| Popis: |
The type of cropping system that increase the soil chemical properties is very complex and the correlation between soil chemical properties on maize need to be addressed. In this way, the study was conducted to investigate the effect of cropping system, location and nitrogen fertilizer on soil chemical properties. A factorial experiment randomized in complete block design with two replications was conducted during 2011/12 and 2012/13 planting seasons. The experiment consisted of five management systems, namely, mono cropping cowpea, Mono cropping maize, rotational maize, rotational cowpea and intercropping maize-cowpea. The amount of 0 and 95; 0 and 92; 0 and 113.5 kg N ha-1 were applied on maize plots, while the amount of 0 and 20; 0 and 17; 0 and 23.5 kg N ha-1 were applied on cowpea plots at Potchefstroom, Rustenburg and Taung respectively. The laboratory analysis involved soil NNO3, N-NH4, Bray 1-P and exchangeable K. Soil collected from cowpea plots planted on mono cropping and rotational systems had significantly (P < 0.05) higher soil N-NO3 than soil collected at other cropping systems. Soil collected at maize plot planted on mono cropping and intercropping systems had significantly (P < 0.05) higher Bray 1-P than soil collected on other cropping systems. Location had significant (P < 0.05) effect on Bray 1-P, N-NO3 and exchangeable K. It was revealed that cropping system and location play a pivotal role on soil chemical properties. |
