Soil Amendments and Rotation Effects on Soybean and Maize Growths and Soil Chemical Changes in Northern Ghana

Abstract EN

A four-year field trial was conducted at Bonia in the Upper East Region of Ghana to evaluate soybean-maize rotation amendment systems.

The treatments included soybean without amendment, inoculated soybean, inoculated soybean with fertisol, inoculated soybean with phosphorus and potassium (P, K), inoculated soybean with P, K and fertisol, inoculated soybean with nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium (N, P, K), and continuous maize.

Treatments were arranged in a randomized complete block design with four replications.

Inoculation negatively affected yields by 2% and 14% in 2013 and 2015, respectively.

Soil amendments with P, K or N, P, K increased yields within 45–51%, fertisol increased by 95%, and integration of P, K and fertisol recorded 76% increment of inoculated soybean.

Yields of maize increased by 1%, 20%, 25%, 43%, 44%, and 46% under inoculated soybean, inoculated soybean with N, P, K, inoculated soybean with P, K, inoculated soybean with fertisol, soybean without amendment, and inoculated soybean with P, K and fertisol, respectively.

Maize after inoculated soybean with fertisol and maize after inoculated soybean with P, K and fertisol consistently scored higher benefit-cost ratio across the two years of experimentation.

Thus, the two systems are conceivable for recommendation to the farmers in northern Ghana.