MAIZE AND COWPEA YIELDS AS INFLUENCED BY TILLAGE AND CROPPING SYSTEMS WITH ORGANO-MINERAL FERTILIZATION IN BURKINA FASO

The precariousness of agro ecosystems reduces agricultural productivity, necessitating new technologies to ensure sustainability. This study wat set up in 2024 and 2025 to evaluate the effect of tillage and cropping systems with organo-mineral fertilization on maize and cowpea yields, through a completely randomized block with treatments arranged in a split-plot with three replications. Three tillage methods (1) scarifying (TM1) (2) ploughing (TM2), and (3) tied-ridging (TM3) were applied to the main plots, while two cropping systems (1) alternating one row of maize and one row of cowpea (CS1); alternating two rows of maize of two rows of cowpea(CS2) combined with five fertilization levels (1) no fertilization (F1), 200 kg ha⁻¹ NPK + 200 kg ha⁻¹ urea on maize + 100 kg ha⁻¹ NPK on cowpea (F2), 300 kg ha⁻¹ NPK + 100 kg ha⁻¹ urea on maize + 100 kg ha⁻¹ NPK on cowpea (F3), F2 + 2500 kg ha⁻¹ compost (F4), and F3 + 2500 kg ha⁻¹ compost (F5) were applied to sub-plots. Maize and cowpea grain yields were evaluated. The highest maize grain yields of 921.69 kg ha⁻¹ and 862.99 kg ha⁻¹ were obtained in the plots receiving TM2-CS2-F4 and TM3-CS2-F4, respectively. The highest cowpea grain yields of 581.97 kg ha⁻¹ were obtained with the CS1-F5 combination. Sustainability of production thus relies on the synergy between tillage, cropping system, and organo-mineral fertilization.