Effect of Integrating Tied ridging, Fertilizers and Cropping Systems on Maize Performance’ in Arid and Semi-Arid Lands of Eastern Kenya

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dc.contributor.authorMwende, N.
dc.contributor.authorDanga, B. O.
dc.contributor.authorMugwe, J.
dc.contributor.authorKwena, K.
dc.date.accessioned2020-10-22T08:40:52Z
dc.date.available2020-10-22T08:40:52Z
dc.date.issued2019-09
dc.descriptionResearch articleen_US
dc.description.abstractThe main cause of food insecurity in the semi–arid parts of Eastern Kenya is decline in soil fertility, unsuitable cropping systems, low and unreliable rainfall. This has led to low food productivity. An experiment was carried out in semi-arid parts of Eastern Kenya during short rains 2014 and long rains 2015 to determine the effect of tied ridges, fertilizers and cropping systems on growth parameters, yields and yield components of maize. The experiment was a 2 x 4 x 2 factorial laid in a randomized complete block design. The results showed that, interaction between tied-ridges x fertilizers x cropping systems had a significant effect (P<0.05) on plant height, number of leaves/plant, leaf length, leaf width and leaf area. Treatment combinations with maize mono crop resulted to increased vegetative growth compared to treatment combinations of maize cow pea intercrop. During the short rains 2014, treatment combinations of flat bed planting, farm yard manure 5t/ha + 20kgN/ha in maize mono crop recorded the highest value for vegetative growth. However, during the long rains 2015, treatment combinations of tied-ridging with 20kgN/ha in maize mono crop had increased vegetative growth. The interaction between tied ridging x fertilizers x cropping system was significant (P < 0.05) on ears weight, biomass and grain yields. The highest value for grain yield was registered by tied ridging with farm yard manure 5t/ha in maize mono crop and tied ridging plus 20kgN/ha in maize mono crop (0.15t/ha); an increase of 650% above the control treatment. Variations in seasonal rainfall affects the effectiveness of soil and water management practices. From this study, farmers in semi-arid regions of Eastern Kenya could adopt farm yard manure 5t/ha or 20kgN/ha with maize mono crop under tied ridging in order to improve maize yields in seasons when the rain fall amount is below average.en_US
dc.description.sponsorshipGovernment of Kenya through National Research Fund (NRF), and The Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in Eastern and Central Africa (ASERECA) through Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO) for their financial support towards the research work.en_US
dc.identifier.citationAfrican Journal of Education, Science and Technology; September, 2019, Vol 5, No. 2en_US
dc.identifier.issn2309- 9240
dc.identifier.urihttp://ir-library.ku.ac.ke/handle/123456789/20623
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.publisherAfrican Journal of Education, Science and Technology (AJEST)en_US
dc.subjectTied ridgesen_US
dc.subjectFertilizersen_US
dc.subjectCropping systemsen_US
dc.subjectYield componentsen_US
dc.titleEffect of Integrating Tied ridging, Fertilizers and Cropping Systems on Maize Performance’ in Arid and Semi-Arid Lands of Eastern Kenyaen_US
dc.typeArticleen_US
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