Shallow tillage with a traditional West African hoe to conserve soil water
1999
Payne, W.A.
Evaporation (E) from soil constitutes a large proportion of evapotranspiration (ET) of pearl millet [Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R. Br.] fields in West Africa. Reduced E would increase crop water supply and reduce the risk of resowing. We hypothesized that tillage after rain events with the hilaire, a traditional, shallow-cultivating hoe that pulverizes and darkens the soil surface, could conserve soil water and increase pearl millet yield. Experiments were conducted using bare and cropped plots. Tillage after rain (+ or -) was the only treatment for bare plots. Treatments for cropped plots were tillage after rain with the hilaire and fertilizer addition (12 kg ha(-1) N and 12 kg P ha(-1)). For bare plots, tillage with the hilaire reduced soil surface reflectance by as much as approximately equal to 0.2 and increased soil temperature at 0.05 m by 12 degrees C. Tillage increased soil water storage in the upper 2.4 m of bare plots by up to 47 mm. For cropped plots, tillage increased soil water storage in the upper 1.4 m by up to 32 mm, and it increased grain yield by 68% in 1991 and 70% in 1992. Fertilizer addition increased yield by 21% in 1991 and 116% in 1992. Tillage reduced ET in 1992 from 417 to 372 mm and increased water-use efficiency (WUE(ET)) from 0.99 to 1.91 kg ha(-1) mm(-1). Fertilizer addition increased WUE(ET) from 0.95 to 1.94 kg ha(-1) mm(-1). Practical exploitation of the hilaire's effect upon evaporation is not expected because it is a hand-operated tool. However, the study demonstrates principles upon which an animal-drawn implement might be designed.
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