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Soil Biology and Agriculture in the Tropics pp 81–107Cite as

The Potential of Soil Beneficial Micro-Organisms for Slash-and-Burn Agriculture in the Humid Forest Zone of Sub-Saharan Africa

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Part of the book series: Soil Biology ((SOILBIOL,volume 21))

Abstract

Slash-and-burn (SB) agriculture degrades soil and reduces fertility, but provides most of the food produced in tropical Africa. Soil biota can be manipulated to enhance soil nutrient availability and fertility, and to improve plant tolerance to stress and diseases. The potential of beneficial micro-organisms (BM) such as mycorrhizal fungi (MF), legume-nodulating bacteria (LNB), phosphorous-solubilizing micro-organisms (PSM), and bio-control agents for sustaining agricultural productivity was assessed in land-use systems (forest, plantation, fallow and mixed farm) from humid forest ecosystem. Microbial activity is significantly influenced by cropping practices. Inoculation of legumes by selected LNB and of garden crops, cereals, legumes, tubers, and fruit trees by arbuscular MF can increase crop yield or growth by 50%–200%. Yield improvement by BM was more pronounced in low microbial activity soils. BM has proved to be equivalent to or better than some inorganic fertilizers in Ferralsols. An integrated soil fertility management system involving organic/inorganic nutrients additions, more BM, and socio-economics is suggested as an alternative to SB agriculture.

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Abbreviations

AABNF:

African Association for Biological Nitrogen Fixation

AGRA:

Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa

AfNet-TSBF:

African Network for Soil Biology and Fertility Institute

Africa NUANCES:

Africa Nutrient Use in Animal and Cropping Systems: Efficiencies and Scales

AM:

Arbuscular mycorrhiza

AUF:

Agence Universitaire de la Francophonie

ASB:

Alternatives to Slash-and-Burn Program

BIOVEG:

Biotechnologie végétale: amélioration des plantes et sécurité alimentaire

BCA:

Bio-control agents

BM:

Beneficial micro-organisms

CARBAP:

Centre Africain de Recherche sur Bananiers et Plantains

CFU:

Colony forming units

CIAT:

International center for Tropical Agriculture

CSM-BGBD:

Conservation and sustainable management of below ground biodiversity

EM:

Ectomycorrhiza

EMBRAPA:

Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuária

ETH:

Swiss Federal Institute of Technology

FAO:

United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation

ICRAF:

International Centre for Research in Agroforestry

IFDC:

International Fertilizer Development Center

IITA:

International Institute for Tropical Agriculture

IRD:

Institut Français de Recherches pour le Développement

IRAD:

Institute for Research on Agriculture for Development

ISFM:

Integrated soil fertility management

LNB:

Legume-nodulating bacteria

LSTM:

Laboratoire des Symbioses Tropicales et Méditerranéennes

MINESUP:

Ministry of Higher Education

MINEP:

Ministry of Environment and Protection of Nature

MF:

Mycorrhizal fungi

MIRCEN:

Microbial Resources Centre

NARS:

National Agricultural Research System

PGPR:

Plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria

PSM:

Phosphorus-solubilizing micro-organisms

SB:

Slash-and-burn

SOM:

Soil organic matter

SS:

Sub-Saharan

TSBF:

Tropical Soil Biology and Fertility Institute

UNESCO-BAC:

UNESCO Biotechnology Action Council

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Acknowledgments

We thank AfNet-TSBF Institute of CIAT (Nairobi, Kenya), AfricaNUANCES Project (Wageningen, Netherlands), AUF “Bioveg” Network (Paris, France), AGRA Soil Health Project (Accra, Ghana), students and colleagues in Cameroon (CARBAP, ICRAF, IITA-Nkolbisson, IRAD, IRD-Yaoundé, MINEP, MINESUP, Universities of Yaoundé I, Ngaoundéré, Buea, Douala, Dschang) and IITA (Ibadan, Nigeria and Cotonou, Benin), University of Cheik Anta Diop (Dakar, Senegal), EMBRAPA (Seropedica, Brazil), ETH Institute of Plant Science (Zurich, Switzerland), LSTM IRD (Montpellier, France), Universities of Dundee and York (Plant Biology Dept, UK), Institute of Soil Science and Plant Nutrition, Martin-Luther University (Halle-Wittenberg, Germany) for their collaboration, work and networking. We also thank UNESCO Biotechnology Action Plan for a memorable training scholarship in Brazil (EMBRAPA-RJ).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Soil Microbiology, Faculty of Science/Biotechnology Centre, University of Yaoundé I, 812, Yaoundé, Cameroon, Africa

    Dieudonné Nwaga

  2. ETH Zurich, Institute of Plant Sciences, CH-8315, Lindau, ZH, Switzerland

    Jan Jansa & Emmanuel Frossard

  3. Department of Earth Sciences, University of Yaoundé I, Yaoundé, Cameroon, Africa

    Monique Abossolo Angue

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  1. Dieudonné Nwaga
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  2. Jan Jansa
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  3. Monique Abossolo Angue
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  4. Emmanuel Frossard
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Correspondence to Dieudonné Nwaga .

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  1. Dépt. Phytologie, Université Laval, avenue de la Médecine 1030, Quebec, G1V 0A6, Canada

    Patrice Dion

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Nwaga, D., Jansa, J., Angue, M.A., Frossard, E. (2010). The Potential of Soil Beneficial Micro-Organisms for Slash-and-Burn Agriculture in the Humid Forest Zone of Sub-Saharan Africa. In: Dion, P. (eds) Soil Biology and Agriculture in the Tropics. Soil Biology, vol 21. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-05076-3_5

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