Efficient phosphorus application strategies for increased crop production in sub-Saharan West Africa

Comparable data are lacking from the range of environments found in sub-Saharan West Africa to draw more general conclusions about the relative merits of locally available rockphosphate (RockP) in alleviating phosphorus (P) constraints to crop growth. To fill this gap, a multi-factorial field experiment was conducted over 4 years at eight locations in Niger, Burkina Faso and Togo. These ranged in annual rainfall from 510 to 1300 mm. Crops grown were pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum L.), sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench) and maize (Zea mays L.) either continuously or in rotation with cowpea (Vigna unguiculata Walp.) and groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.). Crops were subjected to six P fertiliser treatments comprising RockP and soluble P at different rates and combined with 0 and 60 kg N ha^-1. For legumes, time trend analyses showed P-induced total dry matter (TDM) increases between 28 and 72% only with groundnut. Similarly, rotation-induced raises in cereal TDM compared to cereal monoculture were only observed with groundnut. For cereals, at the same rate of application, RockP was comparable to single superphosphate (SSP) only at two millet sites with topsoil pH-KCl <4.2 and annual average rainfall >600 mm. Across the eight sites NPK placement at 0.4 g P per hill raised average cereal yields between 26 and 220%. This was confirmed in 119 on-farm trials revealing P placement as a promising strategy to overcome P deficiency as the regionally most growth limiting nutrient constraint to cereals.

Multi-site time-trend analysis of soil fertility management effects on crop production in sub-Saharan West Africa

Soil fertility constraints to crop production have been recognized widely as a major obstacle to food security and agro-ecosystem sustainability in sub-Saharan West Africa. As such, they have led to a multitude of research projects and policy debates on how best they should be overcome. Conclusions, based on long-term multi-site experiments, are lacking with respect to a regional assessment of phosphorus and nitrogen fertilizer effects, surface mulched crop residues, and legume rotations on total dry matter of cereals in this region. A mixed model time-trend analysis was used to investigate the effects of four nitrogen and phosphorus rates, annually applied crop residue dry matter at 500 and 2000 kg ha^-1, and cereal-legume rotation versus continuous cereal cropping on the total dry matter of cereals and legumes. The multi-factorial experiment was conducted over four years at eight locations, with annual rainfall ranging from 510 to 1300 mm, in Niger, Burkina Faso, and Togo. With the exception of phosphorus, treatment effects on legume growth were marginal. At most locations, except for typical Sudanian sites with very low base saturation and high rainfall, phosphorus effects on cereal total dry matter were much lower with rock phosphate than with soluble phosphorus, unless the rock phosphate was combined with an annual seed-placement of 4 kg ha^-1 phosphorus. Across all other treatments, nitrogen effects were negligible at 500 mm annual rainfall but at 900 mm, the highest nitrogen rate led to total dry matter increases of up to 77% and, at 1300 mm, to 183%. Mulch-induced increases in cereal total dry matter were larger with lower base saturation, reaching 45% on typical acid sandy Sahelian soils. Legume rotation effects tended to increase over time but were strongly species-dependent.

Legume rotation effects on early growth and rhizosphere microbiology of sorghum in West African soils

Cereal yield increases in legume rotations on west African soils were the subject of much recent research aiming at the development of more productive cropping systems for the mainly subsistence-oriented agriculture in this region. However, little has been done to elucidate the possible contribution of soil microbiological factors to these rotation effects. Therefore a pot trial was conducted using legume rotation and continuous cereal soils each from one site in Burkina Faso and two sites in Togo where cropping system experiments had been conducted over 4 yrs. All soils were planted with seedlings of sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L. Moench). From 21 days after sowing onwards relative growth rates in rotation soils were higher than in the continuous cereal soils, resulting in between 69 and 500% higher shoot dry matter of rotation sorghum compared to sorghum growing in continuous cereal soils. Across sites rotation soils were characterized by higher pH, higher microbial N and a lower microbial biomass C/N ratio and, with the exception of one site, a higher fungal biomass in the rhizosphere. The bacterial and eukaryal community structure in the soil, assessed by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE), differed between sites. However, only at one site differed the bacterial and the eukaryal community structure in the rotation soil significantly from that in the continuous cereal soil. Although the results of this study confirmed the marked plantgrowth differences between sub-Saharan legume-rotation soils and their continuous cereal counterparts they also showed the difficulties to differentiate possible microbiological causes from their effects.

Personalbedarf Kasseler Unternehmen

Die im Februar 2007 schriftlich durchgeführte Befragung soll insbesondere dazu dienen, die Dienstleistungsangebote und die Aktivitäten der Arbeitsförderung der Stadt Kassel stärker auf die Bedürfnisse und Anforderungen der in der Stadt ansässigen Betriebe auszurichten und eine entsprechend zielgerichtete Beschäftigungsförderung und Vermittlungstätigkeit zu initiieren. Eine intensivere Kundenorientierung der Arbeitsförderung kann zu einer stärkeren Standortzufriedenheit der Unternehmen beitragen und ihre Standortbindung an die Stadt Kassel erhöhen.Im Einzelnen verfolgt die Befragung folgende Ziele: Analyse des Personalbedarfs der Unternehmen sowie der Engpassfaktoren der Personalakquise, Analyse der Bereitschaft zur Einstellung älterer Arbeitnehmer, Analyse des Ausbildungsbedarfs der Unternehmen in Kassel, Analyse der betrieblichen Situation (Beschäftigten- und Altersstruktur der Betriebe, wirtschaftliche Lage, Nachfolgefrage), Ermittlung der Beurteilung des Services der AFK seitens der Unternehmen, Aktualisierung und Ergänzung bereits vorhandener Unternehmensdaten.

20. Theorietag der GI-Fachgruppe "Automaten und Formale Sprachen''

Die Fachgruppe AFS (früher Fachgruppe 0.1.5) der Gesellschaft für Informatik veranstaltet seit 1991 einmal im Jahr ein Treffen der Fachgruppe im Rahmen eines Theorietags, der traditionell eineinhalb Tage dauert. Seit dem Jahr 1996 wird dem eigentlichen Theorietag noch ein eintägiger Workshop zu speziellen Themen der theoretischen Informatik vorangestellt. In diesem Jahr wurde der Theorietag vom Fachgebiet "Theoretische Informatik" des Fachbereichs Elektrotechnik/Informatik der Universität Kassel organisiert. Er fand vom 29.9. bis 1.10.2010 in Baunatal bei Kassel statt. Dabei stand der begleitende Workshop unter dem allgemeinen Thema "Ausgewählte Themen der Theoretischen Informatik". Als Vortragende für diesen Workshop konnten Carsten Damm (Göttingen), Markus Holzer (Giessen), Peter Leupold (Kassel), Martin Plátek (Prag) und Heribert Vollmer (Hannover) gewonnen werden. Das Programm des eigentlichen Theorietags bestand aus 20 Vorträgen sowie der Sitzung der Fachgruppe AFS. In diesem Band finden sich die Zusammenfassungen aller Vorträge sowohl des Workshops als auch des Theorietags. Desweiteren enthält er das Programm und die Liste aller Teilnehmer.