Sustainable farming practice that utilizes and conserves biodiversity, reducing negative impacts of agriculture on biodiversity and provides wood and energy to local community is a good solution to reduce deforestation and forest degradation. This study was carried out in Dallo Mena district of Bale zone to identify woody species diversity in homegarden agroforestry practices, shade grown coffee agroforestry practices and adjacent natural forest, and to show how land use and management practice determine the plant species diversity. The study site was selected based on spatial analogue approach. In each land use, a plots of 10 m × 10 m size was drown by using systematic sampling method following the transect line. A total of 36 sample plots were sampled along the transect line laid down inside each land uses. In each plot, woody species were counted and the diameter and height of trees and shrubs were measured. Based on this inventory a total of 39 woody plant species which are about 23, 10, 15 woody plant species were recorded from natural forest, shade grown coffee agroforestry and homegarden agroforestry practices respectively. These species were classified belonging to 24 families. The Shannon Wiener diversity index used to estimate species diversity ranged from 0.14 to 2.54 with a mean of 1.47. Also 21% woody species similarities were observed between those three land uses. The result shows that both agroforestry practices (shade grown coffee and home garden agroforestry practices) and adjacent natural forests are conserving several woody species diversity in its system.

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Soil organic carbon is the carbon associated with soil organic matter that is made up of decomposed plant and animal materials. This study was conducted in Dallo Mena district to estimate the amount of soil carbon stock stored in shade grown coffee (SC) and homegarden agroforestry practices (HG), and adjacent natural forest (NF) and annual crop field (CF) and to show the potential of agroforestry practices in soil organic carbon storage capacity. The study site was selected based on spatial analogue approach.From each land uses nine plots were selected by using systematic sampling method following the transect line. Soil organic carbon stock (100cm depth) were the highest for the NF(170.11 ± 14.59 Mg ha Agroforestry and other land uses of Dallo Mena districts are providing various ecological as well as economical benefits for the community. It is used as income source, conserving different plant species diversity and at the same time storing large amounts of soil organic carbon. Therefore, there is significant difference among natural forest, shade grown coffee agroforestry practice, homegarden agroforestry practice and annual crop field in soil organic carbon storage capacity.

Prior integration of any tree/shrub species in a given land use system there is always the need of undertaking a field trials for the adaptability and growth performance evaluation for particular environment. Study was designed and conducted to evaluate the adaptability potential and growth performance of six nitrogen fixing tree/shrub species in Dellomenna district of Bale zone, southeast Ethiopia. The considered species in the study are Cajanus cajan, Flemingya macrophylla, Gliricidia sepium, Sesbania sesban, Calliandra calothyrsus and Leucaena leucocephela. Seedlings were produced in a nursery site and transplanted to the experimental site. The experiment was laid out in RCBD design with three replications, and the management practices employed uniformly for each species throughout the stud period. In the study the necessary growth performance data parameters; plant height, root collar diameter and survival rate were measured and recorded. Thereafter, the data was analyzed by GenStat (15 th ed) and Excel computerized programs. Results obtained showed that, these growth performance data parameters were significantly (p < 0.05) varied among the tested species. In this respect, Flemingya macrophylla, Sesbania sesban, Gliricidia sepium and Cajanus cajan attain the higher mean values in survival rate, plant height and root collar diameter. While Leucaena leucocephela and Calliandra calothyrsus attain the lowest mean values for the entire growth performance parameters. Hence, it can be inferred that the study site matched well with the environmental requirement of F. macrophylla, S. sesban, G. sepium and C. cajan. The species therefore offers much promise for future use in any of agroforestry practices in the area. However, evaluation of their contribution to soil fertility improvement and crop yield needs to be further investigated as this may insights to know their nutrient provision potential while integrated together with annual and/or perennial plants in agroforestry land use system.