Abstract
Even in semi-arid regions of sub-Saharan Africa, low crop yields are often attributed to a lack of soil nutrients and limited use of chemical fertilizers. However, in areas where soils with low effective soil depth are common, water availability may be a more significant factor that limits crop production than a lack of soil nutrients. In Sudan Savanna, the effective soil depths of three dominant soils, namely Pisoplinthic Petric Plinthosols (PT-pt.px), Petric Plinthosols (PT-pt), and Ferric Lixisols (LX-fr), are < 30, 30–50, and ~ 100 cm, respectively. Consequently, a lack of soil water is anticipated for both Plinthosols types. This study investigated the limiting factor in sorghum cultivation for each dominant soil in Sudan Savanna by creating plots with and without irrigation and fertilization. The results indicated that neither rainfall nor irrigation significantly affected sorghum yield under unfertilized conditions in all soil types, suggesting that even in very shallow PT-pt.px, a lack of soil water was not the limiting factor under unfertilized conditions. However, under fertilized conditions, reduced rainfall significantly decreased sorghum yield in PT-pt and PT-pt.px. In conclusion, in addition to the lack of soil nutrients being the limiting factor in sorghum cultivation under unfertilized conditions, regardless of soil type, lack of soil water becomes a limiting factor in soils with an effective soil depth of < 50 cm (e.g., Plinthosols) under fertilized conditions. These findings underscore the importance of knowing the effective soil depth when developing efficient fertilizer application methods to achieve food security in semi-arid regions of sub-Saharan Africa.
Abstract from the paper’s OpenAlex record; open copy licensed cc-by. Read at the source ↗
The text the model read, with the source record’s inline markup (italics, sub- and superscripts) rendered and its character entities decoded; quote offsets refer to the raw text.
Claims 7
Claim · model-written summary
Rainfall did not significantly affect sorghum yield under unfertilized conditions in any soil type.
- Treatment
- rainfalle2
- Outcome
- sorghum yielde2
- Direction
- significantly affectede2
- Qualifier
- under unfertilized conditions in all soil typese2
- Setting
- In Sudan Savannae1
SorghumNot reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“Understanding yield-limiting factors for sorghum in semi-arid sub-Saharan Africa”
e1“In Sudan Savanna”
e2“The results indicated that neither rainfall nor irrigation significantly affected sorghum yield under unfertilized conditions in all soil types”
Claim · model-written summary
Irrigation did not significantly affect sorghum yield under unfertilized conditions in any soil type.
- Treatment
- irrigatione2
- Outcome
- sorghum yielde2
- Direction
- significantly affectede2
- Qualifier
- under unfertilized conditions in all soil typese2
- Setting
- In Sudan Savannae1
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“Understanding yield-limiting factors for sorghum in semi-arid sub-Saharan Africa”
e1“In Sudan Savanna”
e2“The results indicated that neither rainfall nor irrigation significantly affected sorghum yield under unfertilized conditions in all soil types”
Claim · model-written summary
Lack of soil water was not the limiting factor for sorghum under unfertilized conditions, even in very shallow PT-pt.px soil.
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“Understanding yield-limiting factors for sorghum in semi-arid sub-Saharan Africa”
e3“suggesting that even in very shallow PT-pt.px, a lack of soil water was not the limiting factor under unfertilized conditions”
Claim · model-written summary
Under fertilized conditions, reduced rainfall significantly decreased sorghum yield in PT-pt and PT-pt.px soils.
- Treatment
- reduced rainfalle4
- Outcome
- sorghum yielde4
- Direction
- significantly decreasede4
- Qualifier
- under fertilized conditionse4
- Setting
- PT-pt and PT-pt.pxe4
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“Understanding yield-limiting factors for sorghum in semi-arid sub-Saharan Africa”
e4“under fertilized conditions, reduced rainfall significantly decreased sorghum yield in PT-pt and PT-pt.px”
Claim · model-written summary
Lack of soil water becomes a limiting factor under fertilized conditions in soils with effective depth below 50 cm.
- Outcome
- limiting factore5
- Qualifier
- under fertilized conditionse5
- Setting
- soils with an effective soil depth of < 50 cm (e.g., Plinthosols)e5
Not reportedDirection
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“Understanding yield-limiting factors for sorghum in semi-arid sub-Saharan Africa”
e5“lack of soil water becomes a limiting factor in soils with an effective soil depth of < 50 cm (e.g., Plinthosols) under fertilized conditions”
Claim · model-written summary
Lack of soil nutrients is the limiting factor for sorghum under unfertilized conditions, regardless of soil type.
- Treatment
- lack of soil nutrientse6
- Outcome
- limiting factore6
- Qualifier
- under unfertilized conditions, regardless of soil typee6
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“Understanding yield-limiting factors for sorghum in semi-arid sub-Saharan Africa”
e6“in addition to the lack of soil nutrients being the limiting factor in sorghum cultivation under unfertilized conditions, regardless of soil type”
Claim · model-written summary
The authors recommend knowing the effective soil depth when developing efficient fertilizer application methods for sorghum in semi-arid sub-Saharan Africa.
- Outcome
- knowing the effective soil depth when developing efficient fertilizer application methodse7
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“Understanding yield-limiting factors for sorghum in semi-arid sub-Saharan Africa”
e7“These findings underscore the importance of knowing the effective soil depth when developing efficient fertilizer application methods to achieve food security in semi-arid regions of sub-Saharan Africa”
The same questions in other papers
rainfall · yield · SorghumPositive and negative results
7 papers in the same direction as this paper · 11 in the opposite direction
- positive
- positive
- positive
15 papers more in this group
See all 19 papers →irrigation · yield · SorghumPositive and negative results
36 papers in the same direction as this paper · 94 in the opposite direction
- positive
- positive
- positive
127 papers more in this group
See all 131 papers →Claims are grouped by organism, treatment and what was measured or targeted. A paper counts as positive when any of its claims in the group is positive.