Abstract
The costs of maize production per ha in the Eastern Cape Province are escalating due to an increase in mechanization and input costs. Conservation agriculture (CA) has been identified as one of the systems that can reduce costs of production and improve maize productivity. Most famers in the district still require tangible evidence on the benefits and impacts of minimal soil disturbance. Hence it was necessary to conduct this comparison between tillage practices on maize productivity. Ten projects under conventional tillage (CT) were randomly selected from maize cropping in three local municipalities of the Eastern Cape Province in South Africa. Minimum tillage (MT) demonstration fields on maize production measuring 1 to 5 ha were conducted in the aforementioned local municipalities and were compared to project under conventional tillage. Minimum tillage recorded an increase in P (46 mg/L) and K (227 mg/L) concentration; whereas Ca (395.6 mg/L) and Mg (406.75 mg/L) concentration were higher under conventional tillage at 0 to 10 cm soil sampling depth. Soil pH was not affected by tillage practices. Minimum tillage recorded an average increase in maize yield from 2.3 to 4.78 tons per ha compared to 4.16 tons per under conventional tillage. The greatest gross margin was observed from minimum tillage (US $273.92) compared to conventional tillage which had the lowest (US $207.02) gross margin. The short term comparison between the tillage practices revealed that minimum tillage had higher levels of P and K soil macro elements, increase in maize grain yield and subsequent high net benefits relative to conventional tillage. Therefore, it is necessary to scale up the adoption of minimum tillage in the district coupled with crop rotation and residue retention so that the majority of farmers can realize its benefits. Key words: Gross margin, tillage, nutrients, yield.
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Claims 8
Claim · model-written summary
Minimum tillage increased soil P concentration to 46 mg/L.
- Treatment
- Minimum tillagee0
- Outcome
- Pe0
- Direction
- increasee0
- Value
- 46 mg/Le0
- Setting
- Eastern Cape Province in South Africae1
Zea maysNot reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“maize”
e0“Minimum tillage recorded an increase in P (46 mg/L) and K (227 mg/L) concentration”
e1“Eastern Cape Province in South Africa”
Claim · model-written summary
Minimum tillage increased soil K concentration to 227 mg/L.
- Treatment
- Minimum tillagee0
- Outcome
- Ke0
- Direction
- increasee0
- Value
- 227 mg/Le0
- Setting
- Eastern Cape Province in South Africae1
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“maize”
e0“Minimum tillage recorded an increase in P (46 mg/L) and K (227 mg/L) concentration”
e1“Eastern Cape Province in South Africa”
Claim · model-written summary
Conventional tillage had higher soil Ca concentration of 395.6 mg/L at 0 to 10 cm depth.
- Treatment
- conventional tillagee0
- Outcome
- Cae0
- Direction
- highere0
- Value
- 395.6 mg/Le0
- Qualifier
- 0 to 10 cm soil sampling depthe0
- Setting
- Eastern Cape Province in South Africae1
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“maize”
e0“Ca (395.6 mg/L) and Mg (406.75 mg/L) concentration were higher under conventional tillage at 0 to 10 cm soil sampling depth”
e1“Eastern Cape Province in South Africa”
Claim · model-written summary
Conventional tillage had higher soil Mg concentration of 406.75 mg/L at 0 to 10 cm depth.
- Treatment
- conventional tillagee0
- Outcome
- Mge0
- Direction
- highere0
- Value
- 406.75 mg/Le0
- Qualifier
- 0 to 10 cm soil sampling depthe0
- Setting
- Eastern Cape Province in South Africae1
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“maize”
e0“Ca (395.6 mg/L) and Mg (406.75 mg/L) concentration were higher under conventional tillage at 0 to 10 cm soil sampling depth”
e1“Eastern Cape Province in South Africa”
Claim · model-written summary
Soil pH was not affected by tillage practices.
- Treatment
- tillage practicese0
- Outcome
- Soil pHe0
- Direction
- not affectede0
- Setting
- Eastern Cape Province in South Africae1
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“maize”
e0“Soil pH was not affected by tillage practices”
e1“Eastern Cape Province in South Africa”
Claim · model-written summary
Minimum tillage raised maize yield from 2.3 to 4.78 tons per ha, versus 4.16 tons under conventional tillage.
- Treatment
- Minimum tillagee0
- Outcome
- maize yielde0
- Direction
- increasee0
- Value
- 4.78 tons per hae0
- Qualifier
- 4.16 tons pere0
- Comparator
- conventional tillagee0
- Setting
- Eastern Cape Province in South Africae1
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“maize”
e0“Minimum tillage recorded an average increase in maize yield from 2.3 to 4.78 tons per ha compared to 4.16 tons per under conventional tillage”
e1“Eastern Cape Province in South Africa”
Claim · model-written summary
Minimum tillage gave a greater gross margin of US $273.92 than conventional tillage at US $207.02.
- Treatment
- minimum tillagee0
- Outcome
- gross margine0
- Direction
- greateste0
- Value
- US $273.92e0
- Qualifier
- US $207.02e0
- Comparator
- conventional tillagee0
- Setting
- Eastern Cape Province in South Africae1
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“maize”
e0“The greatest gross margin was observed from minimum tillage (US $273.92) compared to conventional tillage which had the lowest (US $207.02) gross margin”
e1“Eastern Cape Province in South Africa”
Claim · model-written summary
The authors recommend wider adoption of minimum tillage with crop rotation and residue retention.
- Outcome
- scale up the adoption of minimum tillage in the district coupled with crop rotation and residue retentione0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“maize”
e0“scale up the adoption of minimum tillage in the district coupled with crop rotation and residue retention”
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