We examined the functional diversity of the microbiome inhabiting the rhizosphere of powdery mildew diseased and healthy tomato plants alongside the bulk soils in South Africa's Northwest Province employing a shotgun metagenomics approach. We envisaged that the functional categories would be abundant in the healthy rhizosphere (HR) of the tomato plant. We collected soil from the rhizosphere of healthy, powdery mildew diseased tomato plants (DR), and bulk soil (BR). After that, their DNA was extracted. The extracted DNA was subjected to shotgun metagenomic sequencing. Our result using the SEED subsystem revealed that a total of fifteen (15) functional categories dominated the healthy rhizosphere, seven (7) functional categories dominated the diseased rhizosphere. At the same time, six (6) functions dominated the bulk soil. Alpha (α) diversity assessment did not reveal a significant difference (p > 0.05) in all the soil samples, but a considerable difference was observed for beta (β) diversity (P = 0.01). The functional categories obtained in this research were highly abundant in HR. Therefore, this study shows that the functions groups of the rhizosphere microbiomes were more abundant in HR samples as compared to others. The high prevalence of functions groups associated with rhizobiomes in the tomato rhizosphere indicates the need for more research to establish the functional genes associated with these rhizosphere microbiomes.

Land use and site effects on the distribution of carbon in some humic soil profiles of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Land use effects on the stocks of soil organic carbon (SOC) are generally based on the topsoil. Although subsoil horizons have lower concentrations, they contain a significant amount of SOC which may be more strongly protected than that in the topsoil layers. Analysis of SOC storage must therefore include the whole profile in respect of climate change mitigation. Humic soils in South Africa have high organic C in the A horizon, while the amount of C stocks through the whole profile depth is unknown. This study was conducted at six sites in KwaZulu-Natal Province to determine the effect of land use and site factors on C stocks, texture, pH and extractable aluminium (Al) and iron (Fe) concentrations and their vertical distribution to 100 cm in soils with thick (>45 cm) and thin (<45 cm) humic A horizons. The land use at some sites had been changed from grassland to maize and cultivated pasture and at others from forest to sugarcane farming. Cultivation with field crops reduced the organic C, mainly in the upper 20 cm (from 110 to 22 g C kg−1), with limited effect in deeper layers. The soils with thick humic A horizons and coarser texture stored more C in the deeper layers compared to those with thin humic A horizons and finer texture which had more of the C stocks in the 0–20 cm depth. Although cultivation reduced the soil C stocks in the surface layers, land use did not significantly affect the overall C stock (0–100 cm) at all sites. The high contents of extractable Fe (up to 340 mg kg−1) and Al (up to 3700 mg kg−1) stabilised the soil C and were more important than the effects of either land use or other site factors.

Genomic analysis of antibiotic-resistant Enterococcus spp. reveals novel enterococci strains and the spread of plasmid-borne Tet(M), Tet(L) and Erm(B) genes from chicken litter to agricultural soil in South Africa

Manure from food animals exposed to antibiotics is often used as soil fertiliser, potentially releasing antibiotic-resistant bacteria (ARB) with diverse antibiotic-resistance genes (ARGs) into the soil. To determine the impact of chicken litter application on the soil resistome, Enterococcus spp. isolated from chicken litter and soil samples collected before and after the soil amendment were characterised, using whole-genome sequencing and bioinformatics tools. Nineteen Enterococcus spp. isolates from the three sources were sequenced on Illumina Miseq platform to ascertain the isolates’ resistome, mobilome, virulome, clonality, and phylogenomic relationships. Multilocus sequence typing (MLST) analysis revealed eight novel sequence types (STs) (ST1700, ST1752, ST1753, ST1754, ST1755, ST1756, ST1004, and ST1006). The isolates harboured multiple resistance genes including those conferring resistance to inter alia macrolides-lincosamide-streptogramin (erm(B), lnu(B), lnu(G), lsaA, lsaE, eat(A), msr(C)), tetracycline (tet(M), tet(L), tet(S)), aminoglycosides (aac(6’)-Ii, aac(6’)-Iih, ant(6)-Ia, aph(3’)-III, ant(9)-Ia), fluoroquinolones (efmA, and emeA), vancomycin (VanC {VanC-2, VanXY, VanXYC-3, VanXYC-4, VanRC}), and chloramphenicol (cat). The litter-amended soil harboured new ARB (particularly E. faecium) and ARGs (ant(6)-Ia, aac(6’)-Ii, aph(3’)-III), lnu(G), msr(C), and eat(A), efmA) that were not previously detected in the soil. The identified ARGs were associated with diverse mobile genetic elements (MGEs) such as insertion sequences (IS6, ISL3, IS256, IS30), transposons (Tn3 and Tn916) and plasmids (repUS43, repUS1, rep9b, and rep 22). Twenty-eight virulence genes encoding adherence/biofilm formation (ebpA, ebpB, ebpC), antiphagocytosis (elrA) and bacterial sex pheromones (Ccf10, cOB1, cad, and camE), were detected in the genomes of the isolates. Phylogenomic analysis revealed a close relationship between a few isolates from litter-amended soil and the chicken litter isolates. The differences in the ARG and ARB profiles in the soil before and after the litter amendment and their association with diverse MGEs indicate the mobilisation and transmission of ARGs and ARB from the litter to the soil.

