scholarly journals Farmer’s Perception of Associates Non-Cocoa Tree’s Leaf Litterfall Fertilizing Potential in Cocoa-Based Agroforestry System

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Milie Lionelle Tsouga Manga ◽  
René Menoh A Ngon ◽  
Etienne Akoutou Mvondo ◽  
Eunice Ndo ◽  
Bidzanga Nomo ◽  
...  

Investigations to assess farmer’s perceptions on the fertilizing potential of associated trees species in cocoa agroforest of degraded forest ecology were carried out in southern Cameroon. The perception of the farmers was based on the ability of the trees to maintain or improve soil fertility of their farms. The verification of these perceptions was done through an evaluation of litter fall biomass nutrient content (N, P, K, Ca and Mg) of selected trees. The top 5 associates trees ranked by farmers was: Milicia excelsa, Ceiba pentandra, Ficus mucuso, Asltonia boonei, Terminalia superba. The chemical analysis of the leaf litter from the different tree species revealed a significant different between their chemical components. N appeared to have the highest concentrations varying from 2.82 to 5.57% with a mean value of 4.25 ± 1.065%, P had the lowest concentrations typically around 0.001%. The top 5 tree species based on the chemical analysis ranking were: C. pentandra, M. excelsa, Eribroma oblungum, Alstonia boonei, Zanthoxylum heitzi. Farmer’s perceptions thou holistic, are not completely different from scientific finding. Therefore, they should be taken in consideration in management plans for cocoa- based systems in order to enhance their ecological and economic performance.

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 66
Author(s):  
Ferréol Berendt ◽  
Erik Pegel ◽  
Lubomir Blasko ◽  
Tobias Cremer

The wood of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) shows good properties as building and construction timber but also as furniture or pulp and paper, and thus, is one of the most commercially important European tree species. Scots pine are mostly harvested and processed with a high degree of mechanization. In Northeast Germany (federal states of Brandenburg and Berlin), 36% of harvested Scots pine have a diameter at breast height (DBH) between 7 and 19.9 cm. As a typical industrial wood assortment, a large proportion of the resulting small-sized logs are used in the wood industry to produce boards. Although bark is considered a by-product or waste product of the industry, no actual study has quantified the bark thickness, bark volume, bark mass and bark damage of such Scots pine logs. Therefore, the bark characteristics from 50 logs from 10 different piles were analyzed. Bark volume was quantified using the water displacement method, bark mass by weighing, bark thickness with a precision caliper and bark damage by tape measurements. The diameters of the analyzed 150 log discs were normally distributed and the mean value was 12.9 cm. The results showed average bark damages from 12.0%, which were mostly caused during the felling and processing of logs with the harvester. No significant correlation was found between double bark thickness (mean: 3.0 mm) and the diameter; whereas fresh bark volume (mean: 5.6%) and dry bark mass (mean: 3.3%) were significantly affected by the diameter. As shown for spruce by other authors, bark characteristics may change over time and therefore, should be measured regularly. Moreover, it was shown that bark parameters are site dependent. Thus, quantifying bark characteristics for economically important tree species at both the local and national scale is of great relevance. More detailed analyzes are described by Berendt et al. (2021) [1].


2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 60-5
Author(s):  
Sri Utami Lestari ◽  
Muryanto Muryanto

The most consumed part of the plants is the leaf part so that the fertilizer provided should contain high nitrogen (N). The nature of the N fertilizer is volatile and when the rainy season there can be washing.  When plants deficienci nutrients shows symtoms of yellowing leaves so that the application of N fertilizer to the plant must remain unfulfilled.  Azolla is a usable alternative.  Azolla has a high N nutrient content because it is symbiotic with anabaena in binding to free nitrogen in the air.             The purpose of this study was to determine the chemical composition (pH,N,P,K) Azolla mycrophylla.  The experiment was conducted experimentally with the first stage of composting azolla after it was done chemical analysis in the laboratory.  The result of this research can be concluded that chemical analysis of Azolla mycrophylla cpmpost is as follows :pH 7,17, N 2,57%, P 0,34%, K 0,03%.  


