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Nutrient dynamics through fine litterfall in three plantations in Sabah, Malaysia, in relation to nutrient supply to surface soil

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Abstract

To investigate soil amelioration effects by older tropical fast-wood plantations, we examined the fine litterfall and accompanying nutrient flux of a 20-year-old Acacia mangium site over 3 years under a wet tropical climate in Sabah, Malaysia. The litterfall of a Swietenia macrophylla site and an Araucaria cunninghamii site was also examined for comparison. Annual nitrogen (N) flux through litterfall (kg N ha−1) was larger in A. mangium (207–223) than in S. macrophylla (126–153) or A. cunninghamii (72–94), whereas annual phosphorus (P) flux through litterfall (kg P ha−1) was considerably smaller in A. mangium (2.7–3.4) than in S. macrophylla (7.5–15.6) or A. cunninghamii (7.8–9.2). N flux through litterfall, forest floor N, and N concentration in topsoil (0–5 cm) were in the order of A. mangium > S. macrophylla > A. cunninghamii, but other element fluxes were not related to concentrations in soils. Our findings suggest that topsoil N increased because of a large N flux from litterfall. We conclude that these plantation trees, including A. mangium have the potential to produce a N flux in litterfall for the rapid return of organic N to soils larger than or equivalent to that in adjacent primary forests. However, the litterfall of a single species may lead to deficits of a particular element and cause nutrient imbalances. Using a mixture of fertilizer tree species or applying mixed litter might be a better solution.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Dr. K.V. Sankaran for access to their original litterfall data set published in Binkley et al. (1997). We also thank the staff of the Sabah Forest Research Centre for assistance with litterfall sampling and Mss. Jalimah Badin, Liza Minsuan and Petronella Anthony for sample treatment, Dr. Noreen Majalap-Lee and her laboratory staff for chemical analysis of soil samples and Dr. Shin Ugawa for his support of data arrangement. We also thank to Dr. Shinji Kaneko for his valuable comments on the draft report. This study was carried out as a part of an international cooperative research project between the Sabah Forestry Department and the Japan International Research Center for Agricultural Sciences and was funded by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Japan, “Development of Agroforestry Technology for the Rehabilitation of Tropical Forests.”

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Forest Site Environment, Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute, 1 Matsunosato, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-8687, Japan

    Masahiro Inagaki & Satoru Miura

  2. Forest Science and Technology Institute, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-0047, Japan

    Koichi Kamo

  3. Forest Research Centre, Sandakan, 90715, Sabah, Malaysia

    Jupiri Titin, Lenim Jamalung & Jaffirin Lapongan

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  1. Masahiro Inagaki
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  2. Koichi Kamo
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  3. Jupiri Titin
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  6. Satoru Miura
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Correspondence to Masahiro Inagaki.

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Inagaki, M., Kamo, K., Titin, J. et al. Nutrient dynamics through fine litterfall in three plantations in Sabah, Malaysia, in relation to nutrient supply to surface soil. Nutr Cycl Agroecosyst 88, 381–395 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10705-010-9364-6

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