SEQUENTIAL EFFECTS OF MINIMUM TILLAGE, SEED PRIMING, FERTILIZER MICRODOSING AND MULCHING IN MAIZE, SEMIARID CENTRAL RIFT VALLEY OF ETHIOPIA
Getachew Sime, Jens B. Aune
Experimental Agriculture July 1, 2016 DOI: 10.1017/s0014479715000125 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Field experiment Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Population | Rainfed maize in the central rift valley of Ethiopia |
| Interventions | Minimum tillage seed priming |
| Dose | 53 kg ha−1 P, 4 ton ha−1 maize stover, 53 kg ha−1 N |
| Topics | Microdosing |
| Key findings | Increasing levels of intensification improved agronomic and economic responses except at the lowest step (minimum tillage plus seed priming, unfertilized). The value cost ratio remained above 4 even at the highest input level, and fertilizer use efficiency stayed high, which the authors attribute to pocket application through microdosing. |
Abstract
SUMMARY: Intensification of maize production is imperative to improve food security for the rising population in the central rift valley (CRV) of Ethiopia, whose livelihood is principally based on rainfed maize that operates under shrinking landholding and high seasonal rainfall variability. This study examined different levels of intensification options in maize production by sequentially introducing minimum tillage and seed priming, phosphorus (P) fertilizer microdosing, surface mulching and nitrogen (N) fertilizer microdosing. Field experiments were conducted with five treatments, steps or levels consisting of conventional tillage (farmers practice as a control); minimum tillage + seed priming, unfertilized (step 1); step 1 + microdosing 53 kg ha−1 P (step 2); step 2 + 4 ton ha−1 maize stover as surface mulch (step 3) and step 3 + 53 kg ha−1 N (step 4). These steps represented increasing levels of intensification. Except at the lowest level (step 1), agronomic and economic responses improved with increasing levels of inputs. Relative to the very high and increasing gross margin, production costs were low but slowly increased with increasing levels of inputs. Except at the lowest level, the value cost ratio was above 4 even at the highest levels of inputs, demonstrating that such kind of intensification can be achieved with low risk. Likewise, the fertilizer use efficiency was quite high even at the highest of levels of inputs signifying the efficiency of the pocket application of fertilizer through the microdosing method. The improvement in maize establishment and yield and the reduction in the days to maturity could contribute to make maize production more adaptive to the existing seasonal rainfall variability. Depending on the affordability to the external inputs and their feasibilities, the different technology packages in the intensification ladder may give different choices for the farmers to improve maize production in the CRV of Ethiopia.
Comparable studies
Other experimental studies on microdosing, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Microdosing Clinical Study: Pharmacokinetic, Pharmacogenomic (SLCO2B1), and Interaction (Grapefruit Juice) Profiles of Celiprolol Following the Oral Microdose and Therapeutic Dose Healthy volunteers matched for SLCO2B1 genotype | 2011 | Pharmacokinetic study | n = 30 |
| Microdosing psychedelics has no impact on cognitive function in naturalistic settings Participants during their microdosing regimen | 2023 | Observational within-subjects design | n = 17 |
| PK and PK / PD Modeling of Bcl2 Inhibitor S65487 in Patients With AML and Investigation of Nonlinearity With Microdosing Phase I/II cancer patients and healthy volunteers | 2026 | Pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic modeling study | |
| Technical pen-based printhead for high-precision microdosing of personalized therapies. | 2026 | Experimental study | |
| Analysis of Serotonin in Caenorhabditis Elegans Subjected to Micro-Dosing with Psilocybin| Iris Publishers Caenorhabditis elegans | 2025 | Experimental study |