Plantation System Research Articles

Engineering indigenous dispossession and plantation slavery in the Southeast Gulf coast

In this paper we examine the activities of US Army topographers and engineers in the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint (ACF) watershed during the violent transformation of the region from the heartlands of the Creek confederacy to US territorial control. A vital waterway for the Creek in the late eighteenth century, the rivers would become an important transportation network in the US plantation economy by the early nineteenth century. We emphasize that the army made its initial infrastructural improvements in the region to provide security for the plantation system. Army engineering in the ACF watershed began in the struggle for the Gulf borderlands, as white American settlers, British forces, Indigenous peoples, and Black maroons fought for control over the contested terrain. US engineers and topographers produced territorial knowledge and physical infrastructure to facilitate the occupation of Indigenous territory and elimination of potential spaces of Black freedom. Topographic knowledge would later serve as the foundation for restructuring the land as property, naturalizing its possession by white plantation owners. Similarly, roads and waterway improvements, created to facilitate troop movements, would later serve as vital transportation infrastructure for settlement and expanding plantation slavery. This paper demonstrates how military engineering techniques designed to secure the Nation in the context of race war subsequently provided the coordinates for reorganizing the land within an emergent plantation economy inside its territorial borders.

Comparative Evaluation of Calcium Sources and their Mode of Use on Apple Production in Acidic Soil under High Density Plantation System

Apples grown in Kashmir province are extremely prone to deterioration, particularly in post-harvest storage. Calcium is amongst the vital mineral element deceiving apple fruit quality, predominantly in acid soils deficit in available calcium. Calcium in sufficient quantity helps to retain apple fruit firmness and reduces the occurrence of physiological disorders, it also plays essential role to improve yield and quality of produce. Modes of calcium application and its different doses on two apple varieties was tested to improve yield and quality at Ambri Apple Research Centre, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology, Kashmir, India. The direct application of calcium to apple as spray is most effective method for escalating fruit calcium content and quality. Among sources and their mode of application calcium nitrate foliar application performed better than foliar application of calcium chloride in improving fruit quality and yield of Golden Delicious than Red Chief Camspur, whereas soil application of calcium nitrate showed least response to improve fruit quality and yield in both varieties under acidic soil atmosphere. Physiological loss in weight at 30 days and 60 days after harvesting was lower in foliar applied calcium than soil calcium application. The significant variation in total sugar content and TSS of apple fruits were observed in different calcium sources and their mode of application. Calcium nitrate foliar spray performed better than calcium chloride foliar spray in improving fruit quality. Our study did not find any adversity of dosage in plants whether applied to soil or directly to plant and we did observe better yields and quality at higher calcium doses. Among varieties Golden Delicious performed better than Red Chief Camspur. Results of research evidenced that preharvest calcium sprays increase yield, improved fruit quality and reduced its deterioration in post-harvest storage.

Agrophysiological responses of bread wheat to raised-bed planting and irrigation level

ABSTRACT To investigate the response of wheat to drought stress under different plantation systems, two field experiments were carried out in 2021/22 and 2022/23 in Arsanjan. The main plot was three different plantation systems (flat planting, 60-cm raised beds, and 120-cm raised beds) and the subplots were irrigation levels at 100% (control), 80% (medium stress), and 60% (severe stress) of crop evapotranspiration. The results showed that the raised-bed planting increased grain yield by 22.1 and 25.9% compared to flat cultivation in the first and second years, respectively. This increase in the biological yield was about 17%, the number of ears was 7%, and the number of seeds per ear was 21%. Drought stress caused a significant decrease in grain yield (46.4%), number of ears (20.5%), seed number (30.3%), biological yield (45.9%), chlorophyll a (31.8%), chlorophyll b (28.1%) and relative water content (5.3%) and increased, proline content (24.3%), and ion leakage (147.3%). The decrease in yield due to drought stress was moderated in the raised-bed system and therefore cultivation on the raised-bed is suggested as a suitable planting pattern to improve the yield and water efficiency in wheat under conditions similar to the experimental area, especially under water shortage conditions.

Ambiguity, consciousness, and plantation afterlives in Brazil’s racial capitalism

ABSTRACT This paper studies racial ambiguity and consciousness to advance debates on labor and discourse in racial capitalism and the plantationocene. I examine how the historical co-constitution of race and class shapes ideology and discourse, and how non-white workers perceive racial discrimination in a context where race and class strongly overlap. Focusing on sugarcane in Northeast Brazil, my methods include interviews with workers and union officials, and ethnographic observations at plantations and sugarcane municipalities. I argue that structural racism and class exploitation were forged through colonial plantation systems and that respondents both uneasily follow and openly challenge ideologies of racial ambiguity.

