Underground Explorers

Sustaining crop productivity in Africa is a major challenge given that the cropping systems rely on external low organic and/or inorganic inputs with continuous cultivation, leading to soil nutrient mining. Soil degradation is a distinctive feature affecting most poor households in rural Africa and its numerous consequences are a global concern, but the impact on African smallholders is a pressing matter and it is considered a major limiting factor for achieving household food sufficiency in most tropical and sub-tropical agricultural systems. Out of the major plant nutrients (N, P, K), most cultivated soils in the global South are P deficient, and this scenario is worsened under the P-fixing acidic soils with high Aluminium and Iron concentrations especially in ferralsols and humic nitisols. P inadequacy is a challenge to a sustainable farming system in Kenya hindering the quest to improve food production for an increasing population. Biochar has been suggested as a promising & a more sustainable organic approach soil amendment. Arbuscular Mycorrhiza Fungi (AMF)  symbiosis, on the other hand, is associated with increased phosphorus uptake and also enhancing P supply to acidic soils where phosphorus is mainly bound with Fe, Al or Ca. Maize (Zea mays L.) is an important food crop, especially in the sub-Saharan Africa and statistics show that more land in Kenya is being used for (small-scale) maize production to meet future food demands. P and N deficiencies in Kenyan soils result in a 50% and 43% reduction in maize yield, respectively, and hence, maize production trend has not kept pace with the annual population growth rate. 

This research aims at establishing the processes through which biochar applications in low P soils would improve maize yields by smallholder farmers in coastal semi-arid and highland areas in Kenya by utilizing soil-mycobiome pathways. Specifically, we will Isolate, screen, and identify the Indigenous AMF species from Control, Biochar and Biochar- fertilizer treated soils and then we will investigate the variations in soil P fractions caused by Indigenous AMF, Biochar and Biochar- fertilizer treatments in both sites. To achieve this, the project will adhere to the SPUN sample collection guidelines and employ advanced molecular techniques, such as metabarcoding of the rDNA region.

Utilizing biochar-mycobime-plant pathway(s) of P transformations for P Acquisition Efficiency (PAE) by diversity of indigenous AMF species and making use of indigenous AMF would be the most effective and sustainable alternative method of improving P nutrition in soils in maize cropping system thereby ensuring delivery on maximum maize productivity goals. Equally, knowledge that would be gathered after understanding how biochar influences root colonization of indigenous AMF diversity in maize cropping system & how AMF enhances P availability in soils, will be used to develop a product/technology for use by smallholder farmers who are constantly experiencing low maize productivity, to enhance their maize yields through use of cheaper and sustainable methods of production. Local collaborators in the project will include various stakeholders such as smallholder farmers, agricultural extension officers, researchers from local universities or agricultural institutions, and community-based organizations. These local collaborators will benefit by gaining insights into the types of indigenous AMF present in their soils and understanding how specific AMF species can help optimize agricultural practices, such as crop selection, fertilizer management, and irrigation strategies, leading to improved crop yields and overall farm productivity. Ultimately, it will be important to establish alternative fertilization methods using organic sources for promoting sustainable agriculture in Kenya, due to economic and ecological effects caused by excessive use of inorganic fertilizers in the wake of climate change.