International Journal of Agriculture and Food Security (IJAFS), ISSN: 0812-3497, Vol. 7(2), pp. 193-203, March, 2021. © Advanced Scholars  Journals

Full length Research paper

Rain-fed rice yield and agronomic properties of adepleted Ferralsol, in restoration under an innovative eco-agriculture system: "Cropping in Plates under Green Mat"

 Pyame MLD^{1 *,} Utshudi DJB², Haesaert G³ and Baert G³

*¹Faculté de Gestion de Ressources Renouvelables, Université de Kisangani, BP 2012, Kisangani, RD Congo.

²Instut Supérieur d’Etudes Agronomiques de Yatolema, RD Congo ;

³University of Gand, Belgium.

*Corresponding author’s Email:[email protected]

Accepted 9^th Febuary, 2021

Abstract

An experiment was carried out in Kisangani (DR Congo) ona depleted Ferralsol to examine, faced with the Slash-and-Burn system, to what extent and what degree the system of cultivation in "Plates under Green Mat" would favorably affect the yield of rainfed rice and the restoration of fertility. A device with 12 complete randomized blocks, divided into 6 plots each, was chosen to test the factors "production system" and "increasing microdoses of NPK fertilizer" (two-factors ANOVA x Duncan's test).

Green Mat system clearly showed gigantic performances:

ü   2.6 times higher yield both for paddy rice, overall production including crop residues and root inputs (5.6 versus 2.2 t/ha, 44.7 vs 17.5 tMS/ha and 16.8 vs 6.5 tMS/ha, respectively);

ü   a significant reduction in the temperature of the surface soil and a very strong repression of cropping weeds (from 32.2°C to 23.8°C and from 3.9 tMS/ha to 0.6 tMS/ha);

ü   a lifting of aluminum toxicity, after 2 years of eco-agriculture (integrated mineral-organic fertilization), affecting 90% of the plots vs only 10% with Slash-and-burn.

The agronomic properties analyzed show, on average, a variance controlled at 80-95% by the factor "production system", versus only 0.84-1.9% by the factor "microdoses of NPK fertilizer". The observed performances are therefore not due to the fertiliser used but rater to the "Cropping in Plates Under Green Mat" technological package.

Key Words: Cropping system, soil restoration, Fertility, Green Mat, Slash and Burn, Rain-fed Rice