Changes in soil organic carbon stocks and mineralization following the replacement of secondary evergreen broadleaf forests with tea (Camellia sinensis L.) plantations

AbstractTea plantation ecosystems have a strong potential to sequester carbon (C) and reduce CO2 emissions. However, the effects of different tea planting periods on soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks and mineralization and related mechanisms are unclear. To address this knowledge gap, we investigated the effects of replacing evergreen broadleaf forests with tea plantations on SOC stocks and mineralization rates by examining alterations in SOC pools and composition, microbial community composition, functional genes related to C‐cycling and enzyme activities. The SOC content in forest, 30‐, 50‐ and 100‐year‐old tea plantations were 1.91%, 2.37%, 2.87% and 3.69%, respectively, in the 0–20 cm soil depth (100‐year‐old > 50‐year‐old > 30‐year‐old > forest). Cumulative CO2–C emissions increased by 38.1% (114 mg C kg−1 soil), 49.9% (157 mg C kg−1 soil), and 100.2% (171 mg C kg−1 soil) compared to forest soil (228 mg C kg−1 soil) after tea had been grown for 30, 50 and 100 years, respectively; however, cumulative CO2 emissions did not differ significantly between the 30‐ and 50‐year‐old plantations. The rate of SOC mineralization was positively related to particulate organic carbon (POC), water‐soluble organic carbon (WSOC), microbial biomass C (MBC), and O‐alkyl C contents, as well as β‐glucosidase/cellobiohydrolase activities and GH48/cbhI abundance; by contrast, the SOC mineralization rate was negatively correlated with the aromatic C content. More importantly, bacteria and fungi related to SOC mineralization, such as WPS‐2 and Acidobacteria, and Sordariomycetes, Tremellomycetes, Mortierellomycetes and Agaricomycetes, respectively, had high relative abundances. Our results indicate that replacing forests with tea plantations enhanced both SOC stocks and mineralization rates and that this effect was positively correlated with tea cultivation time. We reveal that an increased length of the tea planting period was conducive to increasing SOC stocks, and mitigating C losses in tea plantation soils is crucial for establishing an ecologically low‐C tea plantation system.

The Development of Effective Urban Farming Sales Method with Hydroponics Plantation System to Complete Instant Vegetable Supply in Urban Area

The Development of Effective Urban Farming Sales Method with Hydroponics Plantation System to Complete Instant Vegetable Supply in Urban Area

Insect community structure in young and productive coffee farms under leucaena shade of Jember Regency, East Java, Indonesia

The developmental phase of Robusta coffee plantations with agroforestry systems exhibits varying ecosystem characteristics (biotic and abiotic), therebyinfluencing the dynamics of insect community composition within them. One of the major coffee-producing centers in East Java is Jember Regency, where coffeecultivation commonly employs agroforestry systems with various shade trees. Understanding the abundance of insect species in agroforestry coffee plantations is important for determining insect pest control measures. This research aims to study the insect community structure in young coffee and productive coffee farms. Insect sampling was conducted in young coffee farms and productive coffee farms at the Kaliwining Experimental Station, Indonesian Coffee and Cocoa Research Institute (ICCRI), by using road sampling methods with insect nets and pitfall traps. Both types of plantations utilize Leucaena sp. var L2 as shade trees, forming agroforestry coffee plantation systems. Data analysis was performed by calculating the Shannon-Wiener diversity index (H’) to assess insectdiversity and the independent sample t-test to determine differences in insect abundance based on functional roles between the two farms. The results indicatethat the composition and abundance of insects in productive coffee farms are higher than in young coffee farms, resulting in a higher insect diversity index valuefor productive coffee farms (categorized as high), while young coffee farms fall into the moderate category. Furthermore, based on their functional roles, productive coffee farms positively influence the abundance of herbivorous, predatory, parasitoid, and detritivorous insects.

