Nutrient deficiencies are key constraints to grain legume productivity on "non-responsive" soils in sub-Saharan Africa

Leguminous plants are known to require phosphorus fertilizers and inoculation with nitrogen fixing rhizobia for optimum yield but other nutrients may also be lacking. In this study, the most limiting nutrients for legume growth were determined in soils where the crops had not responded to P and rhiz...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Baijukya, F., Heerwaarden, J. van, Franke, A.C., Brand, G. van den, Foli, S., Keino, L., Seitz, T., Servan, L., Vanlauwe, Bernard, Giller, Kenneth E.
Formato: Journal Article
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: Frontiers Media 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/117732
_version_ 1855538873515376640
author Baijukya, F.
Heerwaarden, J. van
Franke, A.C.
Brand, G. van den
Foli, S.
Keino, L.
Seitz, T.
Servan, L.
Vanlauwe, Bernard
Giller, Kenneth E.
author_browse Baijukya, F.
Brand, G. van den
Foli, S.
Franke, A.C.
Giller, Kenneth E.
Heerwaarden, J. van
Keino, L.
Seitz, T.
Servan, L.
Vanlauwe, Bernard
author_facet Baijukya, F.
Heerwaarden, J. van
Franke, A.C.
Brand, G. van den
Foli, S.
Keino, L.
Seitz, T.
Servan, L.
Vanlauwe, Bernard
Giller, Kenneth E.
author_sort Baijukya, F.
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description Leguminous plants are known to require phosphorus fertilizers and inoculation with nitrogen fixing rhizobia for optimum yield but other nutrients may also be lacking. In this study, the most limiting nutrients for legume growth were determined in soils where the crops had not responded to P and rhizobial inoculation in field trials, using the double pot technique. Soils were collected from 17 farmers' fields in West Kenya, Northern Nigeria, Eastern and Southern Rwanda, South-west and North-west Sierra Leone. Plant growth and mean biomass were measured on soils to which a full nutrient solution, containing phosphorus (P), potassium (K), magnesium (Mg), sulfur (S) and micronutrients (MN) were added, and which were compared to a control (no nutrient added), and individual omissions of each nutrient. The relationship between soil properties and nutrient deficiencies was explored. Nutrient limitations were found to differ between soils, both within and across countries. Generally, each soil was potentially deficient in at least one nutrient, with K, P, Mg, MN and S emerging as most limiting in 88, 65, 59, 18, and 12% of tested soils, respectively. While K was the most limiting nutrient in soils from Kenya and Rwanda, P was most limiting in soils from Nigeria. P and K were equally limiting in soils from Sierra Leone. Mg was found limiting in two soils from Kenya and three soils from Rwanda and one soil each in Nigeria and Sierra Leone. Micronutrients were found to be limiting in one soil from Nigeria and one soil from Rwanda. Estimates of nutrient deficiency using growth and mean biomass were found to be correlated with each other although the latter proved to be a more sensitive measure of deficiency. With few exceptions, the relation between soil parameters and nutrient deficiencies was weak and there were no significant relations between deficiency of specific nutrients and the soil content of these elements. Although our results cannot be translated directly to the field, they confirm that individual and multiple nutrient deficiencies were common in these “non-responsive” soils and may have contributed to reported low yields. This highlights the need for balanced nutrition in legume production in SSA.
