Soil carbon in small-holder plantain farms, Uganda : a comparison between agroforestry and non-agroforestry
Smallholder farmers in Uganda suffer from declining productivity. With a rapidly increasing population, marginal land is taken into production and the current land management leads to loss in soil fertility and escalation in soil erosion. There are studies indicating that the use of agroforestry in...
| Autor principal: | |
|---|---|
| Formato: | M2 |
| Lenguaje: | Inglés sueco |
| Publicado: |
SLU/Dept. of Soil and Environment
2014
|
| Materias: |
| _version_ | 1855570999461806080 |
|---|---|
| author | Björsell, Pia |
| author_browse | Björsell, Pia |
| author_facet | Björsell, Pia |
| author_sort | Björsell, Pia |
| collection | Epsilon Archive for Student Projects |
| description | Smallholder farmers in Uganda suffer from declining productivity. With a rapidly increasing population, marginal land is taken into production and the current land
management leads to loss in soil fertility and escalation in soil erosion. There are studies indicating that the use of agroforestry increases soil organic carbon (SOC)
compared to systems without trees. Soils which are high in carbon have many advantages, for example better water holding capacity, which can reduce stress on
crops during drought.
The aim of this study was to determine the effect agroforestry has on SOC concentration in small-holder farming systems in Uganda. The intended system to
study was farms practicing agroforestry methods or not in intercropped plantain (cooking banana) fields. The hypothesis was that the practice of agroforestry leads
to a higher concentration of SOC. Field work was conducted in Kkingo region, Masaka, Uganda. Ten farms, of which five agroforestry and five non-agroforestry, were selected in cooperation with Vi Agroforestry. At each farm, soil samplings were taken close to a tree and in the middle of the field, respectively, to the mass equivalent depths of 0-20 and 20-40 cm. In total, 40 samples were analysed at Makerere University in Kampala for SOC concentration, water holding capacity, electrical conductivity, pH and texture.
The results showed no significant difference in SOC between agroforestry and non-agroforestry. Other uncontrolled differences between farms and random variation probably masked potential effects of the categories agroforestry respective nonagroforestry.
More comprehensive studies with a larger sample of carefully selected pairs of farms would be needed for being able to quantify the impact of agroforestry on SOC. |
| format | M2 |
| id | RepoSLU6376 |
| institution | Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences |
| language | Inglés swe |
| publishDate | 2014 |
| publishDateSort | 2014 |
| publisher | SLU/Dept. of Soil and Environment |
| publisherStr | SLU/Dept. of Soil and Environment |
| record_format | eprints |
| spelling | RepoSLU63762014-01-24T13:33:48Z Soil carbon in small-holder plantain farms, Uganda : a comparison between agroforestry and non-agroforestry Björsell, Pia Soil carbon agroforestry Vi Agroforestry Vi Skogen small-holder farming plantain Uganda Smallholder farmers in Uganda suffer from declining productivity. With a rapidly increasing population, marginal land is taken into production and the current land management leads to loss in soil fertility and escalation in soil erosion. There are studies indicating that the use of agroforestry increases soil organic carbon (SOC) compared to systems without trees. Soils which are high in carbon have many advantages, for example better water holding capacity, which can reduce stress on crops during drought. The aim of this study was to determine the effect agroforestry has on SOC concentration in small-holder farming systems in Uganda. The intended system to study was farms practicing agroforestry methods or not in intercropped plantain (cooking banana) fields. The hypothesis was that the practice of agroforestry leads to a higher concentration of SOC. Field work was conducted in Kkingo region, Masaka, Uganda. Ten farms, of which five agroforestry and five non-agroforestry, were selected in cooperation with Vi Agroforestry. At each farm, soil samplings were taken close to a tree and in the middle of the field, respectively, to the mass equivalent depths of 0-20 and 20-40 cm. In total, 40 samples were analysed at Makerere University in Kampala for SOC concentration, water holding capacity, electrical conductivity, pH and texture. The results showed no significant difference in SOC between agroforestry and non-agroforestry. Other uncontrolled differences between farms and random variation probably masked potential effects of the categories agroforestry respective nonagroforestry. More comprehensive studies with a larger sample of carefully selected pairs of farms would be needed for being able to quantify the impact of agroforestry on SOC. Småskaliga lantbrukare i Uganda lider av produktionsnedgång i jordbruket. En snabbt växande befolkning leder till att utmarker i allt större grad tas i bruk och nuvarande skötselmetoder leder till förluster i markbördighet och ökad jorderosion. Det finns studier som tyder på att agroforestry ger en ökning av kolhalten i marken jämfört med system utan träd. Jordar med högre kolhalt har flera fördelar, som exempelvis en bättre vattenhållande kapacitet, vilket underlättar för grödor att uthärda stress vid torka. Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka effekten agroforestry har på markens kolhalt i småskaliga lantbruk i Uganda. Systemet avsett att studera var samodlad kokbanan med och utan agroforestry principer. Hypotesen var att agroforestry principerna leder till högre kolhalt i marken än icke-agroforestry. Fältarbete utfördes i Kkingo regionen, Masaka, Uganda. Tio gårdar valdes ut i samarbete med Vi Skogen, varav fem agroforestry och fem icke-agroforestry. På varje gård togs jordprovtagningar nära ett träd respektive mitten av fältet, till mass-ekvivalenta djup på 0-20 och 20-40 cm. Totalt 40 jordprover analyserades vid Makerere Universitetet i Kampala för kolkoncentration, vattenhållande förmåga, elektrisk konduktivitet, pH och textur. Resultaten visade inte på några signifikanta skillnader i markens kolkoncentration mellan agroforestry och icke-agroforestry. Stor variation i andra brukningsfaktorer mellan gårdar inom respektive grupp samt slumpmässig variation dolde troligen potentiella effekter av kategorierna agroforestry respektive icke-agroforestry. Det skulle behövas mer omfattande studier med ett större antal av noggrant utvalda parade gårdar för att kunna kvantifiera påverkan agroforestry har på markens kolhalt. SLU/Dept. of Soil and Environment 2014 M2 eng swe https://stud.epsilon.slu.se/6376/ |
| spellingShingle | Soil carbon agroforestry Vi Agroforestry Vi Skogen small-holder farming plantain Uganda Björsell, Pia Soil carbon in small-holder plantain farms, Uganda : a comparison between agroforestry and non-agroforestry |
| title | Soil carbon in small-holder plantain farms, Uganda : a comparison between agroforestry and non-agroforestry |
| title_full | Soil carbon in small-holder plantain farms, Uganda : a comparison between agroforestry and non-agroforestry |
| title_fullStr | Soil carbon in small-holder plantain farms, Uganda : a comparison between agroforestry and non-agroforestry |
| title_full_unstemmed | Soil carbon in small-holder plantain farms, Uganda : a comparison between agroforestry and non-agroforestry |
| title_short | Soil carbon in small-holder plantain farms, Uganda : a comparison between agroforestry and non-agroforestry |
| title_sort | soil carbon in small-holder plantain farms, uganda : a comparison between agroforestry and non-agroforestry |
| topic | Soil carbon agroforestry Vi Agroforestry Vi Skogen small-holder farming plantain Uganda |