Journal
SN APPLIED SCIENCES
Volume 3, Issue 2, Pages -Publisher
SPRINGER INTERNATIONAL PUBLISHING AG
DOI: 10.1007/s42452-021-04242-y
Keywords
Azolla africana; Litter quality; Non-additive effect; Interaction dynamic; Soil fertility
Categories
Funding
- Central African Council for Agricultural Research and Development (CORAF/WECARD) [CW-WB/CGSI04IPC 1NRMI02l2011/04]
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The study found that mixing leaf litter of different quality can accelerate the decomposition of pure litter with poor quality, representing a practical biomass management option for farmers to improve nutrient cycling in agroforestry systems.
This study was carried out to determine the rates of decomposition and nutrient release from pure and mixed leaf litter samples of three agroforestry species (Azolla africana Desv., Detarium microcarpum Guill. and Perr. and Vitellaria paradoxa C.F.Gaertn.) that have potential use as green manure. Litterbags containing a total of 5 g of pure and mixed leaf litter of different quality levels were incubated under field conditions from July to November in 2017. Litter decomposition and nutrient release (N, P, and K) rates were assessed in each litterbag. The decomposition rate (k) indicated that pure A. africana litter decomposed faster (k=0.406 week(-1)) than its mixture with V. paradoxa (k=0.114 week(-1)) and D. microcarpum (k=0.103 week(-1)). The slowest decomposition rates were found for the pure D. microcarpum (k=0.075 week(-1)) and V. paradoxa (k=0.071 week(-1)) leaf litters. Mixing with A. africana litter increased the decomposition rate of both D. microcarpum and V. paradoxa leaf litter. We conclude that mixing litter of different quality can accelerate the decomposition of pure litter with poor quality and represents a practical biomass management option for farmers to improve nutrient cycling in agroforestry systems.
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