In this article we investigate if qualitative soil fertility datasets derived during participatory processes can be combined with a corresponding land use change model (i) to improve the understanding of the socialecological complexity of land use change and (ii) to allow testing of alternative scenarios even in datapoor environments. To test this hypothesis, a participatory assessment approach...

A field study was conducted on hummocky terrain at the Manitoba Zero Tillage Association Research Farm near Brandon, Manitoba, Canada to determine the variability of crop yield as related to landscape position, soil properties, weed populations and plant disease. This information was used to develop a method for delineation of management units related to precision farming. Variable-rate fertili...

Maintaining the soil chemical fertility is a key prerequisite to sustain crop productivity in the tropics. Several studies perceive that soil fertility decline is widely spread in tropical regions and that it is caused by inadequate nutrient replenishment and high losses as compared to natural ecosystems. Although this has been recognised for some decades, there is a need for hard data on soil ...

consumption of manure from livestock and human health aspect and their utilization as fuel, animal feed and fertilizer are important. due to the domination of livestock farming system, limited number of animals and lack of chemical fertilizer in the traditional agriculture, consumption of animal manure in the agricultural land of country was in an efficient way. introduction of   chemical ferti...

Nutrient dynamics in the Bela watershed, Nepal were examined using a range of GIS budget modelling and field analysis techniques. The fertility status analysis showed that soil acidity, phosphorus availability, and lack of base cations were the key soil fertility issues. Nutrient budget calculations revealed significant annual phosphorus deficits for maize rota­ tions, but only minor deficits i...

Yam (Dioscorea spp.) is a tuber crop grown for food security, income generation, and traditional medicine. This crop has a high cultural value for some of the groups growing it. Most of the production comes from West Africa where the increased demand has been covered by enlarging cultivated surfaces while the mean yield remained around 10 t tuber ha-1. In West Africa, yam is traditionally culti...

Sustainable and rational management of agrophytocenoses depends on various bioindices and methods of application, particularly the development and protection of soil resources (Lai et al., 2002). Among other indices, enzyme activity is proposed as a universal index of soil fertility and contamination (Dilly et al., 2003). To ascertain and to make a comparison of bioactivity variation during the...

Knowledge of spatial variability in soil fertility is important for site specific nutrient management. In this study, spatial variability in properties that influence soil fertility such as soil organic carbon (OC), available N, available P O and available K O in surface soils of 154 farmers' fields of Karlawad village in 2 5 2 Navalgund taluk of Dharwad district of Karnataka (India) were quant...

Cottonseed, oil, and protein, as the by-products of cotton production, have the potential to provide commodities to meet the increasing demand of renewable bio-fuels and ruminant feed. An increase in crop yield per unit area requires high-yielding cultivar management with an economic nitrogen (N) rate, an optimal N application schedule, high-yielding plant populations and strong seedlings. Whet...