Establishment, adaptation and effect on the soil and prairie of different arrangements of living fence with black acacia (acacia decurrens), japanese acacia (acacia melanoxylon), and alder (alnus acuminata), in the cic santamaria, high colombian tropic

Abstract

Different arrangements of living fence were evaluated in the Research and Training Center (Spanish acronym CIC) Santa Maria del Puyon of Universidad de La Salle, located in Sopó, in dry mountain forest, high Colombian tropic. Three species were used: Alder (Alnus acuminata), Acacia decurrens and Acacia melanoxylon distributed in 1536 linear meters. A random block design and four replicas per arrangement with seven treatments were used: T1 (control: without trees), T2 (alder), T3 (Acacia decurrens), T4 (Acacia melanoxylon), T5 (Alder + Acacia decurrens), T6 (Alder + Acacia melanoxylon) and T7 (Acacia decurrens +Acacia melanoxylon). Trees were distributed at two meters far from each other. Several aspects were evaluated such as behavior during establishment through growth; development through forestry measurements; presence and incidence of plagues and diseases; physical and chemical changes in soil; quality and quantity of prairie biomass (Cornell fractioning). Results showed that Acacia decurrens had the best growth with an average of 1.77 meters and Alder had the lowest with 1.21 meters. Plagues and diseases were not reported. Soils got improved because there was an increase of pH (5.6 to 6.0), organic matter (2.5 to 5.1) and phosphorous (10 a 35 mg/kg), which implies a better water retention and a higher nutrient recycling rate. The prairie aging caused the fluctuation in different fractions of protein and carbohydrates. Finally, this study allowed establishing different arrangements of living fence, with conclusive results about contributions of forestry and shepherd systems in the prairie. Besides, it opens doors for future researches to explore new alternatives about functionality of these systems such as food, shadow and wind-breaker barriers in this kind of exploitations in high Colombian tropic