The reported requirement for a higher weeding effort due to increased weed infestations under conservation agriculture (CA) relative to conventional mouldboard plough tillage is perceived by both smallholder farmers and extension workers as the main limiting factor to the widespread adoption of CA by smallholder farmers in southern Africa. However, proponents of CA argue that weeds are only a problem under CA in the initial two years and decline afterwards resulting in reduced labour requirements for weeding under CA. They further posit that weeds are only major problem where minimum tillage (MT) is adopted without crop residue mulching and diverse crop rotations. This thesis explores the effect of time under CA on weed population dynamics and crop growth under the recommended CA practices and actual smallholder farmer practice in semi-arid Zimbabwe. Assessment of weed and crop growth on a long-term CA experiment at Matopos Research Station revealed that the MT systems of planting basins and ripper tine were associated with higher early season weed density and biomass than conventional early summer mouldboard tillage (CONV) in both the fifth (cowpea phase) and sixth (sorghum phase) years of CA. This increased weed infestation within the first four weeks after planting in CA necessitated early weeding to provide a clean seedbed and avert significant crop yield loss. Maize mulching only suppressed early season weed growth in sorghum mostly at a mulch rate of 8 t ha-1 which is not a mulching rate that is attainable on most smallholder farms. However, the lower maize residue mulch rate of 4 t ha-1 was consistently associated with increased weed emergence and growth as from the middle of the cropping season in both crop species. The increased weed infestations under the mulch were probably due to the creation of ‘safe sites’ with moist conditions and moderate temperatures. The high weed growth under the mulch contributed to the low sorghum grain yield obtained under mulched plots. In addition, maize mulching was also associated with a less diverse weed community that was dominated by the competitive Setaria spp. and difficult to hoe weed Eleusine indica (L.) Gaertn. However, the weed community under CA was similar to that under CONV tillage with no evidence of a shift to the more difficult to control weed species. The increased early season weed growth and high weed pressure under CA meant that it was still necessary to hoe weed four times within the cropping season to reduce weed infestations and improve crop growth even after four years of recommended CA practices. Early and frequent weeding was effective in reducing weed growth of most species including Setaria spp. and E. indica demonstrating that on smallholder farms where labour is available hoe weeding can provide adequate weed control. The wider spacing recommended for use in CA contributed to the low cowpea and sorghum grain yields obtained under CA compared to CONV tillage. On smallholder farms in Masvingo District, the MT system of planting basin (PB) was the only conservation farming (CF) component adopted by farmers. There was no difference in the total seedling density of the soil weed seed bank and density of emerged weeds in the field in PB and conventional mouldboard ploughing done at first effective rains (CONV tillage). However, the first weeding in PB was done at least 15 days earlier (P < 0.05) than in CONV tillage suggesting high early season weed growth in PB relative to CONV tillage. As weed density did not decline with time in PB, weed management did not differ with increase in years under PB. Shortage of inputs such as seed and fertiliser was identified by smallholder farmers as the most limiting factor in PB crop production with the area under PB was equivalent to the seed and fertiliser provided by CARE International for most farmers. On this small area, weeds could be managed by available family labour. Double the maize grain yield was obtained in PB (mean: 2856 kg ha-1) due to improved weed management and soil fertility. However, the use of poorly stored composts was found to introduce weeds into some PB fields. The findings of this study demonstrated that weed pressure was still high and weed management were still a challenge under the practice recommended to smallholder farmers in Zimbabwe even in the sixth year of practice. There is, therefore, a need for research on the economic feasibility of using herbicides, intercropping and optimal crop density to ameliorate the high weed pressure under CA. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / Plant Production and Soil Science / unrestricted

