Residual effect of vermicompost and preceding groundnut on soil fertility and associated Striga density under sorghum cropping in Eastern Ethiopia.

ABSTRACT: Depletion of soil organic matter was found to be the primary biophysical factor causing declining per capita food production in sub-Saharan Africa. The magnitude of this problem was exacerbated by moisture-stress and imbalanced fertilizer application that caused Striga weed infestation. To address such confounded issues, two-year field experiments were conducted to evaluate the effect of residual vermicompost and preceding groundnut on soil fertility, sorghum yield, and Striga density. The first-year treatments contained two sowing methods (single and intercropped sorghum), two seedbed types (open-furrow and tied-ridge), and four vermicompost rates (0, 1.5, 3.0, and 4.5 t/ha) combined factorially in a randomized block design. In the second-year experiment, only monocropped sorghum with see

SUBMITTER: Ebbisa AF 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11903043 | biostudies-literature | 2025

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature