The effect of managing improved fallows of Mucuna pruriens on maize production and soil carbon and nitrogen dynamics in sub-humid Zimbabwe

Mucuna pruriens has emerged as a successful forage or green manure legume for use in the smallholder animal-livestock systems of Zimbabwe. The efficiency of N recovery from mucuna residues in subsequent maize crops can be low and the loss of nitrate nitrogen from the soil profile prior to maize N demand is proposed as a reason for this. An experiment was established in the 1999-2000 wet season at seven on-farm sites in a communal farming district of Zimbabwe (average rainfall 650-900 mm) on acidic (p