Tropical soils degraded by slash-and-burn cultivation can be recultivated when amended with ashes and compost.

ABSTRACT: In many tropical regions, slash-and-burn agriculture is considered as a driver of deforestation; the forest is converted into agricultural land by cutting and burning the trees. However, the fields are abandoned after few years because of yield decrease and weed invasion. Consequently, new surfaces are regularly cleared from the primary forest. We propose a reclamation strategy for abandoned fields allowing and sustaining re-cultivation. In the dry region of south-western Madagascar, we tested, according to a split-plot design, an alternative selective slash-and-burn cultivation technique coupled with compost amendment on 30-year-old abandoned fields. Corn plants (Zea mays L.) were grown on four different types of soil amendments: no amendment (control), compost, ashes (as in tradit

SUBMITTER: Gay-des-Combes JM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5528233 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature