Fallen leaf biomass and other indicators of sustainability in associations of forest species with cocoa “CCN51” in the central zone of the Ecuadorian Coast

Abstract

Four forest species Cybistax donnell-smithii Rose, Cordia macrantha Chadat, Colubrina arborescens (Mill.) Sarg and Triplaris guayaquilensis Wedd were studied in association with Theobroma cacao L. Var. CCN51. The agroforestry system was located in Quevedo, province of Los Ríos, Ecuador. The age of the trees was six years, and of cocoa ve years, established in a plantation frame of 9 x 9 m and 3 x 3 m, respectively. A random block design with four replicates was applied. The evaluated aspects were: production of wood and cocoa, shade, production of fallen leaves, transfer of N, P, K, Ca and Mg, nutrients and soil moisture content. The total wood volume for C. donnellsmithii, C. macrantha, C. arborescens and T. guayaquilensis was 46.49; 27.06; 21.03 and 61.37 m³ ha^-1, respectively. Cocoa production did not show signi cant differences between associations. The highest annual biomass contributions of the fallen leaves were produced in the association C. arborescens + cacao with 4079 kg ha^-1, so that it carried out the greatest transfer of N, K, Ca and Mg with 56.45; 29.54; 73.96 and 16.38 kg ha^-1 a^-1, respectively.