- Title
- Top-soil water retention in organic and conventional farming systems in South Africa’s Southern Cape
- Creator
- Eckert, Catherine Jessica
- Subject
- Water harvesting
- Subject
- Soil moisture conservation Organic farming Sustainable agriculture
- Date Issued
- 2019
- Date
- 2019
- Type
- Thesis
- Type
- Masters
- Type
- MTech
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/10948/39885
- Identifier
- vital:35500
- Description
- With the world’s growing population and limited natural resources, there is a need to produce more food using less inputs. A major limiting factor to meeting the agricultural production needs of the growing population is fresh water. Water is a critical resource in agriculture and may be more of a limiting factor than other crop growth requirements in some areas. Furthermore, water availability is being impacted by climate change and competition from other industries. Methods of improving crop water use efficiency through conservation of water and the enhancement of crop growth need to be employed to meet the growing demand sustainably. The purpose of the research was to assess the differences in soil water status between organically farmed crops with a grass mulch and conventionally farmed crops without mulch, with a view to making more efficient use of the water resource. This research was conducted at the Mandela long term organic farming systems research trial site at Nelson Mandela University, George campus in the southern Cape, South Africa. It is part of a larger research project (the Mandela Trials) in which various researchers have been involved in different aspects of this trial including agronomy, microbiology and pest and disease control. This research took place over two seasons, namely, 2016-2017 season and 2017-2018 season. The soil water content (SWC) of organic and conventional plots were measured using fixed capacitance probes that recorded continuous data, every half hour, at depths of 10, 30 and 50 cm. A handheld theta probe was also used to measure the SWC in the top 6 cm of the soil at 7 to14 day intervals. The organic treatment had a significantly higher SWC than the conventional treatment over the two seasons in which this research was conducted. In addition, soil carbon was significantly higher in the organic treatment, than the conventional. Organic farming methods preserve and promote an increase in soil organic matter, thus improving the soil structure and increasing the soil’s water holding capacity. From this research, it is concluded that organic farming practices can be used to help conserve SWC, keeping it available to crops for longer and helping farmers make more efficient use of this scarce resource. This is especially relevant for low rainfall areas which are affected by water shortages. The improved SWC availability should be coupled with good agronomic practices to increase productive water losses and the conversion of water to yields, thus increasing water use efficiency. In addition, adding organic matter to the soil will improve resilience of the soil and help sequester carbon and thus help in mitigating climate change.
- Format
- xi, 104 leaves
- Format
- Publisher
- Nelson Mandela University
- Publisher
- Faculty of Science
- Language
- English
- Rights
- Nelson Mandela University
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NMU School of Natural Resource Management
| Thumbnail | File | Description | Size | Format | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| View Details Download | SOURCE1 | Eckert CJ Masters thesis signed.pdf | 3 MB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download |