Plantation System Research Articles

Genotypic Effects on Morphological Characterization of Fruit Traits in Mulberry

The research was conducted to evaluate the morphological variability in fruits traits among the mulberry genotypes grown in Mulberry Germplasm Bank of Bangladesh Sericulture Research and Training Institute (BSRTI), Rajshahi, during 2018–2020. The aim of the research was to find out the genotypes accessibility for varietal improvement. Total 50 mulberry genotypes were morphologically characterized on fruit traits through this research. The experimental design was Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replications and the plantation system was high bush. Each plot consists of 20 plants and unit plot size was 4 m × 5 m. Fruit colour, fruit taste and seed colour was determined. Nine distinct fruit colours such as reddish-black (23.33%), black-berry (18.33%), cream (10%), black (8.33%), white-cream (6.67%), pink (6.67%), pinkish (3.33%), orange (3.33%) and radish (1.67%) were observed among several germplasms. Remarkable variation was found in fruit taste such as sour sweet (28.33%), sweet (21.67%), light sweet (5%), light-sour sweet (5%) and deep sweet (5%), respectively. Five colored of seed viz: light yellow, light brown, yellowish brown, dark brown and blackish brown were observed among the germplasm. Length of the fruit diverse from 0.73 (BSRM-8) to 5.58 (BSRM-56 and widthfrom 0.52 (BSRM-8) to1.9 (BSRM-56),single fruit weight varied from 0.07 (BSRM-8) to 4.11 (BSRM-56), fruit weight per plant varied from 101.47 (BSRM-11) to 2250.43 (BSRM-56), seed setting (%) varied from 8.13 (BSRM-29) to 94.24 (BSRM-16), sprouting (%) varied from 36.67 (BSRM-22) to 96.67 (BSRM-38), rooting (%) varied from 13.89 (BSRM-22) to 98.33 (BSRM-10),achene number/fruit varied from 12.53 (BSRM-10) to118.10 (BSRM-56), seed number/fruit varied from 2.99 (BSRM-8) to 47.86 (BSRM-56) and 100 seed weight varied from 0.019 (BSRM-35) to 0.166 (BSRM-56), respectively. Results showed that the black-berry, sweet tasted fruited mulberry (BSRM-56), cream colored, sweet tasted fruited mulberry (BSRM-1) and white cream, sweet tasted fruited mulberry (BSRM-34) was promising on the basis of greatest fruit production potential to be appears for further commercial utilization. Generally, a wide range of variation was exhibited among the sampled and characterized genotypes.

Historical creations aspects and functioning features of field protective forest plantations in the steppe zone of Ukraine

Field protective forest plantings of the steppe zone of Ukraine are one of the most important links in the system of protective forest plantations on arable lands. The presence of well-functioning field protective forest belts is a fundamental condition for efficient agricultural production in the steppe regions of Ukraine. The paper presents the facts about the expediency of creating protective forest belts as an important measure to support the agricultural potential of the steppe zone of Ukraine. The current state of forest belts is analyzed and historical literature information on the creation and prospects of development of protective afforestation in the steppe of Ukraine is presented. The legal aspect of the mode of operation of field protective plantations is highlighted. Given the low forest cover of a large area of Ukraine, the difficult and ambiguous situation of afforestation of forest-deficient areas of the country, the creation of new and preservation of existing protective forest belts in the steppe zone of Ukraine is an extremely important task today. The problem of ensuring the effective functioning of field protective plantations in the conditions of ecological inconsistency of forest vegetation conditions for the existence of woody vegetation in Dnipropetrovsk region, in the zone of weeds-fescue-feathergrass steppes is acute. Against the background of a number of well-known indisputable facts about the positive impact of forest belts on the soil and climatic properties of steppe landscapes, the condition of most existing protective plantations today is unsatisfactory, and some of them – critical. Almost everywhere in Ukraine, in conditions of high plowed lands and the absence of forest strips or their neglected condition, there is a rapid destruction of the upper fertile layer of soil. This leads to soil degradation, reduced yields and causes great economic damage to the country. Mass uncontrolled logging, destruction of protective forest belts, their irrational use and lack of proper care are a critical problem of national scale and may soon turn into an environmental disaster. An acute modern problem in the existence and functioning of forest belts is the solution of the legal regime of field protective tree strips and the introduction of appropriate legislative state regulation. An equally painful problem for field protection strips today is the lack of reliable information about their real condition. Therefore, obtaining a general idea of the current state and dynamics of field protection strips is possible only if they conduct a detailed comprehensive study and conduct a thorough inventory. For successful planning and implementation of measures to increase the forest cover of forest-deficient regions with difficult forest vegetation conditions and create an effective system of protective forest belts should take into account the history and many years of experience in creating forest plantations in the steppe of Ukraine.

