Impact of rubber tree plantations chronosequence on soil fertility and soil organic carbon stocks, Gurafarda District, Southwest Ethiopia
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Rubber tree is one of the important commercial commodities in the globe. This study was conducted to examine the change in soil fertility and soil organic carbon stocks following conversion of forest to rubber plantation of different ages (5, 10, 15, 20 and 25 years) and coffee agroforestry. The field experiment was conducted in Guraferda district,
Southwest Ethiopia. The soil samples were collected from 20× 20 m 2 plots at 30 cm depth, with three replicates at a 100 m interval. A total of 42 soil samples were taken from the three land-use types. The soil moisture content (MC), porosity, soil pH, organic carbon (OC), total nitrogen (N), available phosphorous (P), exchangeable bases, CEC (cation exchange capacity) and base saturation (B)S content of the NF (natural forest), CA(coffee agroforestry) and old age rubber plantation (RP15, RP20 and RP25) were higher than the early years of rubber plantation (RP5 and RP10). The highest soil organic carbon stocks (SOC) were recorded in NF (114.3 Mg ha -1 ), CA (112.2 Mg ha -1 ), RP25 (98.5 Mg ha -1 ) and RP20 (97.8 Mg ha -1 ). The SOC loss because of conversion of NF to RP5 (11.0 Mg ha -1 y -1), RP10 (5.3 Mg ha -1 y -1 ), RP15 (2.3 Mg ha -1 y -1 ), RP20 (0.8 Mg ha -1 y -1 ), RP25 (0.6 Mg ha -1 y -1 ) and CA (0.1 Mg
ha -1 y -1 ). In general, old age rubber plantation (RP20 and RP25) showed proportional levels of soil fertility and soil organic carbon stocks compared with the natural forest and the coffee agroforestry. Since all physico-chemical characteristics were low at the early years of rubber plantation, we recommend to supplement significant proportions of nutrient to the early years of rubber plantation (0-10 years).
Keywords: Rubber plantation, Land use types, Physico-chemical characteristics, Soil organic carbon stocks, Organic carbon loss.
ID: 3605459