Abstract

RODRIGUEZ-PLEGUEZUELO, Carmen Rocío; FRANCIA-MARTINEZ, José Ramón; FRANCO-TARIFA, Dionisio  and  DURAN-ZUAZO, Víctor Hugo. Subtropical fruit farming in Mediterranean weather hillside ecosystem: changes in vegetation. Ecosistemas y recur. agropecuarios [online]. 2017, vol.4, n.12, pp.499-509. ISSN 2007-901X.  https://doi.org/10.19136/era.a4n12.1085.

The coast of Granada, in southeast Spain, has a zone of subtropical fruits in hillsides, distributed in terraces. Nitrogen (N) breakdown and release rates for litter were assessed in two ecosystems: (1) unaltered hillside ecosystem (ELI) without agricultural crops, with indigenous vegetation cover and (2) altered hillside ecosystem (ELA) with mango (Mangifera indica L.), avocado (Persea americana Mill.), cherimoya (Annona cherimolia Mill.), loquat (Eriobotrya japónica (Thunb.) Lindl.) and covered with aromatic and medicinal plants (PAM) in terrace slopes. In the ELA, the cherimoya litter breakdown rate was higher; among the PAM, fringed lavender (Lavandula dentata L.), mástic thyme (Thymus mastichina L.) and savory (Satureja obovata Lag.) recorded high Nitrogen release rates. In ELI, olive (Olea europea L.) and bolina (Genista umbellata (L’Hér.) Dum., had low breakdown rates. The PAM and ELA may contribute to resetting natural nutrient recycling cycles, minimizing the effects of change in land use.

Keywords : Nitrogen cycle; subtropical crops; litter breakdown; cropping terraces.