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Horizontal flows of nitrogen, potassium, and carbon in urban vegetables gardens of Bobo Dioulasso, Burkina Faso

Little is known about matter flows in intensive small scale production systems of urban agriculture in West Africa as an important criterion to assess their sustainability and environmental externalities. This study therefore investigated nutrient management practices in six selected urban vegetable gardens of Bobo Dioulasso, the second largest city of Burkina Faso. Nitrogen (N), potassium (K), and carbon (C) fluxes were quantified and nutrient balances calculated for three gardens representing typical commercial gardening ? field crops and livestock systems (cGCL) and three gardens representing commercial gardening ? semi-commercial field crop systems (cGscC). Inputs in all gardens exceeded the amounts recommended by the extension service by up to 709% for N and 434% for K leading to horizontal annual surpluses of 1013 kg N ha-1 , 879 kg K ha-1, and 25 t C ha-1, while total balances were only positive for N and K, but negative for C. In both systems, apparent nutrient use efficiency was highest for K (85% and 54% for cGCL and cGscC) followed by N (66% and 44%). Management recommendations should be geared towards increasing N efficiencies by better tailoring nutrient supply to crop demands

Uploaded by: Désiré Jean Pascal Lompo
Author: LOMPO, Désiré Jean Pascal
Co-author: Compaoré, Emmanuel
Co-author: Sedogo, Michel Papaoba
Co-author: Melapie, Martina
Co-author: Bielders, Charles | ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2865-4236
Co-author: Buerkert, Andreas | ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1329-1559
Co-author: Schlecht, Eva | ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5420-2893
Institution: Université de Dédougou | Centre: Promoting Academic Capacities for Sustainable Agricultural Resources Use in West Africa (Pro-RUWA)
Type: Journal article | English | Peer Reviewed
Subjects: Agriculture

Published: Nutrient Cycling in Agroecosystems, ISSN 1385-1314, EISSN 1573-0867 | Volume 115 | Dordrecht: Springer Nature
Date: Published 19 September 2018; Issue date November 2019 | Pages: 189–199
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10705-018-9949-z
Copyright: © 2018, Springer Nature B.V. | License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 international (CC BY)