{"type": "FeatureCollection", "features": [{"id": "10.1007/s10705-004-1927-y", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-07-28T16:15:13Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2005-03-15", "title": "Long-Term Effects Of Fallow Systems And Lengths On Crop Production And Soil Fertility Maintenance In West Africa", "description": "In the development of short fallow systems as alternatives to shifting cultivation in West Africa, a long-term trial was established at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) on an Alfisol in the forest-savanna transitional zone of southwestern Nigeria, comparing three fallow systems; natural regrowth fallow, cover crop fallow and alley cropping on soil productivity and crop yield sustainability. The natural fallow system consisted of natural regrowth of mainly Chromolaena odorata shrub as fallow vegetation. The cover crop fallow system consisted of Pueraria phaseoloides, a herbaceous legume as fallow vegetation. The alley cropping system consisted of woody hedgerows of Leucaena leucocephala as fallow vegetation. The fallow lengths were 0 (continuous cropping), 1, 2 and 3 years after 1 year of maize/cassava intercropping. Biomass produced from natural fallow and cover crop fallow was burnt during the land preparation. Fertilizer was not applied throughout the study. Without fertilizer application, maize yield declined from above 3.0 t ha\u22121 to below 0.5 t ha\u22121 during 12 years of cultivation (1989\u20132000) on a land cleared from a 23-year old secondary forest. Temporal change in cassava tuber yield was erratic. Mean maize grain yields from 1993\u20132000 except for 1999 were higher in cover crop fallow system (1.89 t ha\u22121) than in natural fallow system (1.73 t ha\u22121), while natural fallow system outperformed alley cropping system (1.46 t ha\u22121). During the above 7 years, mean cassava tuber yield in cover crop system (7.7 t ha\u22121) did not differ from natural fallow system (8.2 t ha\u22121), and both systems showed higher cassava tuber than the alley cropping system (5.7 t ha\u22121). The positive effect of fallowing on crop yields was observed for both crops in the three systems, however, insignificant effects were seen when fallow length exceeded 1 year for cover crop and alley cropping, and 2 years for natural fallow. Soil pH, organic carbon, available P and exchangeable Ca, Mg and K decreased considerably after 12 years of cultivation, even in a 3-year fallow subplot. After 12 years, soil organic carbon (SOC) within 0\u20135 cm depth in alley cropping (13.9 g kg\u22121) and natural fallow (13.7 g kg\u22121) was higher than in cover crop fallow (11.6 g kg\u22121). Whereas significant increase in SOC with either natural fallow or alley cropping was observed only after 2 or 3 years of fallow, the SOC in the 1-year fallow alley cropping subplot was higher than that in continuous cropping natural fallow subplot. It can be concluded from our study that in transforming shifting cultivation to a permanent cropping, fallow with natural vegetation (natural fallow), herbaceous legumes (cover crop fallow) and woody legumes (alley cropping) can contribute to the maintenance of crop production and soil fertility, however, length of fallow period does not need to exceed 2 years. When the fallow length is reduced to 1 year, a better alternative to natural regrowth fallow would be the cover crop for higher maize yield and alley cropping for higher soil organic matter. For fallow length of 2 years, West African farmers would be better off with the natural fallow system.", "keywords": ["0106 biological sciences", "2. Zero hunger", "Soil management", "Soil organic matter", "Crop yields", "Conservation agriculture", "Cover crops", "Nigeria", "04 agricultural and veterinary sciences", "15. Life on land", "Soil fertility", "Soil degradation", "01 natural sciences", "Soil quality", "Woody species", "Long-term trial", "West Africa", "Shifting cultivation", "Fallow", "0401 agriculture", " forestry", " and fisheries", "Field Scale"], "contacts": [{"organization": "Guanglong Tian, Guanglong Tian, B. T. Kang, F. K. Salako, P. Idinoba, G.O. Kolawole,", "roles": ["creator"]}]}, "links": [{"href": "https://doi.org/10.1007/s10705-004-1927-y"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/Nutrient%20Cycling%20in%20Agroecosystems", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.1007/s10705-004-1927-y", "name": "item", "description": "10.1007/s10705-004-1927-y", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.1007/s10705-004-1927-y"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2005-02-01T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10.4081/ija.2011.e33", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-07-28T16:20:59Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2011-11-17", "description": "The scope of this study was to evaluate the effect of perennial energy crops on soil organic carbon (SOC) storage. A field experiment was undertaken in 2002 at Anzola dell\u2019Emilia in the lower Po Valley, Northern Italy. Five perennial energy crops were established on a land area which had been previously cultivated with arable crops for at least 20 years. The compared crops are: the herbaceous perennials giant reed and miscanthus, and the woody species poplar, willow and black locust, managed as short rotation coppice (SRC). SOC was measured in 2009, seven years after the start of the experiment, on an upper soil layer of 0.0-0.2 m and a lower soil layer of 0.2-0.4 m. The study aimed to compare the SOC storage of energy crops with alternative land use. Therefore, two adjacent areas were sampled in the same soil layers: i) arable land in steady state, cultivated with rainfed annual crops; ii) natural meadow established at the start of the experiment. The conversion of arable land into perennial energy crops resulted in SOC storage, in the upper soil layer (0.0-0.2 m) ranging from 1150 to 1950 kg C ha-1 year-1 during the 7-year period. No significant differences were detected in SOC among crop species. We found no relationship between the harvested dry matter and the SOC storage. The conversion of arable land into perennial energy crops provides a substantial SOC sequestration benefit even when the hidden C cost of N industrial fertilizers is taken into account. While the SOC increased, the total N content in the soil remained fairly constant. This is probably due to the low rate of nitrogen applied to the perennial crops. However, our data are preliminary and the number of years in which the SOC continues to increase needs to be quantified, especially for the herbaceous species giant reed and miscanthus, with a supposedly long duration of the useful cropping cycle of 20 years or longer.", "keywords": ["2. 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