Debit Puncak Harian Tahunan Metode HSS Nakayasu dan Debit Terukur di DAS Muke Kabupaten TTSS SERVICES-CURVE NUMBER DAN DEBIT TERUKUR DI DAERAH ALIRAN SUNGAI MUKE KABUPATEN TIMOR TENGAH SELATAN

The Muke River is prone to flooding. flooding is caused by conversion in land use due to the migrating plantation system. In the Muke river, it is necessary to analyze the discharge estimation to determine the potential of water in the Muke river. In this study, the authors performed peak discharge calculation using measured calculation model and calculate. Measured calculations using discharge’s curve and calculated by using hydrographic method of synthetic unit namely Nakayasu. The results of the analysis for the calculation of discharge on the Muke river using the discharge curve obtained that the peak discharge occurred in 2012 with Qmax = 99.41 m3/s and the smallest discharge occurred in 2010 with Qmin = 13.19 m3/s, the results of the analysis for the calculation of discharge on the Muke river using the Nakayasu method obtained peak discharge occurred in 2010 with Qmax= 184.74 m3/s and the smallest discharge occurred in 2014 with Qmin = 94.33 m3/s.

Suppressing soil-borne Fusarium pathogens of bananas by planting different cultivars of pineapples, with comparisons of the resulting bacterial and fungal communities

Fusarium wilt of bananas is a serious soil-borne fungal disease that currently threatens banana production worldwide. There is currently no direct and effective agricultural method for controlling the disease effectively. In this study, a pot experiment was conducted to evaluate the effects of different pineapple cultivars that were planted in a banana orchard soil with high incidences of this disease. The goal of studying this banana-pineapple plantation system was to improve the soil microbial community structure to enhance the control of a number of Fusarium in the banana soil. The soil culturable microorganisms showed that the order of the number of Fusarium from high to low was banana continuous cropping (B) > fallow (CK) > “Golden pineapple” planting (B_GP) > “Bali pineapple” planting (B_BP) > “Tai nong 17 pineapple” planting (B_PP). The MiSeq sequencing results showed that the relative abundance of Fusarium was consistent with the culturable microbial results. Banana-pineapple rotations significantly reduced the abundance of total fungi and F. oxysporum as well as the fungal diversity. The number of Fusarium were significantly reduced, and the banana-pineapple plantings changed the bacterial and fungal communities of soil microbes by increasing the relative abundance of beneficial bacterial and fungal genera such as Desulfurispora, Brockia, Gp1, and Purpureocillium, Talaromyces, respectively. In addition, planting different pineapple cultivars could reduce the soil pH, available nitrogen (AN), available phosphorus (AP) and available potassium (AK), while the organic matter (OM) was increased. Besides, different pineapple cultivars with different soil microbial community structures, and soil fertility indices significantly reduced the relative abundance of Fusarium in the banana orchard soil, and the degree of reduction was from high to low as follows: “B_PP” > “B_GP” > “B_BP”. Our result supports the good application prospects of this rotation for reducing the incidence of soil-borne Fusarium of bananas.

