Combining local knowledge and soil science for integrated soil health assessments in conservation agriculture systems
Combining local knowledge and soil science for integrated soil health assessments in conservation agriculture systems
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DOI：
10.1016/j.jenvman.2021.112192
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发表时间：
2021-02-23
影响因子：
8.7
通讯作者：
Thierfelder, Christian
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Hermans, Thirze D. G.;Dougill, Andrew J.;Thierfelder, Christian
土壤退化和气候变化的挑战导致了保护性农业（CA）的出现，成为以耕作为基础的农业系统的可持续替代方案。尽管人们认识到保护性耕作对土壤健康的积极影响，但非洲的采用率仍然很低。以前的土壤健康研究主要集中在？科学的？这一问题的严重性在于，在没有考虑到当地知识的情况下，对保护性耕作措施的影响进行了评估，从而影响了农民如何解释保护性耕作的影响以及未来的土地管理决策。这项研究，总部设在马拉维，旨在1）联合收割机当地知识和传统的土壤科学方法，以发展的CA对土壤健康的影响的背景下的理解;和2）了解如何综合的方法可以有助于解释农民的土地管理决策。主要农民？土壤健康的指标是作物性能、土壤稠度、含水量、侵蚀、颜色和结构。这些地方指标与传统的土壤健康指标是一致的。通过结合农民？观察与土壤测量，我们观察到，CA改善土壤结构，水分（Mwansambo 7.54%？CP降低38.15%; CP降低47.39%）和浸润（Lemu CAM/CAML 0.15 cms- 1，CP 0.09 cms- 1; Mwansambo CP/CAM 0.14 cms- 1，CAML 0.18 cms- 1）。在传统耕作方式下，农户认为垄沟对养分进行了再分配，这与较高的交换性铵（Lemu CP 76.0 mgkg-1，CAM 49.4 mgkg-1，CAML 51.7 mgkg-1）、硝酸盐/亚硝酸盐值（Mwansambo CP 200.7 mgkg-1，CAM 171.9 mgkg-1，CAML 103.3 mgkg-1）相对应。尽管保护性耕作的产量较高（Mwansambo CP 3225 kgha-1，CAML 5067 kgha-1，CAM 5160 kgha-1; Lemu CP 2886 kgha-1，CAM 2872 kgha-1，CAML 3454 kgha-1），但这种看法有助于垄型耕作的普及。残留物的碳效益和对山脊的偏好促使将残留物埋在山脊中。综合办法有助于对土地管理有更细致和更地方化的认识。我们建议，在这项研究中开发的逐步综合土壤评估框架可以更广泛地应用于了解土壤健康在农民决策中的作用，提供了一个学习过程中的降尺度技术和扩大可持续土地管理实践的证据基础。
The challenges of soil degradation and climate change have led to the emergence of Conservation Agriculture (CA) as a sustainable alternative to tillage-based agriculture systems. Despite the recognition of positive impacts on soil health, CA adoption in Africa has remained low. Previous soil health studies have mainly focused on ?scientific? measurements, without consideration of local knowledge, which influences how farmers interpret CA impacts and future land management decisions. This study, based in Malawi, aims to 1) combine local knowledge and conventional soil science approaches to develop a contextualised understanding of the impact of CA on soil health; and 2) understand how an integrated approach can contribute to explaining farmer decision-making on land management. Key farmers? indicators of soil health were crop performance, soil consistence, moisture content, erosion, colour, and structure. These local indicators were consistent with conventional soil health indicators. By combining farmers? observations with soil measurements, we observed that CA improved soil structure, moisture (Mwansambo 7.54%?38.15% lower for CP; Lemu 1.57%?47.39% lower for CP) and infiltration (Lemu CAM/CAML 0.15 cms- 1, CP 0.09 cms- 1; Mwansambo CP/CAM 0.14 cms- 1, CAML 0.18 cms- 1). In the conventional practice, farmers perceived ridges to redistribute nutrients, which corresponded with recorded higher exchangeable ammonium (Lemu CP 76.0 mgkg -1, CAM 49.4 mgkg -1, CAML 51.7 mgkg -1), nitrate/ nitrite values (Mwansambo CP 200.7 mgkg -1, CAM 171.9 mgkg -1, CAML 103.3 mgkg -1). This perception contributes to the popularity of ridges, despite the higher yield measurements under CA (Mwansambo CP 3225 kgha-1, CAML 5067 kgha-1, CAM 5160 kgha-1; Lemu CP 2886 kgha-1, CAM 2872 kgha-1, CAML 3454 kgha-1 ). The perceived carbon benefits of residues and ridge preference has promoted burying residues in ridges. Integrated approaches contribute to more nuanced and localized perceptions about land management. We propose that the stepwise integrated soil assessment framework developed in this study can be applied more widely in understanding the role of soil health in farmer-decision making, providing a learning process for downscaling technologies and widening the evidence base on sustainable land management practices.