Variation of soil fertility and carbon sequestration by planting Hevea brasiliensis in Hainan Island, China

The development of rubber industry depends on the sustainable management of rubber plantation. To evaluate the environmental effects of planting Hevea brasiliensis on a subsystem of tropical forest ecosystem, the variation of soil. fertility and carbon sequestration under rubber plantation within 30-year life period were investigated in Hainan Island. Results showed that (1) with the increase of stand age of rubber plantation, soil fertility decreased all along. From 1954 to 1995, soil organic matter, total N, available K and available P decreased by 48.2%, 54.1%, 56.7% and 64.1%, respectively. (2) If the complete return of litters was considered without additional fertilizer application to the soil of the rubber plantations, the consumption periods for P, N, K, Mg were only 825 years, 329 years, 94 years and 65 years, respectively. To improve soil fertility is essential for rubber plantation development. (3) The C sequestration of rubber trees per hectare accounts for 272.08 t within 30-year life period and 57.91% of them was fixed in litters. In comparison with C sequestration by rain forest (234.305 t/hm(2)) and by secondary rain forest (150.203 t/hm(2)), rubber forest has more potentials for C fixation. On the base of above results, the following measures would benefit the maintenance of soil fertility and the development of rubber industry, including applying fertilizer to maintain the balance of soil nutrients, intercropping leguminous plant to improve soil fertility, reducing the collection of litters, optimizing soil properties to improve element P availability such as applying CaCO3. The information gathered from the study can be used as baseline data for the sustainable management of rubber plantation elsewhere.