Dynamics of soil and vegetation during crop and fallow period in slash-and-burn fields of northern Laos》.pdfVIP

GEODE Pk.~MA E L S E V I E R Geoderma 76 (1997) 131- 144 Dynamics of soil and vegetation during crop and fallow period in slash-and-burn fields of northern Laos W. Roder a,*, S. Phengchanh b, S. Maniphone b a International Rice Research Institute, P.O. Box 933, Manila 1099, Philippines b L AO- IRRI Project, P.O. Box 600, Luang Prabang. Laos Received 5 June 1996: accepted 19 November 1996 Abstract Slash-and-bum rice production systems in northern Laos are undergoing dramatic changes. Increased population pressure and regulations limiting access to land have resulted in shorter fallow periods. Limited information is available on nutrient dynamics in slash-and-burn systems of Southeast Asia in general and particularly on effects of reduced fallow length. Crop and fallow effects on soil parameters and fallow vegetation were quantified in slash-and-bum fields in Luang Prabang, northern Laos from 1991 to 1994. Over the cropping season from May to October declines of 8, 7, and 3% organic C and 33, 40, and 53% extractable P, were observed for the depth intervals of 0-3, 3-10 and 10-25 cm, respectively, Over the same period extractable K declined by 34% in the 0-3 cm interval and increased by 15 and 17% in the 3-10 and 10-25 cm intervals. The declining trend continued over the 3 year crop-fallow cycle with losses (depth 0-100 cm) of 29 + 7.6 t organic C ha- ~, 2.0 _+ 1.1 t total N ha- ~, and 0.7 ___0.8 t ex