Abstract
Abstract Background Conservation Agriculture (CA) is based on the simultaneous practice of three principles: (i) no or minimum mechanical soil disturbance, (ii) permanent soil cover, and (iii) crop diversity e.g. crop rotation and/or intercropping systems. In parts of Sub Saharan Africa (SSA), conventional tillage practice is still pervasive and includes the practice of crop burning, resulting in severe soil erosion. Moreover, there is heavy reliance on maize, which contributes to limited dietary diversity. Crop modelling efforts allow for future scenarios to be explored to support policy formulation and farmer decision making. Research exploring potential benefits of CA on food and nutrition security has been limited and existing crop modelling efforts have failed to model the full CA system and/or have been limited to comparisons against monocultures or a narrow range of crops. The APSIM crop model was used to simulate the productivity and protein yield of a variety of intercropping systems involving three crops (maize, cowpea and pigeonpea) under full CA practice relative to conventional tillage (CV) with the same intercropping system. A baseline scenario used site-specific daily historical weather data acquired between 1997 and 2015 for Pemba-Metuge district in Cabo Delgado province (Northern Mozambique). A second set of simulations used incremental changes in temperature corresponding to future climate scenarios. Results Results showed that temperature plays the most important role, contributing to nearly 60% of the variance in the combined protein yield. Projected trends further indicated that the combined protein yield of the three crops decreased from a median of 207 kg ha⁻¹ in the baseline scenario to 121 kg ha⁻¹ under a 4 °C temperature increase in the CV system. In the CA system, the median combined protein yield decreased from 230 to 135 kg ha⁻¹ under the same temperature scenarios. Median grain yields declined from the baseline scenario to a 4 °C temperature increase by 267, 97, and 29 kg ha⁻¹ for cowpea, pigeonpea, and maize, respectively, under the CV system. Under the CA system, the corresponding declines were 291, 107, and 27 kg ha⁻¹. Nevertheless, protein yields and overall productivity remained consistently higher under the CA system. Conclusions Our simulation work provides preliminary evidence that suggests Conservation Agriculture can sustain protein yield under changing climate dynamics in Northern Mozambique.
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Claims 10
Claim · model-written summary
Temperature explained nearly 60% of combined protein-yield variance.
- Taxon
- maize, cowpea and pigeonpea
Cajanus cajan
Vigna unguiculata
Zea mayse1 - Treatment
- temperaturee0
- Outcome
- variance in the combined protein yielde0
- Value
- nearly 60%e0
Not reportedDirection
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“temperature plays the most important role, contributing to nearly 60% of the variance in the combined protein yield.”
e1“three crops (maize, cowpea and pigeonpea)”
Claim · model-written summary
Combined protein yield under conventional tillage declined from 207 to 121 kg ha⁻¹ with 4 °C warming.
- Taxon
- maize, cowpea and pigeonpeaCajanus cajanVigna unguiculataZea mayse1
- Treatment
- 4 °C temperature increasee0
- Outcome
- combined protein yielde0
- Direction
- decreasede0
- Value
- 121 kg ha⁻¹e0
- Qualifier
- 207 kg ha⁻¹e0
- Comparator
- baseline scenarioe0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“the combined protein yield of the three crops decreased from a median of 207 kg ha⁻¹ in the baseline scenario to 121 kg ha⁻¹ under a 4 °C temperature increase in the CV system.”
e1“three crops (maize, cowpea and pigeonpea)”
Claim · model-written summary
Combined protein yield under conservation agriculture declined from 230 to 135 kg ha⁻¹ under the same warming scenarios.
- Taxon
- maize, cowpea and pigeonpeaCajanus cajanVigna unguiculataZea mayse1
- Treatment
- 4 °C temperature increasee2
- Outcome
- median combined protein yielde0
- Direction
- decreasede0
- Value
- 135 kg ha⁻¹e0
- Qualifier
- 230e0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“In the CA system, the median combined protein yield decreased from 230 to 135 kg ha⁻¹ under the same temperature scenarios.”
e1“three crops (maize, cowpea and pigeonpea)”
e2“under a 4 °C temperature increase in the CV system.”
Claim · model-written summary
Conventional-tillage cowpea grain yield declined by 267 kg ha⁻¹ under 4 °C warming.
- Taxon
- cowpeaVigna unguiculatae0
- Treatment
- 4 °C temperature increasee0
- Outcome
- Median grain yieldse0
- Direction
- declinede0
- Value
- 267e0
- Qualifier
- CV systeme0
- Comparator
- baseline scenarioe0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Median grain yields declined from the baseline scenario to a 4 °C temperature increase by 267, 97, and 29 kg ha⁻¹ for cowpea, pigeonpea, and maize, respectively, under the CV system.”
