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Soil loss due to crop harvesting in Usambara Mountains, Tanzania: the case of carrot, onion and potato

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dc.creator Mwango, Sibaway Bakari
dc.creator Msanya, B. M.
dc.creator Mtakwa, Peter W.
dc.creator Kimaro, D. N.
dc.creator Deckers, J.
dc.creator Poesen, J.
dc.creator Lilanga, S.
dc.creator Sanga, R.
dc.date 2016-11-22T07:42:52Z
dc.date 2016-11-22T07:42:52Z
dc.date 2014-09-06
dc.date.accessioned 2022-10-25T08:51:40Z
dc.date.available 2022-10-25T08:51:40Z
dc.identifier International Journal of Plant & Soil Science 4(1): 18-28, 2015; Article no.IJPSS.2015.002
dc.identifier 2320-7035
dc.identifier https://www.suaire.sua.ac.tz/handle/123456789/963
dc.identifier.uri http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/91618
dc.description International Journal of Plant and Soil Science 2015; 4 (1): 18-28
dc.description Among the various soil erosion processes threatening sustainable agriculture, soil losses due to root, tuber and bulb harvesting are poorly documented, particularly in tropical environments. A study was thus conducted in two villages with contrasting agro-ecological conditions on Acrisols and Fluvisols in Western Usambara Mountains, Tanzania. The aim was to investigate the mass of soil and nutrients lost and the factors influencing variation of soil loss due to crop harvesting (SLCH) for Carrot (Daucus carrota), Onion (Allium cepa L.) and Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) under low input agriculture. A total of 108 farm plots were sampled from the two villages. The mean SLCH values were significantly higher for carrot (7.1 Mg/ha/harvest) than for onion (3.8 Mg/ha/harvest) than for potatoes (0.7 Mg/ha/harvest). Soil nutrient losses in kg/ha/harvest were higher for carrot than for onion and potatoes (e.g. 30 N, 0.1 P, 1.5 K for carrot vs 6.3 N, 0.04 P, 0.2 K for onion) in Majulai village. SLCH was greater in Migambo (humid cold) than in Majulai (dry warm) for all the studied crops. Soil water content at harvest time played a significant (P = .05) role in inducing SLCH for onion while bulk density for carrot, whereas for potato they were not significantly influenced by soil water content and bulk density. Soil texture played only a minor role to SLCH of the studied crops. The observed soil and nutrient losses in the current study are substantial and pose a challenge that calls for immediate attention to the harvesting practices in the study area. However, combating water erosion is far more urgent.
dc.description COSTECH; SUA; VLIR - UOS
dc.format application/pdf
dc.language en
dc.publisher SCIENCEDOMAIN international
dc.subject Soil erosion
dc.subject soil water content
dc.subject bulk density
dc.subject soil texture
dc.title Soil loss due to crop harvesting in Usambara Mountains, Tanzania: the case of carrot, onion and potato
dc.type Article


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