%0 Journal Article
%T Assessing soil chemical fertility in homegardens in forested areas of southern Cameroon
%A M Tchatat
%A R Ambassa-Kiki
%A D Mbila
%A A Fabre
%J African Crop Science Journal
%D 2004
%I 
%X It is argued that appropriate management of homegardens is critical for their sustainable productivity. In southern Cameroon, this management consists of hand-hoeing the soil when grown to food crops and using no-tillage when grown to fruit trees, and ensuring of crop and weed residues, household refuse, wood ash, farmyard manure whenever available instead of mineral fertilisers. However, the effect of these practices on the soil chemical fertility in different types of homegardens is largely unknown. A comparison was made between soils from secondary forest (SF) in three blocks, and the corresponding homegarden types (HT). The three blocks selected from north to south along a declining population gradient were Yaound¨¦ (block 1), Mbalmayo (block 2) and Ebolowa (block 3). The HTs were defined as HT1 characterized by the dominance of crops whose growing cycle seldom exceeds 3 months, HT2 dominated by annual and semi-perennial food crops, and HT3 mainly constituted of tree crops. The soil characteristics evaluated were organic carbon (OC), total N, exchangeable bases, exchange acidity and pH. The level of soil parameters evaluated were comparatively higher in HTs than in SFs. Generally, OC, N, sum of exchangeable bases and pH were rated as low (32 g kg-1), medium (2.2 g kg-1), high (14 cmol kg-1) and medium (6.7), respectively in HTs whereas in SFs, OC was rated as very low (17.8 g kg-1), while N (1.7 g kg-1), sum of exchangeable bases (3.28 cmol kg-1) and pH (4.9) were rated as low. Besides, whereas the sum of exchangeable bases, the exchange acidity and OC differed significantly among blocks in SFs, no significant difference was found in HTs within and between blocks, suggesting that the differences observed among the SF's soils could be removed following the application of homegarden-managed techniques and result in sustainable agriculture in the forest zone. Key Words: Exchangeable bases, forest zone, homegarden types R¨¦SUM¨¦ On soutient que une gestion ad¨¦quate de champs autour de la cour est critique pour une productivit¨¦ durable. Au sud du Cam¨¦roun cette gestion consiste au sarclage ¨¤ la main quand il s'agit de cultiver des plantes et l'usage du non labour quand il s'agit des arbres fruitiers, d'assurer des residus des plantes et des mauvaises herbes, des ordures m¨¦nag¨¨res, du cendres de bois quand disponible au lieu des engrais min¨¦raux. Cependant, les effets de ces practiques sur la fertilit¨¦ chimique dans diff¨¦rents champs de cours sont largement inconnus. Une comparaison ¨¦tait faite entre les sols de la for¨ºt secondaire (FS) en trois blocs et les champs de cours (CC) correspondants. Les trois blocs ¨¦taient s¨¦lectionn¨¦s du north au sud le long d' un gradient de population: Yaound¨¦ (bloc ), Mbalmayo (bloc 2) et Ebolowa (bloc 3). Les (CC) ¨¦taient d¨¦finis comme CC1 caract¨¦ris¨¦ des plantes dont le cycle de culture d¨¦passe rarement 3 mois. Les CC2 ¨¦taient domin¨¦s par des plantes annuelles et semi-vivaces. Les CC3 ¨¦taient constitu¨¦s par des plant
%U http://www.ajol.info/index.php/acsj/article/view/27674