Stirring the Pot of Haitian History by Michel-Rolph Trouillot

Reviewed by: Stirring the Pot of Haitian History by Michel-Rolph Trouillot Jean-Ederson Jean-Pierre Stirring the Pot of Haitian History. By Michel-Rolph Trouillot. Translated and edited by Mariana Past and Benjamin Hebblethwaite. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 2021. ISBN: 978-1-800-85967-8. 240 pp. €90.00 hardback; €90.00 e-book. Forty-four years after its first publication, Ti difé boulé sou istoua Ayiti (1977), originally written in Kreyòl by Michel-Rolph Trouillot, is now available [End Page 190] to an English-speaking readership thanks to its brilliant translation by Mariana Past and Benjamin Hebblethwaite under the title Stirring the Pot of Haitian History. This seminal work of seven chapters is an in-depth analysis of the Haitian Revolution through the lens of Marxism and demonstrates how conflicts between and among social classes in Saint-Domingue have determined the future of the country. The first chapter introduces a gathering organized by the character Lamèsi on the return of Grinn Prominnin, whose mission was to investigate the roots of his community’s hardships. Arguing that the community’s issues are deeply grounded in the past, Grinn Prominnin begins to narrate Haiti’s history, starting with the settlement of the French in Saint-Domingue. Hence, chapter 2 focuses on the Kòd Noua, which is “the first major law that took shape in Haiti” (10). The storyteller argues that, despite its pretension of being in the interest of enslaved people, this sixty-article legal document “primarily served the interest of the classes controlling the State” (10). Chapter 3 is devoted to identifying the classes involved in the main conflict in Saint-Domingue’s society. To do this, the storyteller pinpoints the plantation system as the society’s primary industry. After revealing the features of this industry, Grinn Prominnin concludes that the primary conflict in Saint-Domingue was a dual one: enslaved people versus both plantation owners and French commissioners (38). He also emphasizes that this twin conflict was what led to the collapse of the colonial society. Chapter 4 is dedicated to the three coalitions that supported the power of the upper classes: the big colonists’ coalition, the free coalition, and the white coalition. During the 1789–1791 period, these coalitions split. Consequently, “the upper classes’ power was unraveling” (49). However, Grinn Prominnin argues, “that stumble wouldn’t have mattered if the slaves hadn’t gotten involved” (49). In other words, although the upper classes were losing ground, the revolution would not have taken place if the enslaved people had not revolted. With that being said, the storyteller identifies what mainly made the enslaved people decide to stand up for their freedom. First, the conflicts among other classes showed the enslaved people “how much power they could have with weapons in their hands” (51). Second, the idea of equality among all people outlined in the Declaration of the French bourgeoisie was one of the enslaved people’s sources of inspiration. Finally, and this is the most important point, the native-born culture strengthens the enslaved people’s conviction and enables them to better organize themselves by means of its three main features: land, Vodou, and the Creole language (53). Chapter 5 is centered on the Civil Commission of July 1792. Composed of Sonthonax, Polverel, [End Page 191] and Ailhaud, this commission was sent by the French government to keep Saint-Domingue under France’s control. However, because of what was happening in France, as well as Saint-Domingue’s political situation, the commissioners did not manage to establish a coalition between white and mulatto plantation owners to bring peace in the colony. Faced with the threat of other colonial powers at that time, the commissioners had to rely on the masses of enslaved people to keep Saint-Domingue under the control of France. That is why Sonthonax finally decided to honor the right of the enslaved to their legal freedom in August 1793. Chapter 6 is divided in three sections, elaborating on how Toussaint ended up taking control of Saint-Domingue. The first section unveils the political agenda and tactics of Toussaint’s organization. On the one hand, Toussaint demanded freedom and equality for all. On...

Comparison between growth performance in two silvopastoral systems comprising trees, short-lived perennial shrub, a forage, and livestock)

We aim to determine the growth performance of two 20-year-old silvopastoral systems comprising two timber trees, a palm tree), a short-lived perennial shrub, a forage and livestock; and to investigate fibre features and certain physical and mechanical properties of two timber trees (Myracrodruon urundeuva and Peltophorum dubium) in two plantation systems. The first system is called MP with two timber trees and the second one is called MPS with two timbers and a palm tree. The studied systems showed that it was possible to successfully combine fast-growing species, animals, forage and woody tree species, with a production cycle of more than 50 years of different goods and services (e.g., ornamentals, palm hearts, landscaping, fruits, seeds, bee pasture, meat, and wood). The height, diameter and volume for M. urundeuva trees in the MP system were greater than in the MPS system, whereas no difference between the systems was observed for P. dubium. By comparison, the growth and volume in P. dubium were greater than in M. urundeuva. For wood properties, it was shown that both systems can be used successfully, but the MPS system performed better than the MP system, in the aim of wood production of high mechanical strength and calorific value. In addition, the MPS intercropping system can yield more goods and services than the MP system, both systems bring returns with short-term (bean seed, forage, pasture), medium-term (forage, palm products, pasture, wood), and long-term (wood) financial returns.

