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Some effects of crop rotation on the productivity of crops on a red earth in a semi-arid tropical climate

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 March 2009

R. H. Bennison  and
D. D. Evans
R. H. Bennison
Affiliation:
Katumani Research Station, Department of Agriculture, Kenya
D. D. Evans
Affiliation:
Katumani Research Station, Department of Agriculture, Kenya
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Summary

The yield of crops in the low rainfall areas of eastern Kenya has been shown to vary within each season according to the crops grown in preceding seasons. This phenomenon of crop sequence was associated more especially with the amount of soil nitrates remaining at all depths in the soil than with the amount of water that may be left. The quantity of nitrates left by a crop was generally related to its vegetative bulk, its rooting habit and duration on the ground, and increased as the crops were ranked in the order: local maize, short-term maize, silage maize, beans and fallow. The beneficial effect of a bean crop or a fallow was reflected in a third crop when the intermediate crop had a low nitrogen requirement.

The persistence of the relative differences in the nitrate levels in the soil would seem to be due to their low mobility under leaching.

The increase in yield of a crop was shown to be due to the more rapid development of the crop when nitrate supplies were more plentiful. When the duration of the rains was short the earlier, more abundant flowering resulting from the rapid growth gave better grain set, and hence greater and more reliable yields. When crops matured in dry weather the availability of soil nitrates at depths of up to 4 ft had a positive influence on yield.

Although rainfall was the main determinant of yield within each season, the use of fallowing to store water from one season to the next was inefficient. Similar amounts could be held in cropped land if late rains occurred. If early rains were plentiful the benefit of stored water could be lost by the thorough wetting of the soil profile.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Agricultural Science , Volume 71 , Issue 3 , December 1968 , pp. 365 - 380
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1968

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