Organic fertilization in silvopasture systems

Abstract

Given the current environmental requirements has increased the interest and the need for conservationist production systems, such as silvopasture. The integration of trees and forages species turns it into a complex system and can cause undesirable interactions among species, such as competition for nutrients. To avoid soil nutrients depletion and to achieve good crop yields it is necessary to need manage fertilization properly. This work aimed to characterize the state of the art of researches on the effect of organic fertilizer in silvopasture systems. It was observed that organic fertilizer management is complex due to intrinsic characteristics of the organic waste and the ecological relationships within the system. However, it can supply and/or reduce the need for liming and mineral fertilization with long residual effect and satisfactory yields of both trees and forages components. It was also noted that more researches is needed emphasizing wide variation of organic fertilizers, management techniques, species and environmental conditions.