Chitedze Research Station Conservation Agriculture Long-term Trial
- Local identifier
- CRS
- Years operational
- 2007—2019
- Objective
- To evaluate the long-term conservation agriculture systems to understand its effects on climate adaptation, productivity and sustainability over time.
- Description
- Part of a comparison trial. The research stations that hosted the experiments were this one Chitedze Research Station (CRS) in Malawi; Domboshawa Training Centre (DTC) in Zimbabwe, Henderson Research Station (HRS) and ; Monze Farmer Training Centre (MFTC), Msekera Research Station (MRS) in Zambia; and Sussundenga Research Station (SRS) in Mozambique.
- Data Access Statement
- Freely available online
- Data Access Notes
- Datasets available on CIMMYT Dataverse repository
- Data license
- Don't know
- Data URL
- https://data.cimmyt.org/dataverse/cimmytdatadvn
- Data policy
- Don't know
- Organizations
- Chitedze Agricultural Research Station, Department of Agricultural Research & Technical Services, Malawiexperimental research stationMAIZE CGIAR Research ProgramInternational Maize & Wheat Improvement Centreresearch organisation
- People
- Dr Christian Thierfelderprincipal investigatorCIMMYTDr Ivy Sichinga Ligoweexperiment managerMinistry of AgricultureDepartment of Agricultural Research Services
Site: Chitedze Research Station
- Type
- research station field
- Local code
- CRS
- Location
- ChitedzeLilongwe Central RegionMalawi
- Geographic location
- -13.9732, 33.654
- Elevation
- 1145 Metres
- Visits permitted?
- No
- History
- Chitedze Agricultural Research Station (CARS) was established in the 1948/49 cropping season to expand the work which was hitherto being carried out at Likuni Experiment Station. It has a total of 486ha of land of which 230 ha are under arable cropping while 200 ha are covered by buildings and indigenous pastures and 56 ha are under natural and planted trees which provide fuel wood and wind-breaks.
- Management
- Commercial medium maturing maize varieties are planted at each experimental site with different target plant populations according to the agro-ecological recommendations. Maize varieties changed every 3–5 years to keep track with genetic yield gain provided by the seed companies. This strategy follows farmer’s practice who also change varieties periodically. Legumes and non-leguminous varieties in all experiments were planted using local seed recommendations and plant populations. Mineral fertilizer was applied as both basal and top-dressing to the maize while weed control was achieved either through manual weeding or herbicide application.
- Soil type
- luvisol
- Soil description
- soil type Ferruginous Latosol, a sandy loam
- Soil properties
Variable Depth Value (range) Units Ref year Estimated? Baseline? sand content 54.09 (51.8 – 55.7) Percent 2012 silt content 7.3 (5.9 – 10.5) Percent 2012 clay content 38.66 (36.8 – 41.8) Percent 2012 exchangeable calcium 8.686 (6.25 – 15.95) kilogram per centimole 2012 exchangeable magnesium 1.809 (1.18 – 3.25) kilogram per centimole 2012 exchangeable potassium 0.294 (0.1 – 0.58) kilogram per centimole 2012 mineralizable nitrogen 1.162 (0.25 – 2.09) gram per kilogram 2012 plant available phosphorous 11.281 (2.83 – 33.01) microgram per kilogram 2012 soil pH in water 5.155 (4.45 – 5.96) 2012 soil organic matter 25.23 (8.13 – 40.53) gram per kilogram 2012 - Climate properties
Variable Time period Value (range) Units air temperature 20 (16 – 24) degree Celsius precipitation 892 millimeter
Design period: (2007—2019)
- Design Type
- Randomized complete block design
- Description
- The test crop maize (Zea mays L.) with different other leguminous and non-leguminous crops as rotations or intercropping under research.
- Number of replicates
- 4
- Crops
Crop Years grown maize pigeon peas cow peas velvet beans ground nuts - Factors
- Factor name
- Factor levels
- row intercropping
maize only
maize with pigeon pea intercropping
maize with cowpea intercropping
maize with velvet bean intercropping
maize cowpea rotation
- crop residue management exposure
residues retained
residues removed
- planting process
direct seeding
Application method: hand dibblerbasin planting
ridge and furrow
- Factor combinations
- T1: Check plot Traditional farmers practice using the hand hoe.
- row intercropping: maize onlycrop residue management exposure: residues removedplanting process: ridge and furrow
- T2: Basin (BA)
- row intercropping: maize onlycrop residue management exposure: residues retainedplanting process: basin planting
- T3: Dibble stick (DiS)
- row intercropping: maize onlycrop residue management exposure: residues retainedplanting process: direct seeding
- T4: Crop rotation (DiS-MC)
- row intercropping: maize cowpea rotationcrop residue management exposure: residues retainedplanting process: direct seeding
- T5: Maize intercropping (DiS-M+Pp)
- row intercropping: maize with pigeon pea intercroppingcrop residue management exposure: residues retainedplanting process: direct seeding
- T6: Maize intercropping (DiS-M+C)
- row intercropping: maize with cowpea intercroppingcrop residue management exposure: residues retainedplanting process: direct seeding
- T7: Maize intercropping (DiS-M+Mp)
- row intercropping: maize with velvet bean intercroppingcrop residue management exposure: residues retainedplanting process: direct seeding
- T1: Check plot
- Measurement
Variable Material Units Frequency Scale Comment yield trait Not specified
Related publications
- Short-term yield gains or long-term sustainability? – a synthesis of Conservation Agriculture long-term experiments in Southern Africa (2022) Thierfelder & Mhlanga Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment Vol 326 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2021.107812 [In English]
- Peter R. Steward, Christian Thierfelder, Andrew J. Dougill, Ivy Ligowe, 2019. Conservation agriculture enhances resistance of maize to climate stress in a Malawian medium-term trial, Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment, Volume 277, 2019, Pages 95-104 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2018.07.009 [In English]