Grain Legumes and Green Manures for Soil Fertility in ... - cimmyt

Systems and Networks:
There are gaps on:
-4> . Sharing of information within the Soil Fert Net
and other networks.
-4> Soil-Crops-Livestock integration.
-4> Management of legumes, including time of residue
incorporation, method, time of planting in
intercrops, and seed maintenance.
-4> Establishing the agro-ecological niches for the
species and varieties.
Research Methods and Interpretations:
• People should synthesize their data fully.
• We must avoid generalization with no data or
evidence. Do we know where we haven't done
enough research?
• There are big gaps on information flows between
research-extension-farmers.
3. Strategies and Work for the Future
Research Synthesis:
• Review the literature on existing uses of grain
legumes and green manures in different countries,
including indigenous and private sector
knowledge. Link with other disciplines, e.g.
food technology and animal nutritionists.
• Review and synthesize information on the management
of legumes. Identify gaps that can then
be researched. Develop a database.
Research:
• We need further work to identify the
biophysical, socio-economic, and cultural
conditions where the legumes perform best.
• There is need to explore ways that may
maximize the benefit from green manures as
intercrops or in rotations.
• Establish long-term trials to monitor soil physical
properties, and evaluate other long-term
benefits of green manures and grain legumes.
• Plant breeders need to breed for the farmers using
their conditions, e.g. breed in soils with low
soil fertility. We need to collect legume materials
from the breeders and screen them in different
conditions.
• Screening should be done for new species and
not endlessly repeated for the same ones
already done. More screening of indigenous
legumes is needed, as they seem to have a
positive role to play in soil fertility
improvement.
• Further research is required on nutrients other
than Nand P, and on C sequestration.
• When screening for BNF, we have to be more
systematic and take plant samples from
different geographic areas and see if legumes
are nodulating in different soils.
• There is a great need for more interdisciplinary
Soils-Crops-Livestock 'interaction research, e.g.
on feed quality and manure quality. Howserious
are the sustainability issues where the cycle
is not balanced?
• There is a clear need to re-visit the ideas (widely
used during the first few years of Soil Fert Net)
of developing common experimental protocols
and establish multi-Iocational trials.
• Management issues should be considered to
improve the chances for green manures, e.g.
avoid very late planting.
• Negative results should also be reported so that
similar experiments are not repeated in future,
e.g. it is all right to say "Legumes did not
suppress Striga".
Technology Promotion:
• Rules of thumb will be useful on the economic
yield increase of maize and other cereals following
various classes of legumes. Should it be a
two fold, three fold or five fold yield increase
that we need for it to be economic?
• GIS and modelling should be used more often
for scaling up purposes.
• We need to do more on the processing and utilization
of legumes, including linkages with food
technologists to encourage local utilization.
Networking and Capacity Building:
• Improve network linkages. We need to keep
trying to develop an effective network databank
for members to know what is happening, what
has been done, etc.
• Soil Fert Net and others should look at conducting
more training courses on new techniques.
• Networks can help with the setting up of
screening experiments.
• Build capacity to undertake our research more
effectively, including how to measure and
assess the longer-term benefits of legumes.
• Attach graduate students to work on different
issues with Government research, not necessarily
using network funds.
• Members should link more effectively with
other existing networks e.g. ANAFE.
Grain legumes and Green Manures for Soil Fertility in Southern Africa 245