Western Kenya is one of Africa's most densely populated rural areas, characterised by intensive smallholder crop-livestock systems on degraded lands managed with small inputs of mineral fertiliser and animal manure. Competing uses for crop residues and other organic resources often results in poor nutrient cycling efficiencies at farm scale. Modifying livestock feeding, retaining more crop residues in the field, and improving manure management can help conserving considerable amount of nutrients on-farm. To examine to what extent such strategies would be feasible, we analysed whole-farm nutrient cycling efficiencies (NCE) of a range of farms differing in resource-endowment and production orientation, identifying the most efficient farmer strategies considering labour and financial constraints. Nutrient concentration in excreted cattle manure was relatively small (i.e., N
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agsy.2014.03.001Altmetric score:
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Publication year
2015
Authors
Castellanos-Navarrete, A.; Tittonell, P.; Rufino, M.; Giller, K.
Language
English
Keywords
animal manure, soil fertility, soil management, soil nutrients, crop production
Geographic
Kenya
