CA-CoP CONSERVATION AGRICULTURE COMMUNITY OF PRACTICE

for sustainable production intensification


Dear Subscribers,

I am forwarding herewith the Conservation Agriculture Research Updates for February 2016 from the Cornell CA Group.

Amir Kassam

Moderator

e-mail: [log in to unmask]

URL: www.fao.org/ag/ca


---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Peter Hobbs <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Mon, Feb 15, 2016 at 5:38 PM
Subject: CA February Newsletter
To: Amir Kassam <[log in to unmask]>
Cc: Lucy Hill Fisher <[log in to unmask]>, Emily Virginia Ambrose <[log in to unmask]>, Erika Styger <[log in to unmask]>, Devon L Jenkins <[log in to unmask]>


Dear  Amir: Here is our February 2016 Conservation Agriculture Research Update. You can also review on line at http://www.scoop.it/t/conservation-agriculture-by-conservation-ag 
Can you send this out to people who get your list serve material? The hard copy is below. Peter

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This paper looks at direct (no-till), rip-line and basin seeding with maize on yield, soil health and profitability across agro-ecological regions of Zimbabwe over 6 years using a review of literature and a meta-analysis. Overall CA yielded better than conventional although there was a yield decline the first two years. direct seeding gave higher yields than rip-line or basins. CA reduced erosion, bulk density and increased water content in most studies. With more residue CA had more macro-fauna abundance and diversity than conventional, especially termites. More labor was needed for hand hoeing in CA but herbicides reduced this labor cost. CA benefits included earlier planting, weeding, fertilizer and herbicide use, and proper training on equipment use. The weeding, extra fertilizer and herbicide cost makes CA less economic. rip-line seeding was best in drier areas than direct seeding.



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