Assessing the PM10 emission potential of sandy, dryland soils in South Africa using the PI-SWERL

The Free State has been identified as the region with the most dust sources in South Africa. These dust sources can be linked with the large, heavily cultivated cropland areas in this province, which leaves fields vulnerable to wind erosion after the harvest in the winter. For this study, the focus was on the factors that influence the emission from bare, flat surfaces on agricultural lands in this region. The Portable In-Situ Wind Erosion Laboratory (PI-SWERL) was used to measure the emission flux from adjacent crusted and loose surfaces, which was combined with shear strength, moisture, and soil texture measurements. Boosted regression tree (BRT) analyses were used to identify the variable with the highest relevance on the emission flux. On the whole dataset, that the shear strength is the most important variable that controls the emission. This is reflected in the significantly lower emission from the crusted surfaces (0.49 mg m −2 s −1 ) compared to that of loose surfaces (2.34 mg m −2 s −1 ). However, for crusted surfaces, the presence of abraders appeared to be the most significant factor in emission, showing a power relationship between the abrader count and the emission flux (R 2 = 0.76). In the case of the loose surfaces, the presence of clay and silt was a major influence in emissivity, with a linear relationship between the two variables (R 2 = 0.68). This difference in factors depending on the agricultural disturbance, asks for a more holistic approach when predicting emission from such arid cropland areas.

Environmental Impact of Rotationally Grazed Pastures at Different Management Intensities in South Africa.

Simple SummaryNitrogen fertilization, irrigation and concentrate feeding are key management factors in grazed dairy-pasture systems. However, the extent to which these management factors affect environmental efficiency is a current debate among scientists. We designed a study to investigate dairy system environmental efficiency through the evaluation of the carbon footprint of milk and the nitrogen-balance as a result of different fertilization rates applied on irrigated dairy-pastures in South Africa. The lowest carbon footprint was observed when low rates of fertilizer were applied. Methane from ruminal digestion and nitrous oxide emissions from grazed pastures were the main contributors affecting the carbon footprint. The application of fertilizer resulted in only small herbage yield differences between treatments. The nitrogen-balance was negative when no nitrogen was applied. This indicates that such an approach will not be sustainable without adapting sward species composition (e.g., introduction of forage legumes), even though nitrogen circulates through animal manure to the pasture. The environmental impact of milk produced from pasture-based dairy farms can be reduced through increased farm nitrogen use-efficiency and improved irrigation systems in South Africa.Nitrogen fertilization, irrigation and concentrate feeding are important factors in rotational pasture management for dairy farms in South Africa. The extent to which these factors affect environmental efficiency is subject to current and intense debate among scientists. A three-year field study was conducted to investigate the yield response of different N-fertilizer treatments (0 (N0), 220 (N20), 440 (N40), 660 (N60) and 880 (N80) kg N ha−1 year−1) on grazed pastures and to calculate the carbon footprint (CF) of milk produced. Excessive N-fertilization (N60 and N80) did not increase herbage dry matter and energy yields from pastures. However, N80 indicated the highest N-yield but at the same time also the highest N surpluses at field level. A maximum fertilizer rate of 220 kg ha−1 year−1 (in addition to excreted N from grazing animals) appears sufficient to ensure adequate herbage yields (~20 t DM ha−1 year−1) with a slightly positive field-N-balance. This amount will prevent the depletion of soil C and N, with low N losses to the environment, where adequate milk yields of ~17 t ECM ha−1 with a low CF (~1.3 kg CO2 kg ECM−1) are reached. Methane from enteric fermentation (~49% ± 3.3) and N2O (~16% ± 3.2) emissions from irrigated pastures were the main contributors to the CF. A further CF reduction can be achieved by improved N-fertilization planning, low emission irrigation techniques and strategies to limit N2O emissions from pasture soils in South Africa.

