Effects of cutting, burning and mulching on soil and plants in the Guinea Savanna-grassland

摘要

Recently the pastoralists in Nigeria's Guinea savanna have been experiencing tough challenges of insufficient pastures. The indigenous traditional method of cut-litter removal was associated with th< low plant diversity in the region. Thus, an experiment with unconventionally novel management wal established to evaluate the effects of cutting, burning and mulching on plant species richness and biomas production. The treatments applied included: cut-burn, cut-litter removal, cut-litter abandonment, twice mulching per year, once mulching per year and unmanaged control. It was hypothesised that cut-littet abandonment and mulching treatments would increase mineralisation, which would consequently increase biomass production in contrast to the traditional culture of cut-litter removal. The result revealed that biomass production was higher in cut-litter abandonment than conventional cut-littd removal. Species richness was significantly correlated with N, K, and P stocks.