Litterfall, litter decomposition, soil macrofauna, and nutrient contents in rubber monoculture and rubber-based agroforestry plantations

Abstract

This study is a comparison of the litterfall, litter decomposition, soil macrofauna, and nutrient contents in rubber monoculture and rubber-based agroforestry plantations. The three intra-couple differences examined are rubber with pakliang (RP) compared with rubber monoculture (RMP), rubber with timber (RT) compared with rubber monoculture (RMT) and rubber with fruit (RF) compared with rubber monoculture (RMF). Rubber plantation systems were selected at 3 plantations located in nearest pairs at 18 plantations in total. Data collected included litterfall at monthly intervals from October 2016 to April 2017, as well as decomposition conditions for assessment at the end of the experimental trials. Soil samples examined the species and number of macrofaunal and decomposition measurements of mesofauna by using Lamina bait scale to analyze nutrient content. Results showed the litterfall of leaves, twinges, and fruits in rubber monoculture and rubber-based agroforestry plantations were not significant between pair comparisons. This showed leaves fell at a high incidence. However, RT experienced a higher trend in litterfall. Decomposing litterfall was also not significant between pair comparisons, but when compared by associated plant species found that RT trends were more likely to experience higher decomposition rates and the litter index was higher as well. Macrofauna in the topsoil (0-5 cm) and subsoil (5-10 cm) were not significant. The composition of mesofauna was found at high decomposition rates in RF, RP, and RT. Organic matter and nutrient contents were not significant in both soil layers. Our data emphasizes that rubber-based agroforestry plantations help regulate C and nutrient cycles, implying that external input fertilizer management requirements for rubber farmers decreased.

Influence of Duration of Agroforestry on Physico-Chemical Soil Quality Parameters in Machakos County, Kenya

“…These studies concur with those of those of who showed a significant increase in Mg in soil is associated with agroforestry (Bhatt et al, 2016;da Cunha Salim et al, 2018;de Freitas et al, 2018;Mulyono et al, 2019). Magnesium is absorbed as the Mg 2+ ion and is mobile in plants, moving from the older to the younger leaves (Tongkaemkaew et al, 2018) and therefore likely to increased in areas adopting agroforestry trees. Magnesium can also be increased in the soil due to liming which may not raise soil pH (Solanki, 2017).…”

Transforming Malta Orchard into Agroforestry System with Different Crops for Improving Productivity, Profitability and Land Uses

“…This result may be obtained due to apply more fertilizer and other intercultural operations in the malta orchard. The present results are consistent with those documented in mango-based agroforestry system (Dhara and Sharma, 2015), guava-based intercropping system (Swain, 2016) and rubber-based agroforestry system (Tongkaemkaew et al, 2018). gross and net income (Table 4).…”

Contribution of soil macro-fauna to soil fertility improvement in cocoa-based (Theobroma cacao) agroforestry systems in the Littoral Region of Cameroon: Examining cocoa farmers indigenous knowledge

“…Most studies carried out to identify soil macro-fauna in different agricultural systems (agroforestry inclusive) have mainly used the biophysical approach (Deheuvels et al, 2014;Suarez et al, 2018;Tongkaemkaew et al, 2018;Oliveira et al, 2018;Mortimer et al, 2018;Suarez et al, 2019;Villanueva-Lopez et al, 2019;Prayogo et al, 2019;Marsden et al, 2020;Dahlsjo et al, 2020). Equally, the aforementioned studies were undertaken across different parts of the tropics, mostly in South America, with little or nothing done across Africa in general and Cameroon in particular.…”