Abstract

Soil fertility transience and weed management are often among decried impediments undermining agricultural productivity in many tropical countries. A study aiming at transforming baffling problems of abundant weed biomasses especially that of Panicum maximum (T1), Tryps-acum laxum (T2) and Pueraria javanica (T3), often cause of crop yield loss into advantage to enhance soil fertility, increase crop productivity as well as help tackle weed issue was initiated in the region of Kisangani. To do this, a 90-day composting experiment involving a mono factorial randomized complete block design including three replications and three treatments of above mentioned weed biomasses was conducted from 23rd March to 23rdJune 2013. The results of analysis of variance showed significant differences among treatments for pH H2O (p≤0.013) and potassium content (p≤0.001). The three composts demonstrated high nutrient content level in total organic carbon, nitrogen and potassium able to restore soil fertility. Moreover, the study revealed that the pH values of all the composts were closer to neutral on average and can be used to fix the recurrent issue of soil acidity in the region. Finally, the results showed that the species were able to produce sufficient compost mass with 41.5, 36.3 and 30.9% of initial mass loss respectively for T1, T2 andT3 in a relatively short time.

Key words: Soil fertility transience, compost, weed management, agricultural productivity, DR Congo.