Browsing by Author "Mwanjalolo, Majaliwa"

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    Diversity at Landscape Level to Increase Resilience. A Review
    (East African Journal of Environment and Natural Resources, 2022) Turyasingura, Benson; Mwanjalolo, Majaliwa; Ayiga, Natal
    Tree species increases the number of ecological niches and associated species such as understory plants and animals hence, increased landscape ecosystem diversity. Rapid environmental and economic changes are posing serious dangers to ecosystems and economic systems around the world. This has resulted in the extinction of species, droughts, and price fluctuations in agricultural products. The aim of this review is to document landscape diversity and ecosystem resilience as a tool for natural resources management. The species from one ecosystem's functional group may temporarily support a functional group in another ecosystem, significant variety can help to maintain ecological stability. Hence, building on these insights, diversity at landscape level is paramount to promoting resilient livelihoods as a means of improving the health and functioning of socio-ecological systems, as well as a mechanism for achieving food security. The study concludes that there should be involving many actors in a landscape management aspect to stimulate knowledge exchange and training.
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    Effects of Mulching on Soil Hydro-Physical Properties in Kibaale Sub-catchment, South Central Uganda
    (Applied Ecology and Environmental Sciences, 2015) Kakaire, Joel; Makokha, George L.; Mwanjalolo, Majaliwa; Mensah, Albert K.; Emmanuel, Menya
    Mulching is one of the major soil and water conservation measures applied for conserving soil moisture and modifying soil physical and chemical environment. The study aimed at assessing the effect of mulching on soil hydro-physical properties in Kibaale sub-catchment in South Central Uganda. Samples were obtained between 0-20 cm depths and under 0, 5, 10 and 15 cm mulch thickness levels. The experiment involved 3 farmers and 4 treatments of corn residue mulch thicknesses each replicated thrice on each of the farmer sites. The main parameters of study were; bulk density, saturated hydraulic conductivity (Ksat) and water retention. The parameters were determined using core method, constant head method and pressure plates’ method respectively. Laboratory data was statistically analyzed using Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) from Genstat software Edition 4 and the means differentiated using 5 % least significant difference (LSD). The application of mulch significantly improved all the soil hydro-physical properties that were studied (bulk density, Ksat, field capacity, wilting point, porosity, soil organic matter (SOM), mean weight diameter (MWD) after two seasons. The level of improvement was highest with 10 cm mulch thickness while Ksat, porosity and SOM varied significantly (P< 0.05) with mulch thickness. The study recommends the use of 10 cm mulch thickness. This study provides information to stakeholders such as agricultural experts, watershed managers, farmers and policy makers which will help in formulating guidelines on how to incorporate mulching as an effective method for soil and water conservation in the Sub-catchment.
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    Using DSSAT-CENTURY Model to Simulate Soil Organic Carbon Dynamics Under a Low-Input Maize Cropping System
    (2014) Musinguzi, Patrick; Ebanyat, Peter; Tenywa, John Stephen; Mwanjalolo, Majaliwa; Basamba, Twaha Ali; Tenywa, Moses M; Porter, Cheryl
    Decline in Soil Organic Carbon (SOC) below the critical levels is one of the major indicators of soil fertility depletion in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), with the main causes being poor management practices coupled with low input use. Measures for monitoring long-term impacts of management on SOC dynamics and its restoration can be critical in enhancing sustainable soil productivity. Crop models have proved to be good tools for understanding the influence of management options on soil and crop productivity. The DSSAT-Century model was applied to simulate the influence of management practices on SOC dynamics. Using long-term datasets from Kabete, Kenya (1976-1996 maize-bean) and Kiboga-Uganda (1980-2010 maize), model calibration and evaluation showed a good fit between simulated and observed values of SOC. On simulating continuous tillage with no fertilization for the 1980-2010 antecedent period and 2010-2060 extrapolated period, the model showed high rates of SOC decline in the newly cultivated soil as compared to a degraded soil. The simulated rate of decline is 2129 kg ha-1 yr-1 for newly cultivated soil and 849 kg ha-1 yr-1 for the continuously cultivated soils. The model was sensitive to initial partitioning of SOC pools, with SOC in previously uncultivated soils declining at a higher rate than that in the cultivated ones. The model confirmed that use of continuous tillage is a major threat to SOC building and soil fertility restoration in the tropics. Adopting conservation agriculture is critical for future generations. Overall, the DSSAT CENTURY model is a potential tool for predicting SOC dynamics in low-input farming systems.