Distribution patterns of Acidobacteriota in different fynbos soils.

The Acidobacteriota is ubiquitous and is considered as one of the major bacterial phyla in soils. The current taxonomic classifications of this phylum are divided into 15 class-level subdivisions (SDs), with only 5 of these SDs containing cultured and fully described species. Within the fynbos biome, the Acidobacteriota has been reported as one of the dominant bacterial phyla, with relative abundances ranging between 4-26%. However, none of these studies reported on the specific distribution and diversity of the Acidobacteriota within these soils. Therefore, in this study we aimed to first determine the relative abundance and diversity of the Acidobacteriota in three pristine fynbos nature reserve soils, and secondly, whether differences in the acidobacterial composition can be attributed to environmental factors, such as soil abiotic properties. A total of 27 soil samples were collected at three nature reserves, namely Jonkershoek, Hottentots Holland, and Kogelberg. The variable V4-V5 region of the 16S rRNA gene was sequenced using the Ion Torrent S5 platform. The mean relative abundance of the Acidobacteriota were 9.02% for Jonkershoek, 14.91% for Kogelberg, and most significantly (p<0.05), 18.42% for Hottentots Holland. A total of 33 acidobacterial operational taxonomic units (OTUs) were identified. The dominant subdivisions identified in all samples included SDs 1, 2, and 3. Significant differences were observed in the distribution and composition of these OTUs between nature reserves. The SD1 were negatively correlated to soil pH, hydrogen (H+), potassium (K+) and carbon (C). In contrast, SD2, was positively correlated to soil pH, phosphorus (P), and K+, and unclassified members of SD3 was positively correlated to H+, K, and C. This study is the first to report on the specific acidobacterial distribution in pristine fynbos soils in South Africa.

Soil microstructure as affected by tillage, rotation and residue management in a sweet sorghum-based cropping system in soils with low organic carbon content in South Africa

Soil aggregation is regarded as a key indicator of soil quality and behaviour that is mainly influenced by land use and management. There is lack of information on the effects of conservation agriculture (CA) on soil aggregation in low soil organic carbon (SOC) soils of South Africa. This study therefore aimed to quantify the effect of tillage, crop rotation and crop residue management on aggregate stability, binding agents and the resulting aggregate microstructure in a sweet sorghum-based cropping system in a low organic carbon soil. Two tillage levels; no-till (NT) and conventional tillage (CT), two crop rotations, i.e., sweet sorghum-grazing vetch-sweet sorghum (S-V-S) and sweet sorghum-fallow-sweet sorghum (S-F-S) and three crop residue retention levels, i.e., 0%, 15 % and 30 % were tested. The aggregate microstructure was quantified on aggregates of ∼5 mm diameter with micro-focus X-ray computed tomography (μXCT) and image analysis was done using VGstudio MAX 3.2. Aggregate stability, soil organic carbon and glomalin related soil protein content (GRSP) were statistically higher under NT than in CT. GRSP was also enhanced by 30 % residue retention compared to other residue management practices. NT and CT accompanied by 30 % residue retention had the highest total porosity. NT + S-V-S + 30 % treatment combination generally had higher observed total porosity, higher frequency of pores within each pore class and denser microstructure visualisation. This study showed that tillage is the main factor that influences soil aggregation followed by residue management. Thus, application of NT + S-V-S+ 30 % enhanced soil quality in low SOC soils after three years. The study also demonstrated that aggregate stability is linked to aggregate microstructure and regular pores are dominated in degraded soils with low SOC.

