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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Article
Author(s)
Everline Komutunga, Wilberforce Tushemereirwe, Jerome Kubiriba, Priver Namanya, Kevin John Oratungye, David Akodi, Choice Agaba, Elizabeth Ahumuza and Daphine Kamusingize
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DOI:10.17265/2161-6264/2015.08.002
Affiliation(s)
National Agricultural Research Laboratories-Kawanda, P.O. Box 7065, Kampala, Uganda
ABSTRACT
The effect of soil and water conservation (SWC) practices on controlling
surface runoff and soil loss was studied in drought prone banana growing areas
of Uganda, during the two major rainy seasons of 2014. The study was conducted
at two sites— Ntungamo (Southwest) and Sembabule (Central),
with comparable slopes of about 13%-25%. The treatments included mulch, manure, manure + mulch and a control
with no conservation. Results indicated that conservation practices of mulch
and manure + mulch significantly
reduced surface runoff and soil loss by about 72%-85%, when compared to farmers’ up-and-down
cultivation practice (control). It was also observed that significantly greater
amounts of soil loss occurred from manure and control plots than the ones with
mulch. Thus, the combination of
manure and mulch is recommended for uptake by crop farmers in the study areas, if they are to
overcome drought stress and adapt to changes in climate. More research is
needed to quantify nutrient losses resulting from runoff under the different
SWC techniques. Modeling such effects is essential in assessing the impacts of
SWC practices on soil and crop productivity.
KEYWORDS
Runoff, soil loss, SWC, drought area, Uganda.
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