C And N Stocks And Soil Organic Matter Dynamics In Succession Agroforestry Systems In Brazil

Abstract

Soil organic matter is closely linked to the quality of Agroecosystems and directly influences the agricultural production and the environmental conditions. Understanding of soil organic matter dynamics in agroforestry systems requires studies with a temporal focus, since the changes in its chemical composition tend to follow a gradual behavior. The aim of this study was to investigate the dynamics of changes in stocks and chemical composition of soil organic matter under agroforestry, using systems in different stages of vegetation succession. The soil sampling was carried out from trenches, and litter fractions were also sampled. The samples were collected from different layers of the soil profile under the following conditions: Control; agroforestry with 1 year; agroforestry with 3 years; agroforestry with 7 years and Forest in natural regeneration. The following attributes/parameters were determined/calculated: i) C and N contents and stocks and C/N ratio; ii) C and N proportions in soil granulometric fractions and iii) kinetics of organic matter accumulation in soil with the time of systems evolution. The results showed: i) The C/N ratio tended to increase in depth but did not show a clear variation between the systems evaluated; ii) the adoption of successive agroforestry practices has the potential to increase the C and N stocks in soil; iii) the soil organic matter accumulation occurs gradually during the systems evolution and is mainly related to the particulate fraction (> 0.053 mm).