A new species of Scheloribates (Acari, Oribatida, Scheloribatidae) from South Africa

A new species of the genus Scheloribates is described from soil in South Africa. Scheloribates (Scheloribates) curviprolamellatus sp. nov. differs from all species of the subgenus by the thick, specifically curved (concave) prolamella.

Land Use and Site Effects on the Distribution of Carbon in Some Humic Soil Profiles of Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa

Land use effects on the stocks of soil organic carbon (SOC) generally focus on the topsoil. However, while subsoil horizons have lower concentrations, they contain a significant amount of SOC, which may be more strongly protected than that in the topsoil layers. Analysis of SOC storage must therefore include the whole profile in respect of climate change mitigation. Humic soils in South Africa have high organic C in the A horizon, while the amounts of C stocks through the whole profile depth are unknown. This study was conducted at six sites in KwaZulu-Natal Province to determine the effect of land use and site factors on C stocks, texture, pH and extractable Al and Fe concentrations and their vertical distribution to 100 cm in soils with thick (>45 cm) and thin humic A horizons. The land use at some sites had been changed from uncultivated grassland to maize and cultivated pasture and at others from uncultivated forest to sugarcane farming. Clay soils had C concentrated in the topsoil while in those with coarser texture more C accumulated in deeper layers of the soil profiles. Although soil C stocks in the surface layers were reduced by cultivation, land use did not significantly affect the overall C stock (0-100 cm) at all sites. The high contents of extractable Fe and Al encourage the stabilisation of the soil C and were more important than the effects of either land use or other site factors.

Phosphorus extraction by selected methods in alkaline and calcareous soils after mono-ammonium phosphate application at different rates

Little research has been done on extractable phosphorus (P) in alkaline and calcareous irrigated soils of South Africa. This study aimed to quantify extractable P by selected methods in these soils after application of mono-ammonium phosphate (MAP) at different rates. Six soils with a pH of 7.1 to 8.2 that contained 0.6–12.4% CaCO3 were incubated for two months after application of MAP at levels equivalent to 0, 16.8, 33.6, 50.4, 67.2, 84.0 or 100.8 kg P ha−1. After incubation, soil P was extracted with the Olsen, Bray 1, Mehlich 3 and Ambic 1 methods. The most soil P was extracted with the Mehlich 3 method, and the least soil P was extracted with either the Bray 1 or Olsen methods, regardless of the MAP application rate. The differences in P extracted by the methods were attributed to the chemical composition of the extractants and the soil properties. Olsen and to a lesser extent Ambic 1 were the most reliable methods for establishing the amount of P required to raise the P status of the alkaline and calcareous soils. Future research should focus on establishing specific threshold values for soil and crop combinations with the Olsen method.

Trends of carbon emissions from applications of nitrogen fertiliser and crop residues to agricultural soils in South Africa

The Agriculture, Forestry and Other Land Use (AFOLU) sector produces approximately 10% of the global anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and growing demands for food to meet the needs of an increasing population make it difficult to mitigate these emissions. This study investigated historical (1911–2018) nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions from applications of synthetic nitrogen (N) fertiliser for agricultural purposes and crop residues retained in the fields post-harvest in South Africa. The aim was to develop trends of different sources of these emissions to guide national mitigation plans. Disaggregation of the emissions from key crops were developed using area planted, N application rates and residues retained in the fields. N2O intensities were calculated to establish a relationship between agricultural emissions and socio-economic conditions. Total emissions from N and crop residues were 7.3 million tonnes (Mt) of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) emissions in 2018 and N2O from N fertiliser was approximately 3.0 Mt. Arrival of subsidised synthetic N in the 1950s grew the emissions significantly until they peaked in the 1980s when the support was terminated. N2O emissions per capita are gradually decreasing with time which indicates an unsustainable situation of population growing faster than its ability to produce food for itself. Less emissions per kilocalorie further indicate that crop emissions are not carbon intensive.

REDESCRIPTION OF HYPOASPISELLA SPICULIFER (BERLESE, 1918) COMB. N. (ACARI: MESOSTIGMATA: LAELAPIDAE) FROM SOUTH AFRICA

Hypoaspisella spiculifer comb. n. is redescribed on the basis of adult females, collected from soil in South Africa. Hypoaspisella spiculifer fits well with the current concept of the genus Hypoaspisella Bernhard. The chelicerae of this species are similar to those of free-living mites, suggesting that it may be a predator of small soil invertebrates.

