Managing soil organic carbon in tropical agroecosystems: evidence from four long-term experiments in Kenya

Abstract - 1 - 1 - 1 - 1 - 1 - 1 - 1 - 1 - 1 - 1 - 1 farmyard manure or Calliandra with mineral N led to a gain in SOC contents. The other sites lost SOC in all treatments, albeit at site-specific rates. While subsoil SOC stocks in 2021 were little affected by organic resource additions (no difference in three of the four sites), the topsoil SOC stocks corroborated the results obtained from the SOC content measurements (0–15 cm) over time. The relative annual change of SOC contents showed a higher site specificity in farmyard manure, Calliandra and Tithonia treatments than in the control treatment, suggesting that the drivers of site specificity in SOC buildup (soil mineralogy, soil texture, climate) need to be better understood for effective targeting management of organic resources. Farmyard manure showed the highest potential for reducing SOC losses, but the necessary quantities to build SOC are often not realistic for smallholder farmers in Africa. Therefore, additional agronomic interventions such as intercropping, crop rotations or the cultivation of crops with extended root systems are necessary to maintain or increase SOC.

Object Details

• Location: Deutsche Nationalbibliothek Frankfurt am Main
• Extent: Online-Ressource
• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Managing soil organic carbon in tropical agroecosystems: evidence from four long-term experiments in Kenya ; volume:9 ; number:1 ; year:2023 ; pages:301-323 ; extent:23 ; Soil ; 9, Heft 1 (2023), 301-323 (gesamt 23)

Contributors, Places and Time

• Creator: Laub, Moritz ; Corbeels, Marc ; Couëdel, Antoine ; Ndungu, Samuel Mathu ; Mucheru-Muna, Monicah Wanjiku ; Mugendi, Daniel ; Necpalova, Magdalena ; Waswa, Wycliffe ; Van de Broek, Marijn ; Vanlauwe, Bernard ; Six, Johan

Further information

• DOI: 10.5194/soil-9-301-2023
• URN: urn:nbn:de:101:1-2023060804330500178199
• Rights: Open Access; Der Zugriff auf das Objekt ist unbeschränkt möglich.
• Last update: 14.08.2025, 10:49 AM CEST