The plantation system and the roots of the southern rural mortality penalty in the northern Blackland Prairies of Texas

In recent decades, public health researchers have observed that the health of rural people has declined relative to the health of urban people in the United States. This disparity in health and life expectancy across the rural/urban divide has been described as the Rural Mortality Penalty. However, public health researchers have also noted that health and life expectancies are not uniform across the rural United States, but vary according to race, sex, gender, and other factors. Rural health disparities also vary geospatially and are especially pronounced in the American South, leading to recent calls for greater attention to the structural factors that shape the health of rural Southerners. In this study, we take an anthropological and historically explicit approach to study the impacts of systemic violence on rural health. Specifically, we focus on farm labor within the plantation system as a context where geospatial, racial, and sexual differences in mortality, often studied in isolation, find a common historical source. Here we analyze vital records data from the post-emancipation period in the Blackland Prairies ecoregion of Texas, a period when emerging forms of plantation labor such as tenant farming, convict leasing, and migrant labor were being developed to maintain the plantation economy after the abolishment of chattel slavery. We find that the plantation system remains a strong predictor of differential mortalities in rural Texas, accounting for nearly all the variation that exists across the rural/urban divide and elucidating the complex interactions of race, sex, labor, and health in the rural South.

Girmitiya lives: experiences of Dalit labourers under indenture

ABSTRACT This paper examines the experience of Dalit labourers from India to the sugar colonies under the indenture system. Historiography on the girmitiya diaspora has homogenized the experience of Indian labourers, neglecting variations among different caste groups. Focusing on Dalit labourers, this paper argues that plantation life improved their sociocultural and economic standing by emphasizing on the accomplishment of the task than on the caste system prevalent in India. The plantation system facilitated mobility for Dalit labourers by removing caste barriers, enabling mingling, marriage, and a reduction in caste identities through employment. While economic mobility was not universal, the absence of rigid caste hierarchies in the plantation context fostered a more fluid and open social environment for communal and religious activities.

Crop diversification in perennial plantation systems of Sri Lanka: Patterns, determinants and challenges

CONTEXTThe adoption of crop diversification in response to climate change in perennial cropping systems is poorly understood. OBJECTIVEThis study identifies the current level of diversification, determinants of and constraints to adopting crop diversification in tea plantations in Sri Lanka as an example of a perennial crop in a developing country context. METHODSWe use a Panel Tobit model to analyse the driving forces of crop diversification using 2004–2018 data collected from 49 tea estates. In addition, tea estates' managers were interviewed to investigate barriers to adopting crop diversification. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONSThe study reveals that geo-climatic conditions, magnitude of increase in temperature, and higher revenue variability are the specific factors influencing managers' probability of adopting crop diversification. Constraints to crop diversification include technological lock-in hindering alternative crops and worker shortages, financial difficulties, lack of productive lands suitable for alternative crops, ineffective Government land-use policies and regional weather patterns such as prolonged rainfall and heavy winds. SIGNIFICANCEIdentified barriers provide important insights into how to assist plantations to adopt crop diversification. We propose three policy recommendations to enhance tea estate managers' adaptive capacity to various environmental and social changes through crop diversification. These are: (1) enable managers to acquire the technical know-how on cultivating alternative crops by conducting practical training programmes connecting with the Department of Agriculture or Agriculture Faculties of regional Universities.; (2) increase awareness of less labor-intensive crops for diversification along with strategies for mechanisation via programmes integrated with the Ministry of Plantation Agriculture and the Agriculture Modernization Project of the Department of Agriculture; and (3) enact a national policy to mandate crop diversification in marginal tea lands with financial assistance from the Government.

From Wild Palm to Plantation System: A Trajectory of Colonial Policies on Palm Oil Production in Annang, Nigeria, 1900-1960

This paper examines colonial economic policies and the oil palm production in Annang, of Calabar Province of Nigeria from 1901-1960. Before the establishment of colonial rule, the people of Annang were engaged in the production of wild oil palm for domestic use. The colonial period witnessed the introduction of plantation system for the cultivation oil palm trees and production of palm oil for export. Annang produced large quantities of palm oil and thus contributed greatly to colonial economy. In spite this, the contribution of Annang to colonial economy has over the years been treated as as an appendage to the Ibibio colonial historical experiences. The neglect is what this article attempts to correct. Oil palm tree, has a long history in Annang, especially as most its byproducts served both domestic and commercial needs of the people. This article examines Annang unique experiences during colonial period in the light of the fast-developing interest in micro studies in Nigerian historiography. It therefore focuses on the colonial policies on palm oil production, especially the various measures formulated and implemented in Annang from the inception of British colonial rule in Annang in 1901 to 1960 when Nigeria attained independence. It adopts the historical method, relying extensively on primary sources obtained from oral interviews and archival sources to interrogate palm oil production in Annang during the period under consideration. Keywords: Oil palm Trees, Palm Oil, Plantation System, and Colonial Policies.

