Efficacy of in-situ Rainwater Harvesting
Techniques on Soil Water Storage, Run-off and
Maize (Zea mays) performance in Semi-arid
Areas of Central of Tanzania
Swai, E.Y , Okori, P, Wills, M, Bekunda, M, Kimaro, A
Introduction and objective
In the semi-arid zones of Central Tanzania soil water
supply can be singled out as most critical
environmental factor affecting crop production.
The study investigated the effects of animal powered
implements (i.e. ox –ridging and ox-ripping) on
maize (Zea mays, L) performance and soil moisture
conservation in drought prone areas of Central
Tanzania.
Material and methods
 Experimental design: On-farm mother trial was laid out in RCBD
in two replicates;. Runoff plot size used: 22 m by 2m.
 Treatments: Three treatments namely ox-ripping (RT), ox-tied
ridging (TR) and conventional ox-ploughing (PL) tillage methods.
 Hydrological variables: cumulative runoff and Vol water content
(% vol) were obtained by inserting SM 300 Moisture Sensor at soil
depth of 10 cm, 20 cm and 30 cm in all treatments at 30, 60, 90
DAP.
 Plant variables: Plant height, LAI , maize grain yield and DM.
 Statistical Analysis: ANONA and mean separation employed
Genstat and Duncan multiple range respectively.
RESULTS
Cumulative runoff
SWC at depth of 20 -30 cm soil during 2014/2015 and
2015/2016 cropping season
Effect of tillage methods on maize grain yield
during 2013/2014 – 2015/2016 cropping
season
Conclusions
The study is related to both environment and productivity.
TR contributed to the significant reduction in surface runoff
by four folds when compared PL.
Maize grain yield were significantly higher in TR and RT with
average increments of 2.1tonsha-1 and 1.2 tonsha-1 for
respectively over conventional ox-plough treatment.
Knowledge gap: There is a need to quantify the nutrients and
C losses and long term effects on soil loss.
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