Recovery of degraded areas revegeted with Acacia mangium and Eucalyptus with special reference to organic matter humification

Abstract

Humidified fractions of organic matter and soil microorganism populations are used as environmental quality indicators. This work aimed to study the changes in chemical and microbiological soil attributes, as well as in the humidified fractions, of the organic matter in a substrate from a clay extraction area cropped with Brachiaria mutica, Acacia mangium and Eucalyptus. In the Eucalyptus area, the P contents increased linearly with planting time. However, only at the twelfth year, differences between Eucalyptus and B. mutica areas have occurred. In the A. mangium area, such differences in the P content occurred at the third year with increment of 43%, at the 0-10 cm layer, in relation to B. mutica. Also, at the 0-10 cm layer, the total carbon contents were 98%, 78%, 70% and 40% higher than those found in Eucalyptus with three, five, twelve years of age and in the B. mutica area, respectively. Such increments also occurred in the humidified fractions, especially in the fulvic acids (C FA). The population of microorganisms was higher in the A. mangium area, mainly in the summer, where it was observed a positively correlation with total carbon (total bacteria, r = 0.96**, total fungi, r = 0.91*, and phosphate solubilizer microorganisms, r = 0.98**) and with the C FA fraction (total bacteria r = 0.96**, total fungi, r = 0.90*, and phosphate solubilizer microorganisms, r = 0.98**). The use of A. mangium led to improvements in the chemical and microbiological soil attributes in the substrate