Dominic Mutambu

Research Interests

My previous research focused on the effects of zinc, the most limiting soil micronutrient in agriculture, on maize and common bean production and quality. This study was conducted at the Integrated Nutrient Management-3 (INM3) site, one of CIAT's Long-Term Experimental Trials in Western Kenya. A key finding was that soil organic carbon was a major predictor of maize yield as well as grain zinc and iron concentrations. Thus, to address the challenge of food and nutrition security, we must restore soil organic carbon in degraded food production landscapes.

For my PhD, I aim to understand the mechanisms of sustainable intensification in tropical maize cropping systems on degraded soils using regenerative practices such as maize-legume intercropping, maize-legume rotation and maize-forage grass relay cropping. This research is being conducted across four redesigned Long-Term Experimental Trials in Kenya, specifically at Sidada and Aludeka in the west, and Embu and Machang’a in the central region. The project is funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation and is supervised by Prof. Johan Six. The field work for this project includes soil and plant tissue sample collection in Kenya and laboratory analyses of soil and plant tissues in ETH Zürich laboratories.

My motivation is to gain a deeper understanding of the processes that drive soil organic matter formation, the trade-offs between organic matter buildup and crop yield, and the role of nutrient limitations in regenerating tropical agroecosystems. I will also explore whether soil organic carbon regeneration can enhance the availability of key micronutrients like zinc and iron in soil, as well as their concentrations in maize grains, across contrasting pedoclimatic conditions.