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

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

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-9-301-2023

Articles | Volume 9, issue 1

https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-9-301-2023

© Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-9-301-2023

© Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 9, issue 1

Original research article

|

05 Jun 2023

Original research article |

| 05 Jun 2023

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

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

Data sets

ISFM/SOM long-term trials soil data B. Vanlauwe, J. Six, M. Laub, S. Mathu, and D. Mugendi https://doi.org/10.25502/wdh5-6c13/d

Short summary

In sub-Saharan Africa, long-term low-input maize cropping threatens soil fertility. We studied how different quality organic inputs combined with mineral N fertilizer could counteract this. Farmyard manure was the best input to counteract soil carbon loss; mineral N fertilizer had no effect on carbon. Yet, the rates needed to offset soil carbon losses are unrealistic for farmers (>10 t of dry matter per hectare and year). Additional agronomic measures may be needed.