Abstract
Maize (Zea mays) has traditionally been a major cereal staple in southern Ghana. Through breeding and other crop improvement efforts, the zone of cultivation of maize has now extended to the northern regions of Ghana which, hitherto, were the home to sorghum and millet as the major cereals. Maize yield in the northern Ghana is hampered by three major biophysical constraints, namely, poor soil fertility, low soil water storage capacity and climate variability. In this study we used the DSSAT crop model to assess integrated water and soil management strategies that combined the pre-season El-Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO)-based weather forecasting in selecting optimal planting time, at four locations in the northern regions of Ghana. It could be shown that the optimum planting date for a given year was predictable based on February-to-April (FMA) Sea Surface Temperature (SST) anomaly for the locations with R2 ranging from 0.52 to 0.71. For three out of four locations, the ENSO-predicted optimum planting dates resulted in significantly higher maize yields than the conventional farmer selected planting dates. In Wa for instance, early optimum planting dates were associated with La Nina and El Niño (Julian Days 130 – 150) whereas late planting was associated with the Neutral ENSO phase. It was also observed that the addition of manure and fertilizer improved soil water and nitrogen use efficiency, respectively, and minimized yield variability, especially when combined with weather forecast. The use of ENSO-based targeted planting date choice together with modest fertilizer and manure application has the potential to improve maize yields and also ensure sustainable maize production in parts of northern Ghana.
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Claims 9
Claim · model-written summary
Optimum maize planting date was predictable from February-to-April SST anomaly, with R2 of 0.52 to 0.71.
Zea maysOrganisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“optimum planting date for a given year was predictable based on February-to-April (FMA) Sea Surface Temperature (SST) anomaly for the locations with R2 ranging from 0.52 to 0.71”
t0“Maize Production”
Claim · model-written summary
ENSO-predicted planting dates gave significantly higher maize yield than farmer-selected dates at three of four sites.
- Treatment
- ENSO-predicted optimum planting datese0
- Outcome
- maize yieldse0
- Direction
- highere0
- Qualifier
- three out of four locationse0
- Comparator
- conventional farmer selected planting datese0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“For three out of four locations, the ENSO-predicted optimum planting dates resulted in significantly higher maize yields than the conventional farmer selected planting dates”
Claim · model-written summary
In Wa, early optimal planting dates were associated with La Nina and El Niño.
- Outcome
- optimum planting datese0
- Direction
- earlye0
- Value
- Julian Days 130 – 150e0
- Comparator
- La Nina and El Niñoe0
- Setting
- Wae0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“In Wa for instance, early optimum planting dates were associated with La Nina and El Niño (Julian Days 130 – 150)”
t0“Maize Production”
Claim · model-written summary
In Wa, late planting was associated with the Neutral ENSO phase.
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“late planting was associated with the Neutral ENSO phase”
t0“Maize Production”
Claim · model-written summary
Adding manure improved soil water-use efficiency.
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“addition of manure and fertilizer improved soil water and nitrogen use efficiency, respectively”
t0“Maize Production”
Claim · model-written summary
Adding fertilizer improved nitrogen-use efficiency.
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“addition of manure and fertilizer improved soil water and nitrogen use efficiency, respectively”
t0“Maize Production”
Claim · model-written summary
Adding manure minimized yield variability, particularly with a weather forecast.
- Treatment
- manuree0
- Outcome
- yield variabilitye0
- Direction
- minimizede0
- Qualifier
- especially when combined with weather forecaste0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“addition of manure and fertilizer improved soil water and nitrogen use efficiency, respectively, and minimized yield variability, especially when combined with weather forecast”
t0“Maize Production”
Claim · model-written summary
Adding fertilizer minimized yield variability, particularly with a weather forecast.
- Treatment
- fertilizere0
- Outcome
- yield variabilitye0
- Direction
- minimizede0
- Qualifier
- especially when combined with weather forecaste0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“addition of manure and fertilizer improved soil water and nitrogen use efficiency, respectively, and minimized yield variability, especially when combined with weather forecast”
t0“Maize Production”
Claim · model-written summary
The authors propose ENSO-guided planting with modest manure and fertilizer to improve maize yields and sustainability.
- Treatment
- ENSO-based targeted planting date choice together with modest fertilizer and manure applicatione0
- Outcome
- improve maize yields and also ensure sustainable maize productione0
- Setting
- parts of northern Ghanae0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“ENSO-based targeted planting date choice together with modest fertilizer and manure application has the potential to improve maize yields and also ensure sustainable maize production in parts of northern Ghana”
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