Maize is the main staple crop in the East African Mountains. Understanding how the edaphic characteristics change along altitudinal gradients is important for maximizing maize production in East African Highlands, which are the key maize production areas in the region. This study evaluated and compared the levels of some macro and micro-elements (Al, Ca, Fe, K, Mg, Mn, Na and P) and other soil parameters (pH, organic carbon content, soil texture [i.e. % Sand, % Clay and % Silt], cation exchange capacity [CEC], electric conductivity [EC], and water holding capacity [HC]). Soil samples were taken from maize plots along three altitudinal gradients in East African highlands (namely Machakos Hills, Taita Hills and Mount Kilimanjaro) characterized by graded changes in climatic conditions. For all transects, pH, Ca, K and Mg decreased with the increase in altitude. In contrast, % Silt, organic carbon content, Al and water holding capacity (HC) increased with increasing altitude. The research provides information on the status of the physical–chemical characteristics of soils along three altitudinal ranges of East African Highlands and includes data available for further research.
relative growth rate according to the FAW strain, using potted maize plants treated with 10 and 20 g of Si. The results showed that plants treated with Si disturbed the larval growth of FAW larvae only from the corn strain but not from the rice strain. Overall, the corn strain performed better on maize as compared to the rice strain regardless of Si treatment, explaining why it has become the most abundant strain in Africa. Keywords Silicon • Fall armyworm • Rice strain • Corn strain • Maize • Sub-saharan Africa in the Poaceae family (Montezano et al., 2018). In Africa, FAW represents a major threat to food security (Devi, 2018), and since 2018, the pest has infested tens of millions of hectares of maize (FAO, 2018) which is, on the continent, the second main food crop behind cassava in terms of annual production (FAOSTAT, 2020) and the most important cereal crop (FAOSTAT, 2020; IITA, 2020). In the African context, where most
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