La agroforestería como estrategia para la recuperación y conservación de reservas de carbono en bosques de la Amazonía
SUMMARYContinuous changes in land use in the Amazon in recent years, mainly due to the conversion of forests through agricultural and extractive practices, have resulted in serious alterations in the structure and functioning of ecosystems with impacts at regional and global scales. The replacement of tropical forests by itinerant agricultural systems is one of the main reasons contributing to carbon emissions into the atmosphere and becoming one of the most important environmental impacts. However, there are documented mechanisms for reducing carbon emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD+), i) controlling the emission reduction sources through conservation and sustainable management of the forest, and ii) recovering and increasing plant biomass as important sinks through forest restoration strategies. In order to increase efficiency in the recovery and conservation of carbon in vulnerable deforested and degraded forest areas of the Amazon, our objective was to develop an analysis of the potential environmental impacts of agroforestry as a REDD+ alternative, through i) rehabilitation of degraded areas subjected to successive fire and crop cycles, ii) passive restoration of secondary forests, and iii) implementation of improved fallows managing agroforestry species. Agroforestry is an important alternative to recover and conserve carbon stocks through REDD+ activities against the shifting cultivation in the Amazon.
<p><strong>Background: </strong>Cassava (<em>Manihot esculenta</em> Crantz) is the fifth most important crop in the world and has a fundamental role in food security in most tropical countries. However, studies are still needed to improve its management and production. <strong>Objective</strong>: the objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of planting density on the pattern of allocation of aboveground and belowground biomass, and asexual seeds production of the cassava crop (Cultivar Armenia) in Cucururital, Átures municipality, Amazonas state, Venezuela. <strong>Methodology</strong>: A total of 25 10 × 10 plots (100 m2) were established under a randomized block design with five replicates and five treatments to compare different parameters of growth and production of the cassava crop under different conditions of planting density: 1.20 × 0.60 m (T1), 1.20 × 0.80 m (T2), 1.20 × 1 m (T3), 1.20 × 1.20 m (T4), and 1.20 × 1.40 m (T5). <strong>Results</strong>: The results of this research show that there are no significant differences in relation to the different growth and production parameters between the planting density treatments. Despite the variations in planting densities evaluated in this study (5952 to 13888 plants ha<sup>-1</sup>), the yield of commercial roots (400 to 500 kg plant-1) as the main parameter of agronomic importance, was relatively high compared to different tropical and national studies. <strong>Implications</strong>: These results allow us to infer that this cassava crop (Armenia) has a high adaptation, phenotypic plasticity and production potential under different growth conditions, which may be advantageous from an agro-ecological, economic and social point of view, to contribute with food security and sustainable livelihoods. <strong>Conclusion</strong>: With this applied research it was possible to demonstrate the production potential of roots and asexual seeds of the cassava crop (cultivar Armenia) despite the variation in planting density in previously degraded agricultural areas, where no statistical differences were observed between treatments.</p>
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