Survival and early growth of Gliricidia sepium fodder trees in subhumid tropical pasturelands: Contrasting effects of NPK fertilizer salts vs. organic ammendments

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Research on silvopastoral systems has suggested that combining grasses and fodder trees can make cattle production more sustainable. Establishing fodder trees in degraded pasture land confronts important challenges in subhumid tropical mountain slopes. Poor soils, dry weather and competition from grasses and other herbs can compound to impede proper sapling establishment. Better nutrition could help seedlings overcome weed competition with less weeding (a costly practice). In this study, researchers evaluate the effects of organic and synthetic fertilization on survival and early growth of Gliricidia sepium in weeded and unweeded conditions. The research was carried out, in the buffer zone of La Sepultura Biosphere Reserve, in Chiapas, Mexico. The experiment used a split-plot design. The main factor was the kind of fertilizer (i.e., vermicompost, NPK, organic foliar fertilizer) and secondary factor was weeding. We evaluated survival rate, above-ground dry-matter production and nodulation. We carried out Analyses of Variance (ANOVA) and multiple comparisons of the means of each variable with a Generalized Linear Model and Tukey test. Weeding had a greater effect than fertilization on survival and above-ground dry-matter production. In the un-weeded treatments, vermicompost was found to increase survival, base diameter and above-ground dry-matter production compared with control plots. Unweeded plots fertilized with NPK industrial salts (with NPKcontent equivalent to that of the vermicompost) resulted in a very low survival rate of saplings. Initial vermicompost application moderately reduced the interference of weeds with the tree samplings as reflected in better plant growth. eng

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