The intensification of biofuel production causes negative impacts on soil quality, thus the soil requires adequate assessment to ascertain its quality status, however site-specific nature of results in literature requires independent soil property measurement and assessment depending on specific agroecosystem and management goals. Therefore, the main objective of this study was to investigate seasonal pattern of soil quality, soil water and thermal regimes and performance of sugarcane and tung crops at the experimental station of Soils Department, Federal University of Santa Maria, Santa Maria, RS, Brazil. The sugarcane experiment (three seasons) was established in 2010 under no-tillage; no-tillage + compaction; conventional tillage and chiseling treatments in a randomized complete block design with three replications. In years 2011 and 2012, there was no soil disturbance; however residue mulching was imposed, giving split-plot design. The tung-based cropping system (two seasons, 2012-2014) was a randomized complete block design experiment with four replications. The treatments were: tung-crambe-sunflower/soybean + inorganic fertilizer; tung-crambe-sunflower/soybean + organic manure; tung-oats-peanut; and sole tung (control). Crambe and oats were planted in winter while sunflower (1st year)/soybean (2nd year) and peanut were planted in summer. Disturbed and undisturbed (using cores of known volume) soil samples were collected from soil layers 0-10, 10-20, 20-40 and 40-60 cm in sugarcane, and 0-10, 10-20, 20-40, 40-60 and 60-80 cm in tung for the laboratory determination of soil quality indicators. There was field monitoring of soil water retention, matric potential and soil temperature and agronomic parameters measured include sugarcane yield and tung plant height. Minimum data set for soil quality assessment was made using principal component analysis and soil quality index was obtained using weighted additive method. The temporal patterns of soil water storage and temperature were evaluated using algorithms for time series data. Except for Ma in 0-10 cm layer of tillage plots, both tillage and residue mulching did not significantly affect (p<0.05) the soil quality indicators, overall soil quality, water retention and sugarcane yield. The degree of compaction was not enough to limit sugarcane growth. Residue retention significantly influenced temporal processes of soil temperature and state-time analysis was better than classical regression of time series analysis of soil water storage and temperature. Cropping system did not significantly influence (p<0.05) soil quality indicators, overall SQI and tung plant height, but significant influenced soil water retention. For the two experiments, there was no discernible trend in the seasonal values of soil hydro-physical variables and crop response. / A intensificação da produção de biocombustíveis pode prejudicar a qualidade do solo. Portanto, para evitar a degradação do solo é necessário monitorar periodicamente os atributos mais afetados pela atividade agrícola. Assim, o objetivo deste estudo foi investigar o padrão sazonal da qualidade, da água e regimes térmicos do solo, bem como o desempenho das culturas da cana-de-açúcar e do tungue na estação experimental do Departamento de Solos da Universidade Federal de Santa Maria, Santa Maria, RS, Brasil. Para isso foram avaliados dois experimentos. O experimento de cana-de-açúcar (três anos de cultivo) foi implantado em 2010 e os tratamentos foram: plantio direto; plantio direto com compactação adicional; preparo convencional e; escarificado, distribuídos em um delineamento de blocos casualizados com três repetições. Nos anos de 2011 e 2012, não houve revolvimento do solo, mas foi adicionada cobertura vegetal morta, designando um esquema de parcelas subdivididas. Para o sistema de cultivo do tungue (dois anos de cultivo, 2012-2014) foi utilizado um experimento de blocos ao acaso com quatro repetições. Os tratamentos foram: tungue-crambe-girassol / soja com fertilizantes inorgânicos; tungue-crambe-girassol / soja com adubação orgânica; tungue-aveia-amendoim; e tungue (controle). Crambe e aveia foram plantadas no inverno, enquanto girassol (1° ano) / soja (2º ano) e amendoim foram plantados no verão. Amostras de solo com estrutura alterada e preservada foram coletadas (usando cilindros com 57 mm de diâmetro e 40 mm de altura) nas camadas de 0-10, 10-20, 20-40 e 40-60 cm na cana-de-açúcar, e de 0-10, 10-20, 20-40, 40-60 e 60-80 cm no tungue para a determinação laboratorial dos indicadores de qualidade do solo. Houve o monitoramento á campo da temperatura, umidade potencial matricial da água no solo e parâmetros agronômicos incluindo a produtividade da cana-de-açúcar e altura da planta de tungue. Um conjunto mínimo de dados para a avaliação da qualidade do solo foi obtido através da análise de componentes principais e o índice de qualidade do solo foi obtido pelo método aditivo ponderado. Os padrões temporais de armazenamento de água do solo e a temperatura do solo foram avaliados utilizando algoritmos para dados de séries temporais. Exceto para a macroporosidade, na camada de 0-10 cm dos tratamentos com preparo do solo, o preparo e a cobertura de palha não afetaram significativamente (p <0,05) os indicadores de qualidade do solo, o índice de qualidade do solo, a retenção de água ou a produtividade de cana-de-açúcar. O grau de compactação não foi suficiente para limitar o crescimento da cana-de-açúcar. A permanência da palha na superfície influenciou significativamente os processos temporais de temperatura do solo e a análise temporal foi melhor do que a análise de regressão clássica para a análise das séries temporais de armazenamento de água e temperatura do solo. O sistema de cultivo não influenciou significativamente (p<0,05) os indicadores de qualidade do solo, o índice de qualidade do solo e a altura da planta, mas influenciou significativamente a retenção de água do solo. Nos dois experimentos, não houve nenhuma tendência clara nos valores sazonais de variáveis físico-hídricas do solo e na resposta da cultura.