Abstract

FERNANDEZ-OJEDA, Paul René; ACEVEDO, David Cristóbal; VILLANUEVA-MORALES, Antonio  and  URIBE-GOMEZ, Miguel. State of the essential chemical elements in the soils of natural, agroforestry and monoculture systems. Rev. mex. de cienc. forestales [online]. 2016, vol.7, n.35, pp.65-77. ISSN 2007-1132.

Agroforestry systems are an alternative for agricultural and forest production in the face of the loss of natural resources, developed as a result of the need to produce food and favoring the expansion of the agricultural frontier and reduction of the fallow periods. A total of 36 samples were collected at depths of 0-10, 10-20 and 20-30 cm from two agroforestry systems -a coffee monoculture and a montane cloud forest- in the municipality of Huatusco, Veracruz. The values determined in these samples were apparent density (DAP), field capacity (FC), permanent wilting point (PWP), organic matter (OM), inorganic N, total N, P, exchangeable bases, pH and cation exchange capacity (CEC). The soils of the coffee monoculture and the montane cloud forest showed a decrease in PB and in acidity, and an increase in OM and N concentrations, as well as CEC and PWP. The value of the FC was very high in all soil types and increased in those areas with the highest OM concentrations. Unlike N, P and K were found to be lower in the montane cloud forest than in the coffee plantations. The usable humidity rate was high in all the sites, and the behavior of the DAP was the opposite of that of OM. The concentration of the elements in the studied soils showed that there may be a good availability of nutrients. The agroforestry systems offered similar edaphic conditions to those of the forest and evidenced a better fertility than the monoculture.

Keywords : Soil acidity; coffee plantation; exchange capacity; fertility; organic matter; nitrogen.

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