Organic matter contribution to soil fertility improvement and maintenance in red Alder （Alnus rubra） silvopastoral systems.pdfVIP

Journal ofForestry Research(2008)19(1)：49—52 D0I：10．1007／sl 1676-008-0008．5 Organic matter contribution to soil fertility improvement and mainte．- nance in red Alder(Alnus rubra)silvopastoral systems Rormie M．Mmolotsi ，Zewge Teklehaimanot2 Bo~wana College ofAgriculture,Private Bag 0027,Gaborone,Botswana 。UniversityofWales．Bangor,Gwynedd,LL572UW,UK Abstract：An investigation was conducted to quantify fme roots and roots nodules over the four seasons in forestry and agroforestry alder lnus rubra)stands in Noah Wales．Soil samples collected in each season were excavated at three sampling points(O．3O m，O．57 m and 1．OO m distance from the base of each tree)from nine trees of the agroforestry and forestry plots．Result showed that the density of live fine root had significant differences in between seasons and treatments(JP0．001)．111e mean weight density of live fine root over the four seasons in agroforestry and forestry was O．27i-0．Ol ‘m and O．54i-0．03 kg‘m一，respectively．Weight density of dead root in each system remained constant throughout the year．The mean weight density of dead root was also significantly different(PO．O1)between forestry and agroforestry systems．Weight density of live and dead root nodule was both constant throughout the year and between the dif- ferent sampling distances．The mean weight densities of live and dead root nodule over the four seasons were 0．09i-0．03 kg·m一 and O．05i-0．03 kg‘rrr in agroforestry and O．08i-0．02 kg‘m- and O．03i-0．Ol ‘m‘。in the forestry plots，respectively． Keywords：alder；Alnus rubra；root nodule；fine root；nitrogen tribution to the recycling of nutrients and carbon in the Introduction