Kimaru-Muchai Serah W, Ngetich Felix K, Mucheru-Muna Monica W, Baaru Mary
Department of Social and Development Studies, Mt. Kenya University, P.O Box 342-01000, Thika, Kenya.
Department of Land and Water Management, University of Embu, P.O Box 6-60100, Embu, Kenya.
Heliyon. 2021 Sep 16;7(9):e08005. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2021.e08005. eCollection 2021 Sep.
Water harvesting technologies and soil conservation measures promote water-nutrient synergy and increase agricultural production in the dryland zones of sub-Saharan Africa. To alleviate water stress, soil fertility decline and reduce runoff, soil and water conservation measures are promising options whose impact on agricultural productivity has not been fully explored. The objective of the study was to assess the effect of using zai pits in combination with selected soil fertility ammendments. An experiment was conducted in Tharaka Nithi County, Kenya to assess effects of using Zai pits in combination with selected amendments on sorghum production. The experiment was set up in a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) involving 12 soil and water conservation treatments with three replications per block. Experimental data were subjected to analysis of variance and mean separation done using least significant difference (LSD) at < 0.05. Zai pit in combination with amendment had the highest yields of 4.30 Mg ha during short rains season of 2013 while Zai pit in combination with cattle manure had the highest yield of 4.18 Mg ha during short rains season of 2014. Conventional planting with full rate NPK had the highest benefit-cost ratio (BCR) of 3.58 while Zai pit without input had the least BCR of 0.99. The experiment showed that Zai pit technology contributed to increments of yields in comparison to conventional planting although its BCR was lower than conventional planting with similar amendments. However, both Zai pit and conventional practices should be used in combination with organic and inorganic amendments to enhance yields in sorghum production.
集水技术和土壤保持措施促进了水-养分协同作用，并提高了撒哈拉以南非洲旱地地区的农业产量。为了缓解水分胁迫、土壤肥力下降以及减少径流，土壤和水资源保护措施是很有前景的选择，但其对农业生产力的影响尚未得到充分研究。本研究的目的是评估使用栽坑与选定的土壤肥力改良剂相结合的效果。在肯尼亚的塔拉卡尼蒂县进行了一项实验，以评估使用栽坑与选定的改良剂相结合对高粱产量的影响。该实验采用随机完全区组设计（RCBD），包括12种水土保持处理，每个区组有三次重复。对实验数据进行方差分析，并使用最小显著差数法（LSD）在<0.05水平上进行均值分离。栽坑与[改良剂名称未给出]改良剂相结合在2013年短雨季节产量最高，为4.30 Mg/ha，而栽坑与牛粪肥相结合在2014年短雨季节产量最高，为4.18 Mg/ha。常规种植全量氮磷钾的效益成本比（BCR）最高，为3.58，而无投入的栽坑效益成本比最低，为0.99。实验表明，与传统种植相比，栽坑技术有助于提高产量，尽管其效益成本比低于使用类似改良剂的传统种植。然而，栽坑和传统做法都应与有机和无机改良剂结合使用，以提高高粱产量。
