Tree Plantation Systems Influence Nitrogen Retention and the Abundance of Nitrogen Functional Genes in the Solomon Islands.

Tree mono-plantations are susceptible to soil nutrient impoverishment and mixed species plantations have been proposed as a way of maintaining soil fertility while enhancing biodiversity. In the Solomon Islands, mixed species plantations where teak (Tectona grandis) is inter-planted with a local tree species (Flueggea flexuosa) have been used as an alternative to teak mono-plantations and are expected to increase soil microbial diversity and modify microbial biogeochemical processes. In this study, we quantified the abundance of microbial functional genes involved in the nitrogen (N) cycle from soil samples collected in teak, flueggea, and mixed species plantations. Furthermore, we measured soil properties such as pH, total carbon (C) and total N, stable N isotope composition (δ(15)N), and inorganic N pools. Soil pH and δ(15)N were higher under teak than under flueggea, which indicates that intercropping teak with flueggea may decrease bacterial activities and potential N losses. Higher C:N ratios were found under mixed species plantations than those under teak, suggesting an enhancement of N immobilization that would help preventing fast N losses. However, inorganic N pools remained unaffected by plant cover. Inter-planting teak with flueggea in mixed species plantations generally increased the relative abundance of denitrification genes and promoted the enrichment of nosZ-harboring denitrifiers. However, it reduced the abundance of bacterial amoA (ammonia monooxygenase) genes compared to teak mono-plantations. The abundance of most denitrification genes correlated with soil total N and C:N ratio, while bacterial and archeal nitrification genes correlated positively with soil NH4 (+) concentrations. Altogether, these results show that the abundance of bacterial N-cycling functional guilds vary under teak and under mixed species plantations, and that inter-planting teak with flueggea may potentially alleviate N losses associated with nitrification and denitrification and favor N retention. Mixed plantations could also allow an increase in soil C and N stocks without losing the source of income that teak trees represent for local communities.

Soil and foliar nutrient and nitrogen isotope composition (δ(15)N) at 5 years after poultry litter and green waste biochar amendment in a macadamia orchard.

This study aimed to evaluate the improvement in soil fertility and plant nutrient use in a macadamia orchard following biochar application. The main objectives of this study were to assess the effects of poultry litter and green waste biochar applications on nitrogen (N) cycling using N isotope composition (δ(15)N) and nutrient availability in a soil-plant system at a macadamia orchard, 5 years following application. Biochar was applied at 10 t ha(-1) dry weight but concentrated within a 3-m diameter zone when trees were planted in 2007. Soil and leaf samples were collected in 2012, and both soil and foliar N isotope composition (δ(15)N) and nutrient concentrations were assessed. Both soil and foliar δ(15)N increased significantly in the poultry litter biochar plots compared to the green waste biochar and control plots. A significant relationship was observed between soil and plant δ(15)N. There was no influence of either biochars on foliar total N concentrations or soil NH4 (+)-N and NO3 (-)-N, which suggested that biochar application did not pose any restriction for plant N uptake. Plant bioavailable phosphorus (P) was significantly higher in the poultry litter biochar treatment compared to the green waste biochar treatment and control. We hypothesised that the bioavailability of N and P content of poultry litter biochar may play an important role in increasing soil and plant δ(15)N and P concentrations. Biochar application affected soil-plant N cycling and there is potential to use soil and plant δ(15)N to investigate N cycling in a soil-biochar-tree crop system. The poultry litter biochar significantly increased soil fertility compared to the green waste biochar at 5 years following biochar application which makes the poultry litter a better feedstock to produce biochar compared to green waste for the tree crops.

Soil carbon and nitrogen dynamics in the first year following herbicide and scalping in a revegetation trial in south-east Queensland, Australia.

