Conservation Agriculture in Semi-Arid Zimbabwe: A Promising Practice to Improve Finger Millet ( Eleusine coracana Gaertn.) Productivity and Soil Water Availability in the Short Term

Vengai Mbanyele, Florence Mtambanengwe, Hatirarami Nezomba, Jairos Rurinda and Paul Mapfumo
Additional contact information
Vengai Mbanyele: Department of Soil Science and Environment, University of Zimbabwe, Mount Pleasant, Harare P.O. Box MP167, Zimbabwe
Florence Mtambanengwe: Department of Soil Science and Environment, University of Zimbabwe, Mount Pleasant, Harare P.O. Box MP167, Zimbabwe
Hatirarami Nezomba: Department of Soil Science and Environment, University of Zimbabwe, Mount Pleasant, Harare P.O. Box MP167, Zimbabwe
Jairos Rurinda: Department of Soil Science and Environment, University of Zimbabwe, Mount Pleasant, Harare P.O. Box MP167, Zimbabwe
Paul Mapfumo: Department of Soil Science and Environment, University of Zimbabwe, Mount Pleasant, Harare P.O. Box MP167, Zimbabwe

Agriculture, 2022, vol. 12, issue 5, 1-17

Abstract: Increasing within-season dry spells in Southern Africa in recent years have generated growing interest in conservation agriculture (CA) to secure crop yields, especially under rainfed systems. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of CA on finger millet’s ( Eleusine coracana (L.) Gaertn) growth, yield and water use efficiency on nutrient-depleted sandy soils. Five treatments, namely (conventional tillage (control), conventional tillage + mulch (partial CA1), reduced tillage only (partial CA2), reduced tillage + mulching (partial CA3) and reduced tillage + mulching + intercropping (full CA)) were evaluated over two consecutive cropping seasons (2015/16 and 2016/17) on-farm in the village of Chidora in Hwedza District, southeast Zimbabwe. All mulched treatments had 15–32% more soil water content over the two growing seasons compared to the control. The higher soil water content under the mulched treatments significantly improved finger millet growth and development during both seasons as evidenced by the lower number of days to emergence (3 days less), greater shoot biomass, higher number of productive tillers and higher number of fingers produced. The full CA treatment achieved the best finger millet grain yield of 1.07 and 1.29 t ha −1 during the 2015/16 and 2016/17 seasons, respectively. Full CA, partial CA3 and partial CA1 increased finger millet grain yield by 70%, 14% and 17% during the 2015/16 cropping season compared to the control. During the 2016/17 cropping season, a similar trend in finger millet grain yield was observed. Full CA was also among the most efficient methods in terms of water utilization (WUE), especially during the 2015/16 season. We concluded that CA, particularly when practiced in full, was more effective at offsetting the water limitations imposed by intra-seasonal dry spells on finger millet and significantly improved productivity.

Keywords: dryland cropping; mulching; finger millet; dry spells; yield; water use efficiency (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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