Robert Louis Stevenson and German Sāmoa

ABSTRACT This study revisits the writings of Robert Louis Stevenson on German Sāmoa as a valuable archive for understanding the impact of Western colonialism on the Pacific. It examines Stevenson’s anti-colonial perspectives in writings such as A Footnote to History: Eight Years of Trouble in Samoa (1892), his series of letters to The Times in London (1889–1894), and his private correspondence. Stevenson’s analysis of the impact of the Germans’ militarism and meddlesome officialdom, together with their extensive plantation system and use of unfree labour, also provides an important context for reading contemporary Oceanian writers and artists. The varied creative practices of recovery and remediation deployed by Albert Wendt, Sia Figiel, Yuki Kihara, Michel Tuffery and Tony Brunt, are often inspired by cultural memories of German Sāmoa.

Nitrogen Utilization and Loss of the Tea Plantation System on Sloped Farmland: A Short-Term Response to Substitution with Organic Fertilizer

(1) Background: Excessive nitrogen (N) fertilizer application in tea plantations leads to challenges such as soil acidification and nitrogen loss, impending the sustainable development of the plantation system. Yet, there is a lack of research on blended fertilization strategies, and limited data regarding N loss when substituting with organic fertilizer. (2) Methods: A year-long field monitoring experiment was conducted to evaluate the effects of substituting compound fertilizer with organic fertilizer, specifically with respect to runoff N loss and uptake of chemical fertilizer N by tea trees. (3) Results: The annual runoff N loss ranged from 0.16 to 0.57 kg·hm−2 and accounted for a mere 0.22–0.48% of N from fertilizer applications. Substitution with organic fertilizer reduced runoff N loss by 21–53% and improved the tea tree utilization efficiency of chemical fertilizer N from 16% to 27%. A 50% organic fertilizer substitution (based on the amount of N) promoted a net soil N mineralization rate, creating an ammonium-rich environment favored by tea trees. (4) Conclusions: The positive effects of partially substituting N fertilizer with organic fertilizer in tea plantation systems on both N utilization efficiency and N loss were confirmed. If conditions permit, the study team would aim to expand the temporal scope of the study, and to investigate the impact of organic fertilizer substitution on N loss under various precipitation intensities.

Water productivity associated to the planting system in young Nadorcott mandarin plants

The main goal of citriculture in Uruguay is to increase yield, quality, and improve sustainability and efficiency of natural resources. Today, it is not possible to conceive an efficient citrus production system without the use of irrigation technologies. The aim of this work was to evaluate the irrigation water efficiency and growth conditions of different plantation systems focused on speeding up production and the improvement of water use efficiency. An experiment was installed in Nadorcott mandarin with two planting densities (909 and 1220 pl. ha-1), and three plantation designs: ridges covered with white plastic cloth; uncovered ridges, and flat planting at ground level. At the end of the evaluation period, the volume of the trees planted in the covered ridges doubled those in the flat (1 m3). The trees on the flat design consistently produced fewer fruits and lower yield than those on ridges. Covered ridge showed the best performance. Soil water content remained higher and soil temperature lower in covered ridges. Overall, trees planted on ridges with or without plastic mulch allowed a better water use efficiency, and the lower soil temperature promoted a better environment for tree growth.

Art, Affect, and Enslavement: The Song of the Oxcart in Colonial Dutch Brazil

Focusing on a single artwork, Frans Post’s painting called The Oxen Cart of 1638, this article explores what Édouard Glissant calls the emotional apartheid of the plantation system. It argues that the affective evasion of Post’s painting fosters anti-Black racism by denying the full humanity of captive peoples. The painting is read together with Caspar Barlaeus’s contemporary apologia for the leadership of Maurits of Nassau, who was the governor-general of Dutch Brazil and Post’s patron. Focusing on classical and Neostoic understandings of governance and enslavement, the article turns to Paul Alpers’s analysis of the pastoral mode as an art of evasion that justifies the exploitation of rural labourers. It concludes by taking up Saidiya Hartman’s concept of critical fabulation to consider the oppositional views and counter-narratives expressed in the music-making traditions of enslaved people.

