Soil physi-chemical properties,biomass and nutrient contents of forest litter in mixed plantations of Eucalyptus grandis and three tree species北大核心CSCD

In the present study, we compared the soil physical and chemical properties, biomass of forest litter and nutrient contents in three-and-half-year plantations of E. grandis mixed with Toona ciliate, Alnus formosana, Sassafras tzumu. The results indicated that mixing T. ciliate and A. formosana with E. grandis mitigated soil acidification. In E. grandis × S. tzumu plantations, the soil bulk density decreased, but the moisture capacity and porosity increased. The mixed plantations of E. grandis × S. tzumu significantly increased the soil total C, N, P and K content, by 64.7%, 41.9%, 28.6% and 7.7%, respectively. The mixed plantations of E. grandis × A. formosana also significantly increased the soil total C, N and P content, by 15.2%, 27.9% and 47.6%, respectively. Compared with the pure plantations, the mixed plantations had significantly lower soil hydrolysis N and higher available P content. Only the E. grandis × A. formosana plantations had higher soil available K content. Compared with that in pure plantations, the biomass of branch litter and leaf litter was significantly higher in E. grandis × A. formosana plantations but significantly lower in E. grandis × A. formosana and E. grandis × A. formosana plantations; the biomass of leaf litter and total biomass of litter of E. grandis × S. tzumu were 9.8% and 9.3% respectively lower. The litter C content in three kinds of mixed forest was significantly lower and the litter N content was significantly higher than that in the pure plantations. Only the mixed plantations of E. grandis × A. formosana plantations would increase the content of litter P. The mixed plantations of E. grandis × S. tzumu would increase the content of litter K. In general, S. tzumu is the optimal tree species to mix with E. grandis, followed by A. formosana, but T. ciliate is unsuitble for mixed plantation with E. grandis.