Carbon and nutrient stocks in the litter layer of agroforestry systems in central Amazonia, Brazil

Abstract

Both second-growth and agroforestry systems (AFs) have the potential for recovering thousands of abandoned pasturelands in Amazon. The AFs may do it faster and, at the same time, produce direct economic benefits for farmers. Improved nutrient recycling may be expected due to distinctive litter production in AFs, but lacks experimental data yet. The stocks of carbon and nutrients of the litter layer under different agroforestry systems (AFs) were investigated at an abandoned pasture site, 60 km north of Manaus. The experimental design consisted of three blocks, with five treatments: four different types of 5-year-old AFs and a secondary forest (CAP). Litter layer was sampled in the wet and dry seasons, sorted according to the predominant plant species and analysed for carbon and nutrient concentrations. The litter layer in the control plots was much larger than in the AFs, and thus, the carbon stocks in the litter layer of the control (wet = 489 g m2; dry = 783 g m2) were larger than in the AFs. However, due to a clearly higher concentration of nutrients in the litter from the AFs, some nutrient stocks were similar or even greater than in the control. The planted timber species and the green manures were important sources of K and Ca to the litter layer while the peach-palm was an important source of Mg. In general, the litter of AFs had lower C:nutrient ratios than the litter in the secondary forest control, indicating a faster nutrient recycling in the AFs.