Effects of Experimental Nitrogen Deposition and Litter Manipulation on Soil Organic Components and Enzyme Activity of Latosol in Tropical Rubber Plantations

It is of great scientific significance in regulating plantation ecosystem restoration to investigate the effects of the nitrogen (N) deposition and litter manipulation on soil organic carbon components and enzyme activities. A micro-plot experiment was conducted with four nitrogen additions[CK (0 kg·hm-2·a-1, calculated by N), LN (50 kg·hm-2·a-1), MN (100 kg·hm-2·a-1), and HN (200 kg·hm-2·a-1)] and two litter treatments[LR (litter removal) and L (litter retained)] for tropical rubber plantations in western Hainan Island. The soil physico-chemical properties, soil organic carbon components, and enzyme activities in 0-10 cm and 10-20 cm depths were analyzed. The results showed that soil pH significantly decreased with elevated N addition and litter removal. The contents of NO3--N and NH4+-N significantly increased with elevated N addition. Moreover, there was a significant interaction between N addition and litter treatment on the contents of NO3--N and NH4+-N (P < 0.05). Compared to that with L, LR reduced SOC and its component contents; particularly, the largest decrease was in LFOC by 29.0%-81.4% in the 0-10 cm depth and 23.5%-58.4% in 10-20 cm, respectively. The contents of SOC and its components presented a trend of increasing first and then decreasing with elevated N addition irrespective of litter treatment, and those contents were significantly higher at LN than those at HN. There was a significant interaction between N addition and litter treatment on SOC, LFOC (0-10 cm), and HFOC contents. Compared with that under L, PPO activity was significantly reduced at LR under CK and LN but was significantly increased at LR under MN and HN, respectively. Variance analysis showed significant interactive effects between N addition and litter treatment on PPO and CBH (0-10 cm) activities, and the soil enzyme activity (BG, PPO, and CBH) responding to N addition was greater than that to the litter treatment. Pearson correlation analysis showed that SOC content was extremely positively correlated with MBC, POC, LFOC, and HFOC contents. To summarize, litter retained combined with low N deposition played an important synergistic role of improving SOC pool and soil enzyme activities for tropical rubber plantation systems.

Regulatory potential of soil available carbon, nitrogen, and functional genes on N2O emissions in two upland plantation systems

Dynamic nitrification and denitrification processes are affected by changes in soil redox conditions, and they play a vital role in regulating soil N2O emissions in rice-based cultivation. It is imperative to understand the influences of different upland crop planting systems on soil N2O emissions. In this study, we focused on two representative rotation systems in Central China: rapeseed–rice (RR) and wheat–rice (WR). We examined the biotic and abiotic processes underlying the impacts of these upland plantings on soil N2O emissions. The results revealed that during the rapeseed-cultivated seasons in the RR rotation system, the average N2O emissions were 1.24±0.20 and 0.81±0.11 kg N ha−1 for the first and second seasons, respectively. These values were comparable to the N2O emissions observed during the first and second wheat-cultivated seasons in the WR rotation system (0.98±0.25 and 0.70±0.04 kg N ha−1, respectively). This suggests that upland cultivation has minimal impacts on soil N2O emissions in the two rotation systems. Strong positive correlations were found between N2O fluxes and soil ammonium (NH4+), nitrate (NO3−), microbial biomass nitrogen (MBN), and the ratio of soil dissolved organic carbon (DOC) to NO3− in both RR and WR rotation systems. Moreover, the presence of the AOA-amoA and nirK genes were positively associated with soil N2O fluxes in the RR and WR systems, respectively. This implies that these genes may have different potential roles in facilitating microbial N2O production in various upland plantation models. By using a structural equation model, we found that soil moisture, mineral N, MBN, and the AOA-amoA gene accounted for over 50% of the effects on N2O emissions in the RR rotation system. In the WR rotation system, soil moisture, mineral N, MBN, and the AOA-amoA and nirK genes had a combined impact of over 70% on N2O emissions. These findings demonstrate the interactive effects of functional genes and soil factors, including soil physical characteristics, available carbon and nitrogen, and their ratio, on soil N2O emissions during upland cultivation seasons under rice-upland rotations.

