Correction: Combining organic and mineral fertilizers as a climate-smart integrated soil fertility management practice in sub-Saharan Africa: A meta-analysis.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.

Effective control and yield intensification on maize farms in western Kenya with N fertilizer and herbicide-resistant variety.

Context: Maize production in western Kenya is limited by the spread of parasitic weed and depletion of soil nutrient stocks. Nitrogen (N) fertilizer and imidazolinone resistant (IR) maize are key elements in the agronomic toolbox to control infestations and enhance yields.

Research Question: The circumstances under which their use, individually or combined, is most effective on farmer fields have not been well documented.

Assessing and understanding non-responsiveness of maize and soybean to fertilizer applications in African smallholder farms.

Use of mineral fertilizers is essential to enhance crop productivity in smallholder farming systems of Sub-Saharan Africa, but various studies have reported 'non-responsiveness' where application of inorganic fertilizers does not lead to satisfactory yield gains. This phenomenon is not well defined nor are its extent and causes well understood. In order to close these knowledge gaps, we assessed the effects of commonly recommended nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and/or potassium (K) fertilizer inputs on maize grain and soybean production on farmer fields across prevalent land slope and/or soil texture gradients (2 × 2 matrix) in four agroecosystems over two growing seasons.

Combining organic and mineral fertilizers as a climate-smart integrated soil fertility management practice in sub-Saharan Africa: A meta-analysis.

Low productivity and climate change require climate-smart agriculture (CSA) for sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), through (i) sustainably increasing crop productivity, (ii) enhancing the resilience of agricultural systems, and (iii) offsetting greenhouse gas emissions. We conducted a meta-analysis on experimental data to evaluate the contributions of combining organic and mineral nitrogen (N) applications to the three pillars of CSA for maize (Zea mays). Linear mixed effect modeling was carried out for; (i) grain productivity and agronomic efficiency of N (AE) inputs, (ii) inter-seasonal yield variability, and (iii) changes in soil organic carbon (SOC) content, while accounting for the quality of organic amendments and total N rates.

Biophysical potential of crop residues for biochar carbon sequestration, and co-benefits, in Uganda.

Increasing organic matter/carbon contents of soils is one option proposed to offset climate change inducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, under the auspices of the UNFCC Paris Agreement. One of the complementary practices to sequester carbon in soils on decadal time scales is amending it with biochar, a carbon rich byproduct of biomass gasification. In sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), there is a widespread and close interplay of agrarian-based economies and the use of biomass for fuel, which makes the co-benefits of biochar production for agriculture and energy supply explicitly different from the rest of the world.

Pathway of nitrous oxide consumption in isolated Pseudomonas stutzeri strains under anoxic and oxic conditions.

The microbial consumption of nitrous oxide (N2O) has gained great interest since it was revealed that this process could mitigate the greenhouse effect of N2O. The consumption of N2O results from its reduction to dinitrogen gas (N2) as part of the denitrification process. However, there is ongoing debate regarding an alternative pathway, namely reduction of N2O to NH4(+), or assimilatory N2O consumption.