Litter Fall Production and Standing Crop Litter in a Natural Forest and Adjacent Cacao Plantation in Southwest Nigeria.
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.48165/ija.2026.28.02.02Keywords:
Nutrient cycling, Litter fall, Litter Standing Crop, Ecosystem, Forest and Cacao PlantationAbstract
The study determined litter production in natural forest and cacao plantation. This was with a view to providing comprehensive understanding of nutrient cycling via mass-based litter fall and standing crop data due to their different management practices. The study was carried out in 0.0625 ha sample plots, three each in natural forests and cacao plantations adjacent to each other in Ile-Oluji, Ile-Oluji/Okeigbo Local Government Area of Ondo State. Litter fall was determined by 10 randomly laid litter traps and standing crop of litter by randomly laying 5 quadrats on the forest and cacao plantation floors of each plot to collect litter fall and standing crop of litter at monthly intervals for two years. The collected litter fall and litter standing crop were oven-dried at 800C and weighed. Significant difference between forest and cacao plantation monthly litter fall and litter standing crop were tested using two-way analyses of variance (ANOVA) with repeated measurement design with month and site as factors. The tests were performed using System Analysis Software version 9.2 (SAS 2010). Annual litter production (t ha-1 yr-1) in the forest 24.32-35.094 was higher than 16.32-25.696 in cacao plantation. The annual standing crop of litter (t ha-1 yr-1) in the forest 10.21- 19.337 was slightly higher than 10.16- 18.489. This study concluded that nutrient cycling via litter production and standing crop litter data in natural forests is more efficient than in cacao plantations and that clearing forests to establish cacao plantations adversely affects nutrient cycling.
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