Effects of fresh and aged biochar on soil N2O emission from a poplar plantation

Nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions are a significant concern when excessive nitrogen (N) fertilizers are applied to plantation systems to enhance tree growth. Although biochar can improve soil fertility and mitigate soil N losses, our understanding of its interaction with N fertilizer and its long-term effects remains limited owning to experimental constraints. In this study, we performed two microcosm incubation experiments to evaluate the effect of fresh biochar compared to eight-year field-aged biochar application in a poplar plantation on soil N2O emissions triggered by biogas slurry application. The experiments incorporated three biochar levels (B0: 0, B2: 6%, and B3: 9% by mass) and four biogas slurry application rates, each with three replicates. The results demonstrated that fresh and field-aged biochar significantly reduced soil cumulative N2O emissions by 31%–61% and 75%–99%, respectively, over seven days following biogas slurry application. However, these mitigating effects diminished over time. Fresh biochar application significantly reduced the available organic carbon levels and potential denitrification rates, suggesting that it primarily suppressed soil N2O emissions by limiting the supply of electron donors. In contrast, field-aged biochar had minimal impact on soil available organic carbon, and generally enhanced the relative abundance of bacterial amoA, nirS, nirK, and nosZ genes. This suggests that the aged biochar potentially suppressed soil N2O emissions by promoting complete denitrification. Partial least squares structure equation models (PLS-SEM) corroborated the two different mechanisms regulating the inhibitory influence of fresh and aged biochar on soil N2O emissions. The lower R2 of PLS-SEM for aged biochar (R2 = 0.256) compared to that of fresh biochar (R2 = 0.798) indicates that other factors, such as biochar properties, potentially affect soil N2O emissions and warrant further investigation. This study highlights the need to evaluate the long-term effects of biochar on soil N2O emissions, owing to the dynamic changes in biochar and soil properties over time.

The Growth Activity and Productivity of Apple Trees Depending on the Form of the Crown and the Time of Pruning

Abstract The apple tree is the most common fruit crop in the temperate climate zone. Modern intensive fruit cultivation involves the use of new, highly productive cultivars and cultivation technologies, thanks to the creation of small crown shapes with an increased number of trees per hectare. Reducing planting patterns and creating more dense plantation systems can significantly improve their yields. However, the limiting factor that can reduce tree productivity and deteriorate fruit quality is the degree of crown illumination. Ensuring even access of sunlight to all parts of the crown is the main task in the formation and pruning trees. The study aimed to determine the effect of crown pruning at BBCH 0 (winter) and BBCH 74 (early summer) and various types of crown formation on the growth activity and productivity of ‘Fuji’ and ‘Honeycrisp’ apple trees. A significant decrease (20%) in the number of newly formed shoots in the form of the French axis crown compared to the ballerina and slender spindle crowns was found. However, their length and total growth were significantly higher. The formation of the ballerina crown (with the removal of overgrown wood in the 25 cm zone on the central conductor above the lower tier of semi-cross-branched branches) contributed to a decrease in shoot length and total growth. The introduction of crown pruning in the summer also improved crown illumination – shoot length decreased by 17% and total growth by 12%. Specific productivity per bole cross-section and total shoot length was the highest in ballerina crown trees, followed by trees with a slender spindle crown, and trees pruned in winter and summer.

Agroforestry olive orchards for soil organic carbon storage: Case of Saiss, Morocco

Soil supports numerous ecosystem services and contributes to climate change mitigation. Several publications have appeared in recent years considering soil as a persistent carbon sink and reported that agroforestry systems have a potential for soil organic carbon storage. However, there is still little knowledge about the soil organic carbon storage in olive orchards and its role in climate change mitigation. Therefore, soil samples collected from topsoil (0–30 cm) and subsoil (30–60 cm) in 57 different olive orchards provide an excellent opportunity to investigate the role of several factors (tree ages, planting density, farming system type and soil depth) in driving soil organic carbon storage variability in agroforestry olive orchards compared to olive trees in monoculture system across the Saiss region (Morocco). The difference was significant between the two types of plantation systems studied (agroforestry and monoculture) and between the two soil layers studied (topsoil and subsoil). Agroforestry olive orchard systems stored approximately 1.2 times the organic carbon in the soil compared to monoculture systems. In addition, topsoil stores 1.5 times compared to subsoil. The correlation results showed a positive relationship between the organic carbon stock of the topsoil and the subsoil, indicating that an increase in the topsoil is accompanied by an increase in the organic carbon stock of the subsoil. These results can provide a better understanding of the effect of agroforestry on deep soil organic carbon stock in Moroccan olive orchards. Furthermore, it can provide a valuable reference for future research on the soil organic carbon storage variability in Morocco and from an international perspective.