Changes in litter during the initial leaching phase: An experiment on the leaf litter of Mediterranean species

Changes in organic compounds during leaf litter leaching: laboratory experiment on eight plant species of the Sudano-guinea Savannas of Ngaoundere, Cameroon

“…According to these authors, this fact partially explains the favourable influ ence of Acacia on the biological activities of the soil, proven in previous works (Jung 1967) and on the output of crops, reported by Charreau & Vidal (1965). Generally the physical features of leaf-litter as well as their chemical quality seemed to play a great role in the changes in water ab sorption and water soluble substances, as re ported by Taylor & Parkinson (1988), Saini (1989) and Ibrahima et al (1995). The max imum water absorption (A) and its rate con stant (ke) were positively influenced by litter area and thickness and water-soluble sugars, and negatively affected by initial phenol content, while litter mass loss (MSS) and their rate constants (ks) were negatively in fluenced by litter area and positively affected by water soluble sugars and initial water content of litter.…”

“…Changes in litter water content (WC in % dry mass) in relation to leaching time (in hours) were fitted to the following simple exponential model (e.g., Ibrahima et al 1995): where A is the maximum water absorption capacity of litter (or Asymptote), ke and t are respectively the litter water absorption rate constant and the time of water absorption.…”

“…Ibrahima et al (1995) (Nykvist 1963, Taylor & Parkinson 1988, Ibrahima et al 1995, while in the Mediterranean and Sudano -guinea Savannas species, water absorption and mass loss slowed down and reached their maximum capacity around 72 h, even 240 h of incuba tion time varying with the species. Neverthe less, water -soluble substances (or maximum mass loss) of Sudano -guinea Savannas leaf litters (31% of initial dry mass in 240 h) were about 1.3 and 2 times higher than those of the Temperate (24%) and Mediterranean (15%) species, respectively.…”

“…Water-soluble compounds released by litter varies among species or specie groups (Ibrahima et al 1995, Bernhard-Reversat 1999. It is also known that not all water-sol uble compounds are leached with equal fa cility.…”

Impact de produits phytopharmaceutiques sur les microarthropodes du sol en culture de maïs irrigué: approche fonctionnelle par la méthode des sacs de litière

“…La teneur en matière organique des résidus de feuilles issus des sacs a été évaluée sur l'ensemble des prélèvements, grâce à la spectrométrie de réflexion infrarouge (Ibrahima et al 1995).…”