Search Result For: Soil Amendments

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453 items found (Showing 1 - 10)

  1. Biochar: An Organic House for Soil Microbes

    Key Resource
    01/06/2013 Rick Burnette wrote an article for Issue 7(July 2010) of ECHO Asia Notes, titled “Charcoal Production in 200-Liter Horizontal Drum Kilns.” My article takes the charring process a step further by exploring the rapidly re-emerging world of biochar. Biochar is a form of charcoal, produced through...
    Soil Microorganisms Biochar
     

  2. Understanding Salt-Affected Soils

    Key Resource
    17/08/2016 Farmers and gardeners in semi-arid and arid regions of the world face two associated but separate problems, which limit the crops they can grow and the yield of these crops. The underlying problem is lack of rainfall needed for growing plants. The second is accumulation of salts in the root zone....
    Saline Soils Salt Tolerance Lab Protocol Soil Remediation Salinity Soil Health
     

  3. Best Practices in Conservation Agriculture

    Key Resource
    28/09/2016 Farmers in many parts of the world, because of human population growth, have little choice but to crop their land continuously, with scarce resources to replace nutrients withdrawn by each successive crop. Crop residues are often lost as a source of organic matter and mulch, usually through...
    Conservation Agric... Mulch Soil Conservation Plant Diversity Crop Diversity Soil Disturbance Soil Fertility Soil Remediation Soil Erosion
     

  4. Vermiculture Basics & Vermicompost

    Key Resource
    01/08/2010 Worm or vermiculture is a useful technique for recycling kitchen and livestock wastes into a rich organic fertilizer, for producing high-protein feed for poultry and initiating a lucrative business selling worms and worm castings for the small farm. Worms are invaluable partners in building the...
    Red Worm Vermicompost Vermiculture Worm Casting
     

  5. Zai Pit System

    Key Resource
    01/01/2013 “Zai” is a term that farmers in northern Burkina Faso use to refer to small planting pits that typically measure 20-30 cm in width, are 10-20 cm deep and spaced 60-80 cm apart. In the Tahoua region of Niger, the haussa word “tassa” is used. English terms used to decribe zai pits include “planting...
    Zai Pit Zai Hole Cereals Microcatchment
     

  6. Selecting the Best Plants for the Tropical Subsistence Farm

    Key Resource
    01/01/2007 By Dr. F. W. Martin. Published in parts, 1989 and 1994; Revised 1998 and 2007 by ECHO Staff Though nearly all plants are useful in some way, they are not equally valuable. For example, wheat, rice and corn may be considered the most valuable plants in the world based on the vast acreage planted...
    Crop Selection Tropical legumes Tropical Fruit Tropical Food Crops Tropical Forages Tropical Trees Perennial Vegetables
     

  7. Parasitic Plants in African Agriculture

    Key Resource
    21/03/2019 This Technical Note provides an overview of parasitic plants of agricultural significance in Africa. Parasitic weeds cause drought stress and stunted crops. Affected plants include cereal grains (e.g., sorghum [Sorghum bicolor] and maize [Zea mays]) and grain legumes (e.g., cowpea [Vigna...
    Weed Control Parasitic Plants Weeds Striga Push-pull
     

  8. SRI, the System of Rice Intensification: Less Can be More

    Key Resource
    21/09/2015 The System of Rice Intensification (SRI) is a method of raising rice that produces substantially higher yields with the planting of far fewer seedlings and the use of fewer inputs than either traditional methods (i.e., flooding) or more “modern” methods (using mineral fertilizer or...
    SRI System of Rice Int... SCI System of Crop Int...
     

  9. Green Manure Crops

    Key Resource
    01/01/1985 Green manure crops are crops that are [often times in North America] grown to be turned under to increase soil fertility. Leguminous green manure crops ( i.e., those which can make nitrogen fertilizers from atmospheric nitrogen) can offer small-scale Third World farmers a tremendous number of...
    Green Manures and ... Green Manure Cover... Green Manures Cover Crops Mucuna Jackbean Soil Fertility Conservation Agric... Mulch
     

  10. 100-Fold Vegetable Gardens with Low-Cost Wicking Beds

    Key Resource
    23/07/2019 I discovered 100-fold gardens while researching ways to irrigate plants directly in the root zone. I wanted to know how to practically and affordably control some of the variables that influence plant growth, such as water availability and soil fertility. I read about “wicking beds,” which are...
    Dryland Farming Wick Irrigation Low Maintenance ga... Garden structures ...