Influences of planting density of Jatropha curcas on the plant biodiversity in North soudanian zone, Burkina Faso

Abstract

Agroforestry offers a good prospect for sustainable land management. However, management of certain species such as Jatropha curcas are still less known. The current study was designed to document vegetation composition and biomass in J. curcas stands under different planting densities : D1 = 1mx1m, D2 = 2mx2m, D3 = 3mx3m and D4 = 4mx4m. Each planting density had three replicates. Data were collected through a floristic inventory and an assessment of herbaceous biomass production. Woody regeneration was also evaluated. Results indicated better species richness in J. curcas plantations. Overall, 12 species (35, 29%) belonging to 11 genera and 08 families were encountered only under J. curcas. The values of the Hamming distance ranged from 30.77% in the control to 62.50% for D3. The highest amount of biomass was recorded in planting density D1 with 377.09 ± 18.83 g / m2 and the lowest of 175.38 ± 16.15 g / m2 was recorded in D4. The results in this study show that production of herbaceous biomass was better in J. curcas planting densities D1, D2 and D3. It is worth continuing this monitoring for some time to ascertain whether this dynamics will be maintained. .