Abstract
Silvopastoral systems can be implemented in idle secondary forests; however, they may affect nutrient cycling in these ecosystems. This farming practice using babassu palms (Attalea speciosa Mart.) and Mombasa grass (Panicum maximum Jacq.) has been little studied, and the nutrient cycling occurred during this practice is yet unknown. The goal of this paper was to detect the leaf litter accumulation, decomposition, and nutrient release occurring in silvopastoral systems in a babassu secondary forest, and compared the results with those of a native forest and of a pasture grown under full sunlight. The data relating to deposition, chemical composition, decomposition, and macronutrient release of leaf litter and pasture litter were evaluated by multivariate analyses. The results showed that forest thinning reduced leaf litter deposition and overall nutrient cycling but had no effect on decomposition rates. Conversely, the presence of grass in the understory promoted increased overall nutrient cycling rates. The cycling in integrated systems occurs more similar to that of forests than that of monocultures. The greater the thinning intensity the more similar the cycling will be relative to that occurring in pastures and in monocultures. The nutrients Ca, Mg, and N were the most affected by thinning. Moreover, the presence of grass in integrated systems provided an increased N and Mg cycling, whereas the thinning reduced Ca cycling. K showed the highest release and return ratio to the soil. Lastly, leaf litter from pasture areas showed higher contents of nutrients, decomposition rates, as well as an enhanced nutrient cycling capacity.
Highlights
Brazilian livestock farms located in the Cerrado-Amazon ecotone own open areas considered unused and/or in some degree of degradation (Rezende et al, 1999)
The highest leaf litter deposition in integrated areas and forest were recorded in the months of May, June, and September
Among the systems with arboreal component, the greatest leaf litter production was found for the native forest
Summary
Brazilian livestock farms located in the Cerrado-Amazon ecotone own open areas considered unused and/or in some degree of degradation (Rezende et al, 1999). The alternatives for recovering and reintroducing these areas back to the production system include agroforestry since pasture ecosystems can achieve an increased sustainability level by inserting or maintaining trees to compose silvopastoral systems (SPS). These are alternatives to reincorporate such areas back to the production system (Godinho et al, 2014). It is known that the adopted model regulates the dynamics of accumulation, decomposition, and nutrient release in an SPS These processes may occur with greater intensity under an SPS than under pasture monoculture and even native forests when considering forest and understory production. Litter production in pastures could offset the reductions in leaf litter production in forests, and even increase the total nutrient cycling (Guevara-Escobar et al, 2002; Parfitt et al, 1997; Giddens et al, 1997; Gama-Rodrigues et al, 2007; Wedderburn & Carter, 1999; Godinho et al, 2014)
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