Heraclite Bikumbu

Sustainable Agriculture and Environment to support rural communities

Pre-harvest forestry and botanical inventories in ENRA logging concession in the Ituri Forest Landscape, northeastern Congo Basin Rainforest (Democratic Republic of Congo)

By Jean-Remy Makana,  Jacob Madidi and Heraclite Bikumbu (2006)

A Report Submitted to CARPE by the Center for Tropical Forest Science
and the Wildlife Conservation Society

This report concerns a study that assessed timber abundance and distribution in natural
unlogged forests, as well as floristic composition and tree diversity in a 500-ha plot in
ENRA concession in northeastern Congo basin, Democratic Republic of Congo. The four
main objectives pursued in the study were 1) to provide training to ENRA’s forestry
inventory team, 2) to estimate the standing volume of major timber tree species, 3) to
determine forest structure and composition, and tree specie diversity, and 4) to evaluate
the impacts of timber harvesting on forest structure, tree diversity and timber regeneration
with the goal of identifying species for which current logging practices are not
compatible with sustainable forest management. For the first phase of the study, only
objectives 1-3 were accomplished. To achieve these objectives, we completed forestry
and botanical surveys in a 500-ha (2000m x 2500m) plot in undisturbed forest in ENRA
concession


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EFFECT OF ORGANIC FERTILIZERS ON SOIL PROPERTIES (Bikumbu, H. B. and N.V. Nkongolo. Department of Agriculture and Environmental Science, Lincoln University)

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We investigated the effects of growing media amendment with organic fertilizers and vegetable species on soil temperature (T), thermal conductivity (K), thermal resistivity (R), thermal diffusivity (D) and volumetric heat capacity (C). The study was conducted from June to September 2011in a greenhouse at Lincoln University. One hundred and twenty pots were filled with Fafard organic soil and amended with three organic fertilizers: Cottonseed meal (6-2-1), Dried Blood (12-0-0), Garden Food (4-3-2) and NPK(13-13-13). A control treatment made of non-amended Fafard organic soil was also included in the study. The experimental design was a completely randomized block with 5 fertilizers treatments and 3 vegetables replicated 8 times. T, K, R, D and C were monitored throughout the four months of this study using a KD2-Pro Thermal Meter. Soil moisture and soil water potential were also measured. Results showed that soil thermal properties were: 29.81oC, 0.34 W/moK, 3.56 moK/W-1, 0.16 mm/s and 2.09 MJ/m3oK for T, K, R, D, C respectively at the beginning of this study in June 2011 and slightly increased (T, K, C) and decrease (R, D) after four months of study in September 2011. Fertilizers did not significantly affect soil thermal properties. However, vegetable type significantly affected R (p=0.002) during the second month, and also K (p=0.022), R (p = 0.0001) and C (p=0.004) during the fourth month of this greenhouse study. More studies are needed for a better understanding of the effects soil amendment and plant growth on soil properties of the growing media.

Asbtract of oral presentation at Missouri Academy of Science, 2012 (April 4) University of Missouri-Columbia


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RESPONSE OF LETTUCE, SWISS CHARD AND PEPPER TO ORGANIC AMENDMENTS

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A greenhouse experiment was conducted from June to September 2011 to evaluate the effects of three organic and one mineral fertilizers on the growth of Green lettuce, Sweet epper and Swiss chard. One hundred and twenty pots were filled with Fafard organic soil and amended with Cottonseed meal (6-2-1), Dried Blood (12-0-0) and Garden Food (4-3-2); and NPK13-13-13. A control treatment (non-amended Fafard organic soil) was also included in the study. The experimental design was a completely randomized block with 5 fertilizer treatments and 3 vegetables replicated 8 times. Plants were harvested at the end of each month and growth parameters were measured. Results showed that as expected, all growth parameters were significantly affected by vegetable types, from the first to the fourth month of growth. However, for fertilizers, the number of leaves (p=0.043), plant fresh weight (p=0.037), plant dry weight (p=0.021) and leaf area (p=0.054) were significantly affected by fertilizers in the fourth month of study only. Among vegetables, Green lettuce had highest growth as compared to the other two vegetables. Cottonseed gave better growth than NPK 13-13-13 and the other organic fertilizers. These first year results suggest that organic fertilizers can affect plant growth more significantly than mineral fertilizers. However, more studies need to be conducted to confirm these results.

 

Abstract of Poster presentation at MISSOURI ACADEMY OF SCIENCE, 2012 (April 4), University of Missouri-Columbia