The Response of Water and Nutrient Dynamics and of Crop Yield to Conservation Agriculture in the Ethiopian Highlands

Sisay A. Belay, Tewodros T. Assefa, P. V. Vara Prasad, Petra Schmitter, Abeyou W. Worqlul, Tammo S. Steenhuis, Manuel R. Reyes and Seifu A. Tilahun
Additional contact information
Sisay A. Belay: Faculty of Civil and Water Resources Engineering, Bahir Dar Institute of Technology, Bahir Dar University, Bahir Dar 26, Ethiopia
Tewodros T. Assefa: Faculty of Civil and Water Resources Engineering, Bahir Dar Institute of Technology, Bahir Dar University, Bahir Dar 26, Ethiopia
P. V. Vara Prasad: Sustainable Intensification Innovation Lab, Department of Agronomy, Kansas State University, Manhattan, Kansas, KS 66506, USA
Petra Schmitter: International Water Management Institute, Yangon 11081, Myanmar
Abeyou W. Worqlul: Blackland Research Center, Texas A&M AgriLife Research, Temple, TX 76502, USA
Tammo S. Steenhuis: Faculty of Civil and Water Resources Engineering, Bahir Dar Institute of Technology, Bahir Dar University, Bahir Dar 26, Ethiopia
Manuel R. Reyes: Sustainable Intensification Innovation Lab, Department of Agronomy, Kansas State University, Manhattan, Kansas, KS 66506, USA
Seifu A. Tilahun: Faculty of Civil and Water Resources Engineering, Bahir Dar Institute of Technology, Bahir Dar University, Bahir Dar 26, Ethiopia

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 15, 1-15

Abstract: Smallholder agriculture constitutes the main source of livelihood for the Ethiopian rural community. However, soil degradation and uneven distribution of rainfall have threatened agriculture at present. This study is aimed at investigating the impacts of conservation agriculture on irrigation water use, nutrient availability in the root zone, and crop yield under supplementary irrigation. In this study, conservation agriculture (CA), which includes minimum soil disturbance, grass mulch cover, and crop rotation, was practiced and compared with conventional tillage (CT). We used two years’ (2018 and 2019) experimental data under paired-t design in the production of a local variety green pepper ( Capsicum annuum L.). The results showed that CA practices significantly (α = 0.05) reduced irrigation water use (13% to 29%) and runoff (29% to 51%) while it increased percolated water in the root zone (27% to 50%) when compared with CT practices under the supplementary irrigation phase. In addition, CA significantly decreased NO 3 -N in the leachate (14% to 44%) and in the runoff (about 100%), while PO 4 -P significantly decreased in the leachate (33% to 50%) and in the runoff (16%) when compared with CT. Similarly, CA decreased the NO 3 -N load in the leachate and in the runoff, while the PO 4 -P load increased in the leachate but decreased in the runoff. The yield return that was achieved under CA treatment was 30% higher in 2018 and 10% higher in 2019 when compared with the CT. This research improves our understanding of water and nutrient dynamics in green pepper grown under CA and CT. Use of CA provides opportunities to optimize water use by decreasing irrigation water requirements and optimize nutrient use by decreasing nutrient losses through the runoff and leaching.

Keywords: conservation agriculture; leachate; conventional tillage; nutrient dynamics; supplementary irrigation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/15/5989/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/15/5989/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:15:p:5989-:d:389634

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().