Breadfruit in the Wake: Imagining Vegetal Mutiny in Derek Walcott's "The Bounty"

I examine Derek Walcott’s portrayal of the journey of the breadfruit in “The Bounty,” which intertwines the history of the species’ transplantation with an elegy for the poet’s own mother. In its depiction of the mutiny on the Bounty, Walcott’s poem opens up a moment of Glissantian détour in the plants’ path from Tahiti to Jamaica when they are cast asea. I center the jettisoned plants rather than the crew or captain of the ship to explore how the interpretation of the event might change if we imagine the florae themselves to be the real mutineers. Invoking Christina Sharpe’s notion of “wake work,” I argue that the bobbing breadfruit specimens perform a wake for those who have perished in the waters of the Atlantic and the plantations of the West Indies as the plants wake up to the process of their commodification and absorption into the plantation system. For Walcott, the trajectory of the breadfruit also reflects the journey of his own mother after her death, so that its appearance in Saint Lucia implies not only that the plant has been successfully imported, but also that she has arrived at her ultimate destination in the afterlife. Feeding on the nutrients of her body, the breadfruit tree reincarnates the forms of its perished human and nonhuman predecessors, becoming a vegetal afterlife to the histories of colonial importation and plantation slavery.

The plantation’s fall and the nonprofit sector’s rise: Addressing the influence of the antebellum plantation on today’s nonprofit sector

The legacy of the American plantation system of the Antebellum South is frequently examined for its influence on American government. However, we do not discuss at length its influence on philanthropy and the nonprofit sector. We attempt to address this shortcoming by contextualizing the plantation narrative within the nonprofit sector. We then pose and start to answer three questions to provide a path forward for the sector to address current and future challenges. We conclude with a personal narrative in which we grapple with some of these questions.

Rainforest conversion to monocultures favors generalist ants with large colonies

AbstractThe conversion of natural ecosystems to agricultural land is one of the most important drivers of biodiversity decline worldwide, particularly in the tropics. Species loss is typically trait‐associated, leading to filtering of disturbance‐resistant species during community assembly, which affects ecosystem functioning and evolutionary potential of communities. To understand the ecological and phylogenetic impact of rainforest conversion to agricultural systems, we combine analysis of nesting habit, feeding habit, colony size, and body size of canopy ants (Formicidae) with a phylogenetic analysis of species collected in four land‐use systems in Sumatra, Indonesia: (1) lowland tropical rainforest, (2) jungle rubber (extensive rubber agroforest), and smallholder plantations of (3) rubber and (4) oil palm. Canopy ant communities in these land‐use systems differed in trait composition, with a larger proportion of generalist nesting and generalist‐omnivore feeding species in oil palm compared to rainforest and a larger proportion of generalist nesters and species with large colonies (>1000 individuals) in rubber than in rainforest. Traits of canopy ant communities in jungle rubber were more similar to those in rainforest than to those in rubber and oil palm plantations. In rainforest, mean pairwise phylogenetic distance was lower than expected for random community assembly, but did not differ from random in the other land‐use systems. Of the traits nesting habit, feeding habit, and colony size, only feeding habit exhibited phylogenetic signal. Our results show that rainforest conversion to agricultural systems is accompanied by shifts in trait composition of canopy ant communities. Further, our results argue against environmental filtering of closely related canopy ant species as the major community assembly mechanism in plantation systems, but suggest that the Sumatran lowland rainforests harbor recently diverged endemic ant species that are particularly vulnerable to rainforest conversion to agricultural systems. Given the importance of ants for tropical ecosystems, the ecological differences among ant communities along the land‐use gradient might have important consequences for ecosystem functioning and services in plantation systems.

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Conversion of rainforest into oil palm and rubber plantations affects the functional composition of litter and soil Collembola.

Rainforest conversion and expansion of plantations in tropical regions are associated with changes in animal communities and biodiversity decline. In soil, Collembola are one of the most numerous invertebrate groups that affect the functioning of microbial communities and support arthropod predators. Despite that, information on the impact of changes in land use in the tropics on species and trait composition of Collembola communities is very limited. We investigated the response of Collembola to the conversion of rainforest into rubber agroforestry (“jungle rubber”), rubber, and oil palm plantations in Jambi Province (Sumatra, Indonesia), a region which experienced one of the strongest recent deforestation globally. Collembola were sampled in 2013 and 2016 from the litter and soil layer using heat extraction, and environmental factors were measured (litter C/N ratio, pH, water content, composition of microbial community and predator abundance). In the litter layer, density and species richness in plantation systems were 25%–38% and 30%–40% lower, respectively, than in rainforest. However, in the soil layer, density, species richness, and trait diversity of Collembola were only slightly affected by land‐use change, contrasting the response of many other animal groups. Species and trait composition of Collembola communities in litter and soil differed between each of the land‐use systems. Water content and pH were identified as main factors related to the differences in species and trait composition in both litter and soil, followed by the density of micro‐ and macropredators. Dominant species of Collembola in rainforest and jungle rubber were characterized by small body size, absence of furca, and absence of intense pigmentation, while in plantations, larger species with long furca and diffuse or patterned pigmentation were more abundant. Overall, land‐use change negatively affected Collembola communities in the litter layer, but its impact was lower in the soil layer. Several pantropical genera of Collembola (i.e., Isotomiella, Pseudosinella, and Folsomides) dominated across land‐use systems, reflecting their high environmental adaptability and/or efficient dispersal, calling for studies on their ecology and genetic diversity. The decline in species richness and density of litter‐dwelling Collembola with the conversion of rainforest into plantation systems calls for management practices mitigating negative effects of the deterioration of the litter layer in rubber plantations, but even more in oil palm plantations.