Claim · model-written summary
Conventional-tillage pigeonpea grain yield declined by 97 kg ha⁻¹ under 4 °C warming.
- Taxon
- pigeonpeaCajanus cajane0
- Treatment
- 4 °C temperature increasee0
- Outcome
- Median grain yieldse0
- Direction
- declinede0
- Value
- 97e0
- Qualifier
- CV systeme0
- Comparator
- baseline scenarioe0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Median grain yields declined from the baseline scenario to a 4 °C temperature increase by 267, 97, and 29 kg ha⁻¹ for cowpea, pigeonpea, and maize, respectively, under the CV system.”
Claim · model-written summary
Conventional-tillage maize grain yield declined by 29 kg ha⁻¹ under 4 °C warming.
- Treatment
- 4 °C temperature increasee0
- Outcome
- Median grain yieldse0
- Direction
- declinede0
- Value
- 29 kg ha⁻¹e0
- Qualifier
- CV systeme0
- Comparator
- baseline scenarioe0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Median grain yields declined from the baseline scenario to a 4 °C temperature increase by 267, 97, and 29 kg ha⁻¹ for cowpea, pigeonpea, and maize, respectively, under the CV system.”
Claim · model-written summary
Conservation-agriculture cowpea grain yield declined by 291 kg ha⁻¹ under warming.
- Taxon
- cowpeaVigna unguiculatae1
- Treatment
- 4 °C temperature increasee1
- Outcome
- Median grain yieldse1
- Direction
- declinese0
- Value
- 291e0
- Qualifier
- CA systeme0
- Comparator
- baseline scenarioe1
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Under the CA system, the corresponding declines were 291, 107, and 27 kg ha⁻¹.”
e1“Median grain yields declined from the baseline scenario to a 4 °C temperature increase by 267, 97, and 29 kg ha⁻¹ for cowpea, pigeonpea, and maize, respectively, under the CV system.”
Claim · model-written summary
Conservation-agriculture pigeonpea grain yield declined by 107 kg ha⁻¹ under warming.
- Taxon
- pigeonpeaCajanus cajane1
- Treatment
- 4 °C temperature increasee1
- Outcome
- Median grain yieldse1
- Direction
- declinese0
- Value
- 107e0
- Qualifier
- CA systeme0
- Comparator
- baseline scenarioe1
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Under the CA system, the corresponding declines were 291, 107, and 27 kg ha⁻¹.”
e1“Median grain yields declined from the baseline scenario to a 4 °C temperature increase by 267, 97, and 29 kg ha⁻¹ for cowpea, pigeonpea, and maize, respectively, under the CV system.”
Claim · model-written summary
Conservation-agriculture maize grain yield declined by 27 kg ha⁻¹ under warming.
- Treatment
- 4 °C temperature increasee1
- Outcome
- Median grain yieldse1
- Direction
- declinese0
- Value
- 27 kg ha⁻¹e0
- Qualifier
- CA systeme0
- Comparator
- baseline scenarioe1
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Under the CA system, the corresponding declines were 291, 107, and 27 kg ha⁻¹.”
e1“Median grain yields declined from the baseline scenario to a 4 °C temperature increase by 267, 97, and 29 kg ha⁻¹ for cowpea, pigeonpea, and maize, respectively, under the CV system.”
Claim · model-written summary
Protein yields and overall productivity remained consistently higher with conservation agriculture.
- Taxon
- maize, cowpea and pigeonpeaCajanus cajanVigna unguiculataZea mayse1
- Treatment
- CA systeme0
- Outcome
- protein yields and overall productivitye0
- Direction
- highere0
- Comparator
- conventional tillage (CV)e2
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Nevertheless, protein yields and overall productivity remained consistently higher under the CA system.”
e1“three crops (maize, cowpea and pigeonpea)”
e2“conventional tillage (CV)”
The same questions in other papers
tillage · quality: protein · Zea mays (maize)Positive and negative results
21 papers in the same direction as this paper · 6 in the opposite direction · 2 reporting no difference from an alternative
- positive
- no effect
- no effect
26 papers more in this group
See all 30 papers →tillage · quality: protein · Cajanus cajan (pigeon pea)Results agree
1 paper in the same direction as this paper
- positive
tillage · quality: protein · Vigna unguiculata (cowpea)Results agree
1 paper in the same direction as this paper
- positive
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.