The effects of clearing and cropping on the organic reserves and biomass of tropical forest soils

Ayanaba, A., Tuckwell, S.B. &Jenkinson, D.S.(1976). The effects of clearing and cropping on the organic reserves and biomass of tropical forest soils. Soil Biology and Biochemistry, 8(6), 519-525.

Twenty Nigerian soil samples, mainly from field experiments at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), were used in a study of the effects of clearing and cropping on the C, N and S reserves of soils under secondary lowland rain forest. Soils that had been cropped for 2yr usually contained less total C and N than the corresponding forest soils. This decline was less rapid when crop residues (maize) were returned to the soil as a mulch than when they were removed.