Rubber, rubber and rubber: How 75 years of successive rubber plantation rotations affect topsoil quality?

Abstract

Rubber tree plantations (Hevea brasiliensis) cover large areas in the tropics. In historical producing regions like South Thailand, rubber has been planted by smallholders for three successive rotations lasting a total of 75 years. Despite possible consequences on topsoil, the long‐term impacts of repeated rubber plantations on soil quality remain unknown. This study aims to better understand how various factors linked to long‐term rubber land use and land use change affect topsoil physico‐chemical properties and soil organic carbon (SOC) thermal stability. We focus on the effects of three factors: i. deforestation (change from forest to first rubber plantation); ii. the age of the rubber stand (immature vs. mature); and iii. long‐term rubber cultivation (first, second or third successive rotation) over a chronosequence in farmers plots. Our results show that soil was deeply degraded after deforestation to a rubber plantation. Long‐term rubber cultivation is also detrimental for the soil and has a more negative impact on soil physico‐chemical properties and carbon dynamics, than the age of the rubber stand (e.g., on average, decrease of 50% of SOC content between forest and third rotation). At the third rotation, after 50 years of rubber cultivation, the quality of the 0–10 cm soil layer was very low, with an increase in SOC thermal stability. At this stage, logging practices upset the sustainability of the system. These impacts could be limited by less destructive practices during planting.

The Comparison of Household Economic Level from Conventional to Organic Rubber Farming farming to support Sustainable Development in Agriculture

“…Long-term rubber farming is also bad for the soil and has a worse effect than rubber stand age on the physicochemical characteristics of the soil and carbon dynamics. The 0-10 cm soil layer's quality was inferior at the third rotation, 50 years after the beginning of rubber farming [18]. However, using cover crops, mulching, composting, integrated pest management, agroforestry or polyculture, and many other practices can help rubber plantations' ecological function to some level [19].…”

Temporal changes in soil nematode communities in rubber plantations in Ivory Coast in response to logging residue management

“…Temporal monitoring of soil nematodes in response to these disturbances can provide a global picture of the effect of these practices on biodiversity and soil functions. These temporal studies are scarce in forest environments, and when they are conducted, they use a mainly synchronic approach using chronosequences (Panklang et al 2022a;Panklang et al 2022b). The trophic diversity of nematodes gives them the ability to account for the entire food web (Yeates et al 1993).…”

“…In Ivory Coast, during this period, the RP area increased 9.9-fold (APROMAC 2021), making Ivory Coast the largest rubber producer in Africa and the fourthlargest in the world (APROMAC 2021). This rapid expansion of RPs, mostly at the origin of deforestation, has had negative environmental impacts on soil properties (Panklang et al 2022b), such as soil erosion (Liu et al 2015) and acidification (Liu et al 2019a), and decreased soil carbon sequestration and fertility. Intensive rubber monocultures also threaten soil biodiversity (Xiao et al 2014;Panklang et al 2022a).…”

Root Traits and Soil Bacterial Composition Explain the Rhizosphere Effects along a Chronosequence of Rubber Plantations

“…The effects of an increasing rubber plantation age on the soil organic C (SOC) content are controversial. For instance, SOC stocks have been conversely reported to increase with the development of rubber plantations [10,11], to remain constant [8,12], or to even decrease [13,14]. These controversies may be ascribed to the soil layer, site management, preplanting disturbance, and successive rotation situations.…”