Abstract
In Senegal, farmers often cultivate groundnut in association with eucalyptus plantations to increase their incomes. However eucalyptus plantations produce large amounts of litter, which impact on groundnut has not been clearly elucidated yet. In order to investigate litter accumulation effect on growth, development, and groundnutroot infection by arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) and rhizobia, a greenhouse experiment was performed. The effect of eucalyptus litter was compared to thatmaize litter effect at three litter amendments (0, 1 and 5%). Chemical analysis showed that eucalyptus litter differed essentially from maize litter by its high polyphenols content and lower pH. At high amendment (5%), root nodulation and mycorrhizal colonization were significantly reduced with eucalyptus litter whereas no significant differences were observed with maize litter. In addition, groundnut growth, number of flowers per plant, pods yield and leaf mineral contents (N and C) were significantly lower for plant grown in soil highly amended with eucalyptus litter. Plants showed deficiency of chlorophyll content in leaves and were less vigorous compared to treatments without amendment and those amended at 1% level. For all parameters measured, plants grown in soil lowly amended (1%) and plants grown in control treatment did not significantly differ. Key words: Litter, Eucalyptus, Arachis hypogaea, Mycorrhizal symbiosis, Rhizobia
Highlights
The agricultural development efforts in Senegal focused on groundnut production, which strongly contributes to Senegal’s economy
Little is known about eucalyptus effects on groundnut and roots symbiotic partners (AMF and Rhizobia) mainly in Senegal. To address this knowledge gap, we studied the impact of two levels of eucalyptus litter in comparison to maize litter on groundnut development and production in a greenhouse experiment
This Principal component analysis (PCA) explaining 83.74% of the variability in the first two factors discriminated the treatments according to the type of litter and quantity added to soil (Figure 1)
Summary
The agricultural development efforts in Senegal focused on groundnut production, which strongly contributes to Senegal’s economy. In order to offset this loss of income, famers had chosen eucalyptus as an alternative crop in their arable area. Groundnut which is historically dominant is found intercropping within Eucalyptus camaldulensis plantations. This agroforestry system, highly recommended for the indigenous species, may impose unforeseen consequences. Eucalyptus as an industrial crop which is non-edible occupies agricultural land intended for food crops cultivation; and may negatively affect native plant species (including crops). Eucalyptus can compete with crops underlying light, water and soil nutrient (Onyewotu et al, 1994; Pérez Bidegain et al, 2001) or by changing the soil pH (Kubmarawa et al, 2008; Mubarak et al, 2011)
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