Balancing The Use Of Maize Residues For Soil Amendment And Forage

Balancing the use of maize (Zea mays L.) residues for soil amendment and forage is an important strategy for agricultural sustainability. Therefore, the study assessed the impacts of four proportions of maize residues to soil retention (S) and forage (F) on soil total organic carbon (TOC); total nitrogen (TN); carbon/nitrogen ratio (C/N); grain yield, economic benefits and nutritional contents of removed residues. The concentrations of TOC and TN increased when more residue returned, while the C/N ratios were S100 + F0 > S34 + F66 > S66 + F34. Also, crude protein, crude fat, and crude starch in the removed residues were F34 > F66 > F100, while the crude fiber and ash contents exhibited the opposite trend. The crop yield improved with residue retention increased, but there were no differences on the economic benefits of the four residue-use systems. The S34 + F66 system maintained a TOC ranging from 11.51 to 13.37 g/kg, a TN from 1.12 to 1.16 g/kg, 92.93% of the annual yields of the S100 + F0 system, and 6.2 t/ha/year of forage. Therefore, the S34 + F66 system can balance the use of maize residues for soil amendments and forage to sustainably develop a household crop-livestock system.