HYPOZETES ANDREII (ACARI, ORIBATIDA, TEGORIBATIDAE), A NEW SPECIES OF ORIBATID MITES FROM SOUTH AFRICA

A new oribatid mite species of the genus Hypozetes (Oribatida, Tegoribatidae) is described from soil in South Africa. Hypozetes andreii sp. n. differs from all other representatives of the genus by the presence of heavily and densely porose body surface. Distribution data of the new species are presented.

Hydrogeological Properties of Gypseous soils in South Africa

Abstract Gypseous soils occur in the western arid and semi-arid regions of South Africa and Namibia. These soils exhibit a complex nature and abnormal behaviour due to their gypsum content and as such they have become more prevalent in research. As these soils are finding more use in industry, an astute understanding of their hydrogeological properties and behaviour is required. Powdery gypseous soil samples collected from the Northern Cape (Geelvloer) and Western Cape (Rooiberg and R355) Provinces, as well as a prepared sample, are subject to XRD analysis, particle size distribution determination and falling-head permeability tests using both water and brine. The testing served as preliminary research to guide further studies into the topic. The prepared sample, with 19% fines, comprises 35% gypsum and 65% sand. Geelvloer samples, with 91.95% gypsum content, are comprised mostly of sand-sized particles with 45% fines. Rooiberg samples contain 75% fines with a slightly lower gypsum content of 83.25%, while R355 samples have 50% fines with 75.35% gypsum. It is generally understood that particle size distribution contributes to the hydraulic conductivity of soils, where a higher portion fines will result in a lower conductivity. In the case of gypseous soils, the solubility is of importance as well, as it may have long term effects. With the intent of evaluating the effect of the aforementioned factors on the hydraulic conductivity of gypseous soils in South Africa, the samples taken represent differences in particle size distribution and origin. Geelvloer had k-values in the order of 8.82×10-6 m/s, with the brine sample giving 9.43×10-6 m/s, while the k-values for Rooiberg and R355 were in the order of 3.90×10-6 m/s and 5.87×10-6 m/s, respectively. The brine resulted in 5.63×10-6 m/s for Rooiberg and 9.90×10-6 m/s for the R355 sample. The made sample, having less fines, had k values in the order of 2.15×10-5 m/s, and 4.19×10-5 m/s for the brine. The differences between the results are largely negligible and show that despite what is believed to influence the hydraulic conductivity, in the case of gypseous soils in South Africa, on a small scale, it remained unaffected.

Draft Genome Sequence of Pseudomonas koreensis Strain AB36, Isolated from Gold Mining Soil.

Here, we report the draft genome sequence of Pseudomonas koreensis strain AB36, isolated from gold mining soil in South Africa. The draft sequence consists of 5,902,614 bp, with a G+C content of 60.1% and 5,242 protein-coding genes. The genome provides insight into its metabolism and the degradation of environmental pollutants.

Economic assessment of bioethanol production from maize in South Africa

PurposeThis research investigated the economic feasibility of using maize as feedstock to produce bioethanol in South Africa. The purpose of the study was to generate economic data from a maize-fed bioethanol plant and use it to perform a comparative analysis between the profitability that is generated by the maize exports to Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries and the profitability generated by the bioethanol plant in South Africa.Design/methodology/approachThis study used a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods to gather data. The mixed method approach was chosen owing to the nature of the study which required an analysis of qualitative and quantitative data in order to achieve its objectives.FindingsThe findings from a qualitative instrument indicated that a majority of respondents were in favour of the decision of excluding maize for bioethanol production made by the South African Government. Findings from quantitative analysis revealed that the profitability of the bioethanol plant was largely influenced by the prices of feedstock and bioethanol.Research limitations/implicationsThis research was a deterministic feasibility study which ignores the risk associated with price fluctuation of raw materials and products. A probabilistic feasibility study was recommended (Monte Carlo simulation). Such economic data can also help policymakers and investors to make informed decisions.Originality/valueThe study recommended the need to produce bioethanol from the maize cultivated in available arable soils in South Africa, thus alleviating the cost burden of importing oil and obnoxious environmental effects.