During revegetation, the maintenance of soil carbon (C) pools and nitrogen (N) availability is considered essential for soil fertility and this study aimed to evaluate contrasting methods of site preparation (herbicide and scalping) with respect to the effects on soil organic matter (SOM) during the critical early establishment phase. Soil total C (TC), total N (TN), hot-water extractable organic C (HWEOC), hot-water extractable total N (HWETN), microbial biomass C and N (MBC and MBN), total inorganic N (TIN) and potentially mineralizable N (PMN) were measured over 53 weeks. MBC and MBN were the only variables affected by herbicide application. Scalping caused an immediate reduction in all variables, and the values remained low without any sign of recovery for the period of the study. The impact of scalping on HWETN and TIN lasted 22 weeks and stabilised afterwards. MBC and MBN were affected by both herbicide and scalping after initial treatment application and remained lower than control during the period of the study but did not decrease over time. While scalping had an inevitable impact on all soil properties that were measured, that impact did not worsen over time, and actually improved plant growth (unpublished data) while reducing site establishment costs. Therefore, it provides a useful alternative for weed control in revegetation projects where it is applied only once at site establishment and where SOM would be expected to recover as canopy closure is obtained and nutrient cycling through litterfall commences.

Foliar delta(13)C and delta(18)O reveal differential physiological responses of canopy foliage to pre-planting weed control in a young spotted gum (Corymbia citriodora subsp. Variegata) plantation.

Weed control may improve the growth of forest plantations by influencing soil water and nutrient availability, but our knowledge of leaf-level physiological responses to weed control at different within-canopy positions is limited for tropical and subtropical plantations. Foliar carbon (delta(13)C) and oxygen (delta(18)O) isotope compositions, gas exchange, and nitrogen (N(mass)) and phosphorus (P(mass)) concentrations at four canopy positions were assessed in a young spotted gum (Corymbia citriodora subsp. Variegata (F. Muell.) A.R. Bean & M.W. McDonald) plantation subjected to either weed control or no weed control treatment, to test if leaves at different positions within the tree canopy had the same physiological responses to the weed control treatment. Weed control increased foliar delta(13)C but lowered delta(18)O in the upper-outer and upper-inner canopy, indicating that weed control resulted in a higher foliar photosynthetic capacity at upper-canopy positions, a conclusion confirmed by gas exchange measurements. The increased photosynthetic capacity resulting from weed control can be explained by an increase in foliar N(mass). In the lower-outer canopy, weed control reduced foliar delta(13)C while lowering delta(18)O even more than in the upper-canopy, suggesting strong enhancement of the partial pressure of CO(2) in the leaf intercellular spaces and of foliar stomatal conductance in lower-canopy foliage. This conclusion was supported by gas exchange measurements. Foliar photosynthesis in the lower-inner canopy showed no significant response to weed control. The finding that leaves at different canopy positions differ in their physiological responses to weed control highlights the need to consider the canopy position effect when examining competition for soil nutrient and water resources between weeds and trees.

Variations in relative stomatal and biochemical limitations to photosynthesis in a young blackbutt (Eucalyptus pilularis) plantation subjected to different weed control regimes.

Foliar gas exchange and carbon (delta(13)C) and oxygen (delta(18)O) isotope ratios were measured in a young blackbutt (Eucalyptus pilularis Sm.) plantation subjected to four weed control treatments defined by the width of the weed-free strip maintained for the first 12 months after planting. Treatments were: 2-m-wide weed-free strip (50% of plot area, 2.0MWC), 1.5-m-wide weed-free strip (37.5% of plot area, 1.5MWC), 1-m-wide weed-free strip (25% of plot area, 1.0MWC) and no weed control (NWC). Our objectives were to determine (1) if decreasing the width of the weed control strip (decreasing herbicide use) affected growth and leaf photosynthesis of the plantation, and (2) the effects of the weed control regimes on variations in relative stomatal and biochemical limitations to photosynthesis. Trees in the 1.0MWC treatment had lower foliar light-saturated photosynthetic rate (A(sat)) than trees in the 2.0MWC treatment. An increase in metabolic limitation was responsible for the decrease in A(sat) in the 1.0MWC trees, which was also partly confirmed by the isotopic data. Compared with trees in the 1.0MWC, 1.5MWC and 2.0MWC treatments, A(sat) of NWC trees was significantly lower, a difference that was attributable mainly to stomatal limitation and to a lesser extent to biochemical limitation. The results support the conclusion that different weed control regimes cause differences in relative stomatal and biochemical limitations to plantation photosynthesis. This report contributes to a growing body of literature on competition for soil resources between trees and weeds. Our results highlight the usefulness of the stable isotopic method in supporting analysis of the response of net photosynthesis to varying intercellular CO(2) concentration for determining the relative stomatal and non-stomatal limitations to photosynthesis under experimental conditions in the field.