format Journal Article
id CGSpace117732
institution CGIAR Consortium
language Inglés
publishDate 2021
publishDateRange 2021
publishDateSort 2021
publisher Frontiers Media
publisherStr Frontiers Media
record_format dspace
spelling CGSpace1177322025-12-08T09:54:28Z Nutrient deficiencies are key constraints to grain legume productivity on "non-responsive" soils in sub-Saharan Africa Baijukya, F. Heerwaarden, J. van Franke, A.C. Brand, G. van den Foli, S. Keino, L. Seitz, T. Servan, L. Vanlauwe, Bernard Giller, Kenneth E. nutrients sustainability productivity smallholders farmers subsaharan africa grain legumes Leguminous plants are known to require phosphorus fertilizers and inoculation with nitrogen fixing rhizobia for optimum yield but other nutrients may also be lacking. In this study, the most limiting nutrients for legume growth were determined in soils where the crops had not responded to P and rhizobial inoculation in field trials, using the double pot technique. Soils were collected from 17 farmers' fields in West Kenya, Northern Nigeria, Eastern and Southern Rwanda, South-west and North-west Sierra Leone. Plant growth and mean biomass were measured on soils to which a full nutrient solution, containing phosphorus (P), potassium (K), magnesium (Mg), sulfur (S) and micronutrients (MN) were added, and which were compared to a control (no nutrient added), and individual omissions of each nutrient. The relationship between soil properties and nutrient deficiencies was explored. Nutrient limitations were found to differ between soils, both within and across countries. Generally, each soil was potentially deficient in at least one nutrient, with K, P, Mg, MN and S emerging as most limiting in 88, 65, 59, 18, and 12% of tested soils, respectively. While K was the most limiting nutrient in soils from Kenya and Rwanda, P was most limiting in soils from Nigeria. P and K were equally limiting in soils from Sierra Leone. Mg was found limiting in two soils from Kenya and three soils from Rwanda and one soil each in Nigeria and Sierra Leone. Micronutrients were found to be limiting in one soil from Nigeria and one soil from Rwanda. Estimates of nutrient deficiency using growth and mean biomass were found to be correlated with each other although the latter proved to be a more sensitive measure of deficiency. With few exceptions, the relation between soil parameters and nutrient deficiencies was weak and there were no significant relations between deficiency of specific nutrients and the soil content of these elements. Although our results cannot be translated directly to the field, they confirm that individual and multiple nutrient deficiencies were common in these “non-responsive” soils and may have contributed to reported low yields. This highlights the need for balanced nutrition in legume production in SSA. 2021 2022-01-25T10:07:45Z 2022-01-25T10:07:45Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/117732 en Open Access application/pdf Frontiers Media Baijukya, F., Van Heerwaarden, J., Franke, A.C., Van den Brand, G., Foli, S., Keino, L., ... & Giller, K. (2021). Nutrient deficiencies are key constraints to grain legume productivity on “non-responsive” soils in sub-Saharan Africa. Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems, 5: 678955, 1-11.
spellingShingle nutrients
sustainability
productivity
smallholders
farmers
subsaharan africa
grain legumes
Baijukya, F.
Heerwaarden, J. van
Franke, A.C.
Brand, G. van den
Foli, S.
Keino, L.
Seitz, T.
Servan, L.
Vanlauwe, Bernard
Giller, Kenneth E.
Nutrient deficiencies are key constraints to grain legume productivity on "non-responsive" soils in sub-Saharan Africa
title Nutrient deficiencies are key constraints to grain legume productivity on "non-responsive" soils in sub-Saharan Africa
title_full Nutrient deficiencies are key constraints to grain legume productivity on "non-responsive" soils in sub-Saharan Africa
title_fullStr Nutrient deficiencies are key constraints to grain legume productivity on "non-responsive" soils in sub-Saharan Africa
title_full_unstemmed Nutrient deficiencies are key constraints to grain legume productivity on "non-responsive" soils in sub-Saharan Africa
title_short Nutrient deficiencies are key constraints to grain legume productivity on "non-responsive" soils in sub-Saharan Africa
title_sort nutrient deficiencies are key constraints to grain legume productivity on non responsive soils in sub saharan africa
topic nutrients
sustainability
productivity
smallholders
farmers
subsaharan africa
grain legumes
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/117732
work_keys_str_mv AT baijukyaf nutrientdeficienciesarekeyconstraintstograinlegumeproductivityonnonresponsivesoilsinsubsaharanafrica
AT heerwaardenjvan nutrientdeficienciesarekeyconstraintstograinlegumeproductivityonnonresponsivesoilsinsubsaharanafrica
AT frankeac nutrientdeficienciesarekeyconstraintstograinlegumeproductivityonnonresponsivesoilsinsubsaharanafrica
AT brandgvanden nutrientdeficienciesarekeyconstraintstograinlegumeproductivityonnonresponsivesoilsinsubsaharanafrica
AT folis nutrientdeficienciesarekeyconstraintstograinlegumeproductivityonnonresponsivesoilsinsubsaharanafrica
AT keinol nutrientdeficienciesarekeyconstraintstograinlegumeproductivityonnonresponsivesoilsinsubsaharanafrica
AT seitzt nutrientdeficienciesarekeyconstraintstograinlegumeproductivityonnonresponsivesoilsinsubsaharanafrica
AT servanl nutrientdeficienciesarekeyconstraintstograinlegumeproductivityonnonresponsivesoilsinsubsaharanafrica
AT vanlauwebernard nutrientdeficienciesarekeyconstraintstograinlegumeproductivityonnonresponsivesoilsinsubsaharanafrica
AT gillerkennethe nutrientdeficienciesarekeyconstraintstograinlegumeproductivityonnonresponsivesoilsinsubsaharanafrica