Old ways in new places? Experimenting with plants in the early plantation setting

ABSTRACT Plants and foodways have long been recognized for their importance to the construction of identity and culture in plantation settings. Yet despite this focus on plants and foodways in plantation archaeology, there is a need for more archaeological documentation of the types of plants and fields being cultivated in newly formed plantations in the New World. We combine historical documentation with an assemblage of recovered plant remains from the Lord Ashley site (38DR83a) to examine plant use during the formative years of a plantation economy. A renewed focus on experimental cropping in the New World plantation system at this site, along with one of the most well documented enslaved African populations before the 1690s in South Carolina, point to the influence of cross-cultural entanglements in building New World agricultural systems. The recovery of watermelon, an African cultivar, found alongside an assemblage of artifacts and other archaeobotanical remains associated with the enslaved Africans at the site, also point to the role of first-generation Africans in establishing New World foodway traditions.

Space Race

This paper discusses the practice of contemporary artist Cauleen Smith as an ongoing exploration of the aesthetic and political possibilities of cinematic space, place, and movement. Drawing upon a range of critical frameworks from cultural geography and Black feminism, it locates in Smith’s work an aesthetics and politics of errantry that favors radically nonnormative forms of relation and mobility. Borrowing the term from Martinican novelist and critic Édouard Glissant, and drawing more broadly from his thoroughgoing elucidations of the spatial dynamics of colonialism, the plantation system, and their afterlives, the text frames Smith’s cinematic errantry both as a formal and technological operation and as a political one grounded in a Black feminist praxis of place.

Detecting vulnerability of humid tropical forests to multiple stressors

Detecting vulnerability of humid tropical forests to multiple stressors

Monitoring System of Hydroponic Using Solar Energy

This project aims to develop a solar powered hydroponic monitoring system. Hydroponic system is a plantation system that uses water as the medium instead of soil. The solar energy acts as the main source and a supply for the Arduino Uno, a microcontroller to control all the sensors, collecting the data and display the data to users. The sensors used were DS18B20 temperature sensor, propylene float water level sensor and pH sensor. These sensors will monitor those elements and helping the users in hydroponics system. An Arduino Ide software was used to develop a coding for the monitoring system. The value of temperature, water level and pH has been measured and collected to be analyzed. For conclusion, this project is successful in that the data collected satisfied the objective and from the result, it shows the effectiveness of solar powered hydroponic monitoring system.

Can cultural significance in plants be explained by domestication and usage spaces? A study case from a coffee producing community in Huila, Colombia

This study was aimed at delving into the relationship between botanical species with cultural significance and both the managed environments they inhabit (Coffee plantation, Forest, Garden, Orchard, Market) and their origin (Wild, Cultivated), as established by people from vereda Las Delicias, Colombia. We tested the hypothesis that cultivated plants from the coffee plantations would have the highest cultural significance. One hundred and ninety-two plants were recorded by common name, however, upon taxonomic analysis, 238 botanical species were established. The most relevant spaces in terms of diversity were the coffee plantation (91 useful plants) and the garden (81 useful plants). Regarding origin, most of the plants were cultivated (151), with only 50 wild species. Likewise, there is a significantly larger cultural significance of coffee plantantion plants than there is garden plants and forest plants. Furthermore, cultivated plants have a significantly larger cultural significance than do wild plants. In conclusion, there is a diversity of useful plants within coffee plantation systems, which guarantee family livelihoods, diversify income sources, and protect the natural resources of the region. Finally, the importance of coffee (Coffea arabica) comes from its role as a customary heritage for this community, which strengthens agricultural, environmental, and cooperative processes after each generation.

