Academic Journal

Urea-ka: replacing inorganic nitrogen fertilizer with Azolla pinnata maintains rice yields with reduced input costs in the Senegal River Valley

Λεπτομέρειες βιβλιογραφικής εγγραφής
Τίτλος: Urea-ka: replacing inorganic nitrogen fertilizer with Azolla pinnata maintains rice yields with reduced input costs in the Senegal River Valley
Συγγραφείς: Xorla S. Ocloo, Moussa Mbaye, Abou Sy Dit Tid Mouline Counta, Gonzalo M. Vazquez-Prokopec, Nicolas Jouanard, Momy Seck, Silvain Leonard Thierry Sow, David J. Civitello
Πηγή: International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability, Vol 23, Iss 1 (2025)
Στοιχεία εκδότη: Taylor & Francis Group
Έτος έκδοσης: 2025
Συλλογή: Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles
Θεματικοί όροι: Azolla, intercropping, rice cultivation, sustainable agriculture, Agriculture
Περιγραφή: Sustainability is essential for the creation of a secure, sufficient, and equitable global food supply and overreliance on expensive, synthetic fertilizers is a key challenge. Rice is a nitrogen-intensive crop, but Southeast Asian farmers are intercropping the nitrogen-fixing floating fern Azolla into rice paddies as a biofertilizer. However, despite its success and global distribution, Azolla is not widely used elsewhere. We assessed the feasibility of Azolla-rice intercropping in Saint-Louis, Senegal using a mixed-methods approach. We conducted interviews with farmers to assess their perceptions of Azolla-rice farming while they participated in an experiment to compare rice yields among four treatments: control plots (the existing practices of the farmer), Azolla plots (existing practices and adding fresh Azolla), low input plots (a 50% reduction of urea), and low input + Azolla plots (reduced urea + Azolla) in farmers’ paddies located in the Senegal River Valley. Across all five sites, there was a significant increase of 7.57% ± 4.62% SE (p-value = 0.05) in rice grain yield with Azolla additions. Replacing urea with Azolla caused a modest increase of 4.17% ± 4.61% SE (p-value = 0.18) in rice grain yield while reducing input costs by 33%. Our results suggest that Azolla-rice has high potential to improve productivity and livelihoods in Senegal.
Τύπος εγγράφου: article in journal/newspaper
Γλώσσα: English
Relation: https://doaj.org/toc/1473-5903; https://doaj.org/toc/1747-762X; https://doaj.org/article/045907d3c75c4b179108e642c71ec1c3
DOI: 10.1080/14735903.2025.2469325
Διαθεσιμότητα: https://doi.org/10.1080/14735903.2025.2469325
https://doaj.org/article/045907d3c75c4b179108e642c71ec1c3
Αριθμός Καταχώρησης: edsbas.4D54F3CF
Βάση Δεδομένων: BASE