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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Soil Sci.
Sec. Soil Management
Volume 4 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fsoil.2024.1419745

Soil management in Lepidium meyenii (maca) monoculture: trends and challenges for small farmers around Lake Chinchaycocha in the Andean highlands of Junin (Peru)

Provisionally accepted
Richard Solórzano-Acosta Richard Solórzano-Acosta 1*Mirella Chanco Mirella Chanco 2Martín Seminario Martín Seminario 2Rita Jaqueline Cabello-Torres Rita Jaqueline Cabello-Torres 2Vladimir Camel Vladimir Camel 2Sphyros Lastra Sphyros Lastra 1Alberto Arias Alberto Arias 1Patricia Verástegui Patricia Verástegui 1Kenyi Quispe Kenyi Quispe 1Carlos Carbajal-Llosa Carlos Carbajal-Llosa 1Juan Pablo Cuevas Juan Pablo Cuevas 1Juancarlos Cruz Juancarlos Cruz 1Cecilia Turín Cecilia Turín 1
  • 1 National Institute of Agricultural Innovation (INIA), Lima, Peru
  • 2 Cesar Vallejo University, Herrera, Peru

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Monoculture is a major concern due to its negative impact on soil quality, resource productivity, and agricultural sustainability, particularly in vulnerable communities. This research aims to evaluate high Andean soil management for maca monoculture. To this end, interviews were conducted with maca farmers adjacent to Lake Chinchaycocha. The effect on soil quality was evaluated based on principal component analysis (PCA), weighted soil quality index (SQIw), and physico-chemical characteristics. The results indicated that there are differences between farmers in terms of agronomic management, monoculture period (from 5 to 9 years), and fallow time (up to 10 years in the best cases). Regarding soil quality, the PCA highlighted boron and total nitrogen locations in the same quadrant and with the highest contribution to the analysis. Finally, the SQIw showed that soils without maca cultivation presented better quality. This indicates a need to optimize soil management practices, especially for small farmers who are the most vulnerable group. In addition, further studies on boron and nitrogen availability in soils cultivated with maca are required, emphasizing areas that exceed 10 years of continuous use.

    Keywords: Maca, High Andean soils, Monoculture, Fallows, soil quality index

    Received: 18 Apr 2024; Accepted: 06 Nov 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Solórzano-Acosta, Chanco, Seminario, Cabello-Torres, Camel, Lastra, Arias, Verástegui, Quispe, Carbajal-Llosa, Cuevas, Cruz and Turín. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Richard Solórzano-Acosta, National Institute of Agricultural Innovation (INIA), Lima, Peru

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.