Towards a More Varied Picture of Slavery

Abstract Indrani Chatterjee’s ground-breaking research has shown the centrality of obligation and provision to historical forms of slavery in South Asia, deepening our understanding of slave-using societies beyond the plantation systems that have dominated historiography, as well as historical memory. In this interview, Chatterjee explains why the crucial question in the context of South Asian slavery was: who do you serve and for what purpose? Enslavers were obliged to materially provide for their slaves, in return for the enslaved person’s service, labor and loyalty, creating varied relationships of dependence. By foregrounding the complex set of relationships and obligations in which slaves were enmeshed, Chatterjee seeks to “make people out of laborers.” This has led her to rethink the ways that resistance and agency have been conceptualized in slavery studies and Subaltern Studies, emphasizing the relationships within which a person became an agent. Her research has also deepened our understanding of colonialism and slavery. British colonizers generally ignored slaves’ entitlements to certain labor or taxation exemptions from the state, and colonial revenue-collection made the already-burdened doubly burdened. But in a hetero-temporal colonial context, older ways of identifying and forms of relationships endured. Chatterjee argues that this history of the provision of survival in contexts of enslavement is not “romanticizing,” but rather historicizes multiple forms of violence and shows a fuller, more varied picture of slavery.

Decolonizing Agrarian Knowledge and the Emergence of Indonesian Critical Agrarian Studies

Agricultural production growth has been the main priority in agrarian development in Indonesia but its ends and means have been varied. In the colonial era, an export- oriented colonial plantation system resulted in the transformation of the Indonesian land tenurial system. In the post-colonial period, Soekarno’s regime pursued agrarian development seeking to strengthening people’s land rights through its land reform policies. Land rights were seen as the basis for agricultural production. Soeharto’s New Order regime implemented its Green Revolution policy by developing agricultural mechanization and extensification which managed to improve agricultural production, but it gave greater privileges to the rural elite class and caused dependence on foreign inputs and aid. All agrarian policies were supported by knowledge produced through the research of influential institutions and individuals, including critical responses against the impacts of the transformation of land tenure. In this context, knowledge in agrarian studies with its critical perspectives were re-shaped as part of the process of knowledge decolonization.

An Arkansas Parable for the Anthropocene

The claimed rediscovery of North America’s rarest bird, the ivory-billed woodpecker, in the early 2000s, was one of the most high-profile events in global ornithological history. The reappearance of the bird in a remote locality in eastern Arkansas seemed to vindicate belief in the innate resilience and adaptability of nature, yet within a few months the claims became shrouded in doubt and uncertainty. This article argues that the reasons for the bird’s likely extinction in the early 1940s go beyond the usual parameters of conservation biology to include the violent impetus toward nature unleashed by settler colonialism and the plantation system. The changing ecologies of the Delta are explored through a dialogue between critical landscape studies and emerging perspectives on race, masculinity, and violence that have been extensively occluded under the burgeoning interdisciplinary fascination with the Anthropocene. I conclude that the story of the ivory-billed woodpecker gives credence to a modified reading of the Plantationocene as an alternative conceptual framing for global environmental change.

Effect of Forest Cover on Raptor Abundance in Exotic Forest Plantations in Chile

Habitat specialists, such as forest raptors, are generally more likely to suffer from the impacts of large-scale forestry. One of the most characteristic and controversial aspects of many industrial plantation systems is the use of clearcutting as a harvesting method, which generates a mosaic of highly contrasting land cover types, such as wooded areas adjacent to zones practically devoid of vegetation. We explored the effect of forest cover on the abundance of habitat-generalist and forest-specialist raptors in South-central Chile. During the 2016 to 2018 breeding seasons, we conducted 584 playback surveys at 149 sampling points centred on 3×3km plots within 9×9km squares. The Rufous-legged Owl Strix rufipes, a forest specialist, showed a positive relationship with forest cover at the local scale. However, we found no significant relationships for other forest specialists in this study. Most habitat-generalist species showed a negative or non-linear relationship with forest cover, with greater species abundances observed in landscapes with intermediate levels of forest and open areas. Interestingly, the models with the highest statistical support included total forest cover (native forest + plantations) as a predictor, suggesting that the habitat-generalist species did not significantly discriminate between natural and artificial forests. Our results show that both generalist and forest-specialist raptors can use landscapes dominated by exotic plantations in South-central Chile.—Santander, F., Alvarado O., S. & Estades, C.F. (2021). Effect of forest cover on raptor abundance in exotic forest plantations in Chile. Ardeola, 68: 391-408.