Abstract
Integrating organic nutrient sources with mineral fertilizers offers a promising approach to address the challenges associated with conventional fertilizer management practices in cocoa production systems. This study evaluated the effect of augmenting mineral fertilizer with organic nutrient sources on soil health and nutrient use efficiency in cocoa landscapes in Ghana. The study consisted of two factors: shade systems (no shade and medium shade) and soil amendment (no amendment (T1), mineral fertilizer alone (T2), mineral fertilizer + biochar (T3), ½ mineral fertilizer + compost without rock phosphate (RP) (T4) and ½ mineral fertilizer + compost with RP (T5). The results reveal that these factors affected soil temperature and water, with medium-shade systems generally exhibiting lower temperatures and higher water contents. Soil chemical properties such as pH, soil organic carbon (SOC), total N, available P, and cation exchange capacity were significantly impacted by shade system and soil amendment, particularly in enhancing SOC and N levels. Furthermore, adding compost to mineral fertilizer improved microbial biomass carbon (MBC), microbial biomass nitrogen (MBN), and microbial biomass phosphorus (MBP), indicating the positive effect of organic amendment on microbial activity. Plots treated with T5 showed significant improvement in Nitrogen use efficiency (NUE), Phosphorus use efficiency, and Potassium use efficiency (KUE). The importance of RP in improving the availability of N, P, and K for plant uptake was highlighted. The regression revealed that soil N was the most important driving force for NUE and KUE with a 1% increase in soil N resulting in a 79 and 111% increase in NUE and KUE respectively.
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Claims 10
Claim · model-written summary
Medium shade had lower soil temperature and higher water content.
- Taxon
- cocoa
Theobroma cacaot0 - Treatment
- medium-shade systemse0
- Outcome
- temperatures and higher water contentse0
- Direction
- lower temperatures and higher water contentse0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“medium-shade systems generally exhibiting lower temperatures and higher water contents”
t0“cocoa”
Claim · model-written summary
Shade system and soil amendment significantly affected soil pH, organic carbon, total N, available P and cation exchange capacity.
- Taxon
- cocoaTheobroma cacaot0
- Treatment
- shade system and soil amendmente0
- Outcome
- pH, soil organic carbon (SOC), total N, available P, and cation exchange capacitye0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Soil chemical properties such as pH, soil organic carbon (SOC), total N, available P, and cation exchange capacity were significantly impacted by shade system and soil amendment”
t0“cocoa”
Claim · model-written summary
Shade and amendments particularly enhanced soil organic carbon and nitrogen.
- Taxon
- cocoaTheobroma cacaot0
- Outcome
- SOC and N levelse0
- Direction
- enhancinge0
Not reportedTreatmentComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“particularly in enhancing SOC and N levels”
t0“cocoa”
Claim · model-written summary
Adding compost to mineral fertilizer improved microbial biomass carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus.
- Taxon
- cocoaTheobroma cacaot0
- Treatment
- adding compost to mineral fertilizere0
- Outcome
- microbial biomass carbon (MBC), microbial biomass nitrogen (MBN), and microbial biomass phosphorus (MBP)e0
- Direction
- improvede0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“adding compost to mineral fertilizer improved microbial biomass carbon (MBC), microbial biomass nitrogen (MBN), and microbial biomass phosphorus (MBP)”
t0“cocoa”
Claim · model-written summary
T5 significantly improved nitrogen use efficiency.
- Taxon
- cocoaTheobroma cacaot0
- Treatment
- T5e0
- Outcome
- Nitrogen use efficiency (NUE)e0
- Direction
- improvemente0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Plots treated with T5 showed significant improvement in Nitrogen use efficiency (NUE), Phosphorus use efficiency, and Potassium use efficiency (KUE).”
t0“cocoa”
Claim · model-written summary
T5 significantly improved phosphorus use efficiency.
- Taxon
- cocoaTheobroma cacaot0
- Treatment
- T5e0
- Outcome
- Phosphorus use efficiencye0
- Direction
- improvemente0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Plots treated with T5 showed significant improvement in Nitrogen use efficiency (NUE), Phosphorus use efficiency, and Potassium use efficiency (KUE).”
t0“cocoa”
Claim · model-written summary
T5 significantly improved potassium use efficiency.
- Taxon
- cocoaTheobroma cacaot0
- Treatment
- T5e0
- Outcome
- Potassium use efficiency (KUE)e0
- Direction
- improvemente0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Plots treated with T5 showed significant improvement in Nitrogen use efficiency (NUE), Phosphorus use efficiency, and Potassium use efficiency (KUE).”
t0“cocoa”
Claim · model-written summary
Rock phosphate improved availability of N, P and K for uptake.
- Taxon
- cocoaTheobroma cacaot0
- Treatment
- RPe0
- Outcome
- availability of N, P, and K for plant uptakee0
- Direction
- improvinge0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“RP in improving the availability of N, P, and K for plant uptake”
t0“cocoa”
Claim · model-written summary
A 1% increase in soil N was associated with a 79% increase in nitrogen use efficiency.
- Taxon
- cocoaTheobroma cacaot0
- Outcome
- NUEe0
- Direction
- increasee0
- Value
- 79e0
- Qualifier
- 1% increase in soil Ne0
- Setting
- soil Ne0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“a 1% increase in soil N resulting in a 79 and 111% increase in NUE and KUE respectively”
t0“cocoa”
Claim · model-written summary
A 1% increase in soil N was associated with a 111% increase in potassium use efficiency.
- Taxon
- cocoaTheobroma cacaot0
- Outcome
- KUEe0
- Direction
- increasee0
- Value
- 111%e0
- Qualifier
- 1% increase in soil Ne0
- Setting
- soil Ne0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“a 1% increase in soil N resulting in a 79 and 111% increase in NUE and KUE respectively”
t0“cocoa”
The same questions in other papers
fertilization · soil: biology · Theobroma cacao (cocoa)Results agree
2 papers in the same direction as this paper
- positive
- positive
phosphorus · nutrient: content · Theobroma cacao (cocoa)Results agree
6 papers in the same direction as this paper
- positive
- positive
- positive
3 papers more in this group
See all 7 papers →Claims are grouped by organism, treatment and what was measured or targeted. A paper counts as positive when any of its claims in the group is positive.