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Trade-offs and synergies associated with maize leaf stripping within crop-livestock systems in northern Ghana
Agricultural Systems ( IF 6.6 ) Pub Date : 2021-07-09 , DOI: 10.1016/j.agsy.2021.103206
Adam M. Komarek 1, 2 , Nurudeen Abdul Rahman 3 , Arkadeep Bandyopadhyay 1 , Fred Kizito 3, 4 , Jawoo Koo 1 , Weseh Addah 5
Affiliation  

CONTEXT

The accessibility and availability of forages is a common concern in crop-livestock systems in West Africa; however, options to increase forage production may entail trade-offs within the farm system that can be challenging to quantify explicitly.

OBJECTIVE

This study examined how maize (Zea mays L.) leaf stripping affected maize and sheep productivity and associated labour requirements, and farm system trade-offs and synergies in four communities in the Northern Region of Ghana.

METHODS

Maize leaf stripping involved removing almost senesced leaves from maize plants below the cob level at silking. We combined data from three sources: on-farm maize trials with 28 farmers from two seasons (2017 and 2018), on-farm sheep feeding trials where the pasture-based diets of weaner sheep were supplemented with stripped maize leaves fed in pens (conducted in 2019), and farm survey data from 117 households (conducted in 2014), seven of which were in the on-farm maize trials and owned sheep. We examined the trial data using linear mixed-effects models.

RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS

Maize leaf stripping had no significant effect on maize grain yield but had a significant positive effect on maize forage protein yield from leaf and stover. Offering maize leaves to weaner sheep had a significant positive effect on average daily liveweight gain, estimated marginal mean was 29.3 g with maize leaves and −10.9 g without maize leaves. For the maize-sheep systems of the seven households, non-inferential statistics suggested that on average maize leaf stripping reduced total maize grain production by 12% (range −46 to 38) and increased maize forage protein production from leaf and stover by 90% (range −16 to 298). Stripping the maize leaves from one hectare of land took an extra 34 h (range 27 to 42) of labour, which was counterbalanced by reduced labour time for grazing as sheep were fed the maize leaves in pens. For the 117 farmers, heterogeneity in maize areas planted and livestock numbers resulted in heterogeneous production and labour effects of maize leaf stripping. Farmers qualitatively described how maize leaf stripping released labour so children could spend more time at school rather than shepherding.

SIGNIFICANCE

We quantified in northern Ghana how maize leaf stripping altered crop and livestock productivity and associated trade-offs and synergies in the farm system, including labour. Changes in crop management often have implications beyond the crop's field and examining these implications can provide insights into the suitability of alternative farm management options.



中文翻译:

加纳北部作物-畜牧系统内与玉米剥叶相关的权衡和协同作用

语境

牧草的可及性和可用性是西非作物 - 畜牧系统的共同关注点;然而,增加草料产量的选择可能需要在农场系统内进行权衡,这可能难以明确量化。

客观的

本研究调查了玉米 ( Zea mays L. ) 剥叶如何影响加纳北部地区四个社区的玉米和绵羊生产力和相关劳动力需求,以及农场系统的权衡和协同作用。

方法

玉米剥叶涉及在吐丝时从玉米穗轴以下的玉米植株中去除几乎衰老的叶子。我们结合了来自三个来源的数据:在两个季节(2017 年和 2018 年)对 28 名农民进行的农场玉米试验,农场绵羊饲养试验,其中断奶绵羊以牧场为基础的饮食补充了在围栏中饲喂的剥落的玉米叶(进行) 2019 年),以及来自 117 户家庭的农场调查数据(2014 年进行),其中 7 户在农场玉米试验中并拥有羊。我们使用线性混合效应模型检查了试验数据。

结果和结论

玉米剥叶对玉米籽粒产量没有显着影响,但对玉米叶片和秸秆的饲料蛋白产量有显着的积极影响。给断奶羊提供玉米叶对平均日活增重有显着的积极影响,估计边际平均值为 29.3 g 有玉米叶,-10.9 g 没有玉米叶。对于七户的玉米-绵羊系统,非推论统计表明,平均而言,玉米剥叶使玉米总产量减少了 12%(范围 -46 至 38),并使来自叶子和秸秆的玉米饲料蛋白质产量增加了 90% (范围 -16 到 298)。从一公顷的土地上剥下玉米叶需要额外的 34 小时(27 到 42 小时)的劳动,这被减少的放牧劳动时间所抵消,因为绵羊在围栏中喂食玉米叶。对于 117 名农民,玉米种植面积和牲畜数量的异质性导致玉米剥叶对生产和劳动力的影响各不相同。农民定性地描述了剥玉米叶如何释放劳动力,使孩子们可以花更多时间在学校而不是放牧。

意义

我们在加纳北部量化了玉米剥叶如何改变作物和牲畜生产力以及农业系统(包括劳动力)中的相关权衡和协同作用。作物管理的变化通常会产生超出作物田地的影响,检查这些影响可以深入了解替代农场管理方案的适用性。

更新日期:2021-07-09
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