2004 ◽  
Vol 47 (6) ◽  
pp. 933-943 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Regina Torres Boeger ◽  
Luiz Carlos Alves ◽  
Raquel Rejane Bonatto Negrelle

We examined the leaf morphology and anatomy of 89 tree species growing in an area of coastal Atlantic Forest in South Brazil. The majority of the species (> 75%) had small (notophyll and microphyll) elliptical simple leaves with entire margins. These leaves presented a typical anatomical structure consisting of a single epidermal cell layer, single palisade parenchyma cell layer, and spongy parenchyma with 5 to 8 cell layers. The sclerenchyma was limited to the vascular bundles. The majority of the tree species (91%) had leaves with mesomorphic characteristics. Few species depicted leaves with xeromorphic features as would be expected in such oligotrophic sandy soil. These mesomorphic features appeared to be associated to high efficiency mechanisms for nutrient cycling that compensated for the low nutrient content of the mineral soil.


2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 186
Author(s):  
Takashi Osono

The ability of Xylaria species obtained from tropical wood and leaf litter to cause a mass loss of lignin and carbohydrates in wood was examined in vitro with pure culture decomposition tests. The mass loss of wood of four tree species caused by nine Xylaria isolates ranged from 4.5% to 28.4% of the original wood mass. These Xylaria isolates have a potential ability to decompose lignin and other recalcitrant compounds, collectively registered as acid unhydrolyzable residues or Klason lignin in wood. The origin of isolates (i.e., isolates from wood versus leaf litter) did not affect the mass loss of acid unhydrolyzable residue in wood. The Xylaria isolates tested generally caused a selective decomposition of polymer carbohydrates in wood in preference to acid unhydrolyzable residue. The mass loss of acid unhydrolyzable residue caused by Xylaria isolates varied with the tree species of the wood and was negatively related to the initial content of acid unhydrolyzable residue in wood, implying the limiting effect of lignin and recalcitrant compounds on wood decomposition by Xylaria isolates.


1998 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-43 ◽  
Author(s):  
P Rochon ◽  
D Paré ◽  
C Messier

An improved model for estimating nutrient contents of the commercial portion of tree boles was developed for four boreal tree species (Populus tremuloides Michx., Betula papyrifera Marsh., Picea glauca (Moench) Voss, and Abies balsamea (L.) Mill.). This model considers the spatial pattern of variation of nutrient concentrations inside the bole and its relationships with tree size. For all species-nutrient combinations, no significant pattern was found for vertical variations in nutrient concentrations, while two types of nonlinear models, using distance from the tree periphery as the independent variable, fit the pattern of horizontal (or radial) variations. These patterns of variability were used to estimate the global nutrient concentration of the bole by using mathematical integration. The values obtained with this method were generally lower, especially for large stems, than values obtained with traditional methods that do not consider the variability of nutrient concentrations inside the bole. This improved model would permit better estimates of the amounts of nutrients lost in biomass upon forest harvesting, as well as internal cycling of nutrients within the bole.


2009 ◽  
Vol 23 ◽  
pp. 12-15
Author(s):  
Krishna Prasad Bhattarai

Vegetation study was carried out in an afforested land called Namuna Community Forest in Salbari, Sanischare, VDC, Jhapa, District. Random samplings for estimation of density, frequency, basal area and IVI were carried out by laying quadrates (10m x 10 m) at different sites of forest, three times and mean value was calculated. Nine tree species were recorded during field study. Total density of 10,410 pl/ha and total basal area of 33.956 m2/ha of tree species were recorded. The value of density (1790 pl/ha), basal area (31.45m2/ha) and IVI (130.63) were found highest for Shorea robusta, which is ecologically successful species in this forest. Lower value of basal area showed that this forest is young and regenerating. Other tree species had comparatively lower value of density, basal area and IVI due to regular human inte rference. Therefore an example of establishing forest community so as to initiate the conservation of local biodiversity has been discussed in this article.Key words: Community forest; conservation; IVI estimation; regenerating; Shorea robustaJournal of Natural History Museum Vol. 23, 2008 Page 12-15


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