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Effects of deforestation and cultivation on soil CEC and contents of

exchangeable bases: A case study in Simlipal National Park, India

Article  in  Plant and Soil · July 1998

DOI: 10.1023/A:1004323426199

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 Plant and Soil 204: 175–181, 1998.
© 1998 Kluwer Academic Publishers. Printed in the Netherlands.
175

Effects of deforestation and cultivation on soil CEC and contents of

exchangeable bases: A case study in Simlipal National Park, India

Hasmot Saikh1 , Chandrika Varadachari1,3,∗ and Kunal Ghosh2

1 Raman Centre for Applied and Interdisciplinary Sciences, 11 Gangapuri, Calcutta 700 093, India and
2 Department of Agricultural Chemistry & Soil Science, University of Calcutta, 35 Ballygunge Circular Road,
Calcutta 700 019, India. 3 Present address: Box 10227, P.O. Ballygunge, Calcutta 700 019, India

Received 9 February 1998. Accepted in revised form 3 August 1998

Key words: cation exchange capacity, cultivation, deforestation, exchangeable bases, tropics

Abstract
Deforestation in the tropics seems to be a serious problem probably because of the reduction in soil CEC and the
consequent losses of nutrients from the soils. Here, changes in these parameters as influenced by deforestation
as well as vegetative cover were studied; statistical methods were applied to interpret the results. Cultivation
causes a significant reduction in CEC, total content of the exchangeable bases and exchangeable Ca2+ and Mg2+
levels compared to the adjoining unmanaged forest land. Levels of exchangeable K+ and Na+ , however, do not
change significantly. Evergreen forest soils have the highest levels of CEC, total exchangeable bases, exchangeable
Ca2+ and K+ . Deciduous forest, grassland and cultivated soils have statistically similar contents of exchangeable
Ca2+ , Mg2+ , K+ and Na+ . Exchangeable Mg2+ , however, is not affected by vegetative cover. Soil CEC shows
fairly good correlation with the organic carbon content only in evergreen forest soils. In others, organic carbon
apparently does not influence CEC significantly. All soils show excellent correlation between their CEC and total
exchangeable bases. It is concluded that for regeneration of weathered tropical soils, an evergreen cover provides
the most effective means; deciduous vegetation or grass cover do not seem promising.

Introduction which mycorrhizae play an important role in pre-

In highly weathered ferruginous soils of the tropics,
CEC (cation exchange capacity) and exchangeable
base content of the soil become a limiting factor in
soil productivity. Weischet and Caviedes (1993) have
pointed out that in temperate regions, soils have higher
CEC and contain unaltered primary minerals so that
the bulk of the nutrients are stored in the inorganic
matrix; in contrast, in the tropical forests, most of
the nutrients are stored in the biomass. Therefore, the
effect of forest clearing is much more pronounced in
the tropics compared to the temperate regions where
crops can make use of the inorganic reserves for quite
a while. Brinkmann (1985) observed that tropical rain
forests have a very tightly closed nutrient cycle in
∗ FAX No: 91-33-225 5358. E-mail: itbpc@gems.vsnl.net.in
venting nutrient leaching. Deforestation destroys the
mycorrhizae as well as organic matter; thereby both
nutrient traps disappear and leaching occurs rapidly.
A few reports on changes in CEC and exchange-
able bases after forest clearing are available in the
literature. Allen (1985) observed that reduction in
CEC was 50% higher in the tropical soils than in tem-
perate soils. Adejuwon and Ekanade (1987) reported
34–36% reduction in CEC and 19-50% losses in ex-
changeable Ca2+ , Mg2+ , Na+ and K+ in a tropical
region. Reduction in percent base saturation as well as
exchangeable Ca2+ was observed by Ohta (1990) in
the Philippines. Reduction in soil CEC due to forest
clearing in temperate regions has also been reported
(Delgado et al., 1985; Johnson et al., 1991). However,
in such regions, increases in amount of exchangeable
bases such as K+ or Ca2+ have been observed in de-
176
Table 1. Cation exchange capacity, exchangeable bases and percent base saturation

Sample location Soil CEC Exchangeable bases % Base

No. cmol(p+ ) kg−1 cmol(p+ ) kg−1 saturation

Ca2 Mg2+ Na+ K+ Total

Gitilpi 1D 8.63 6.50 0.69 0.30 0.70 8.19 94.90

1C 2.19 0.12 0.57 0.12 0.30 1.11 52.51
Astakumar 2D 6.23 2.49 2.22 0.14 0.46 5.31 85.23
2C 6.01 3.03 1.63 0.18 0.44 5.28 87.85
Burhabalang 3D 8.63 6.74 0.70 0.33 0.46 8.23 95.36
3C 6.71 3.72 0.47 0.22 0.95 5.36 79.82
Ligirda 4D 7.92 2.79 2.33 0.21 0.64 5.97 75.45
4C 4.35 1.86 0.69 0.25 1.22 4.02 92.41
Makabari 5D 7.99 5.22 1.63 0.26 0.52 7.63 95.49
5C 4.86 2.32 0.81 0.25 1.20 4.58 94.24
Bakua 6E 17.26 14.10 1.15 0.56 1.08 16.89 97.86
6C 4.86 2.52 0.93 0.82 0.29 4.56 93.82
Nuagaon 7E 19.57 16.85 1.30 0.58 0.70 19.49 99.46
7C 7.22 4.89 1.19 0.31 0.54 6.93 95.98
Jamuna 8D 11.25 9.32 0.47 0.32 0.71 10.82 96.18
8C 4.86 1.86 0.23 0.21 0.35 2.65 59.42
Jenabil 9D 10.87 7.54 0.93 0.32 0.89 9.68 89.05
9C 4.60 2.33 0.47 0.15 0.32 3.27 71.09
Tarinibila 10E 13.94 12.55 0.23 0.37 0.74 13.89 99.64
10G 8.37 5.55 0.69 0.28 1.09 7.61 90.91
Upper Barakamra 11E 9.91 4.89 3.26 0.21 0.48 8.84 89.20
11G 5.75 2.49 1.06 0.17 0.66 4.38 76.17
Matughar 12E 12.68 7.92 1.10 0.27 1.45 10.74 78.51
12G 6.65 4.66 0.47 0.25 0.58 5.96 89.47
Kaliani 13C 13.94 10.54 1.86 0.56 0.34 13.30 95.41
Gurguria 14C 5.82 2.54 2.67 0.21 0.20 5.62 96.56
Simlipalgarh 15C 6.14 3.72 0.47 0.20 0.57 4.96 80.62
Kukurbhuka 16D 8.37 4.19 2.56 0.24 0.56 7.55 90.20
16C 5.62 3.73 0.47 0.21 0.73 5.14 91.20
Baramakabari 17D 6.64 4.89 0.70 0.25 0.28 6.12 92.02
17G 4.41 1.86 1.16 0.18 0.54 3.74 85.03
Kabatghai 18C 7.85 4.19 1.39 0.31 1.19 7.08 87.64
Deothali 19G 4.60 2.33 0.70 0.72 0.42 4.17 90.65
Tindiha 20G 4.86 2.33 0.23 0.18 0.35 3.09 63.58
Jenabil–Kabatghai 21D 7.16 4.44 1.56 0.26 0.56 6.82 95.25
Jenabil–Upper Barakamra 22C 4.47 2.33 0.70 0.21 0.60 3.84 85.91

C: Cultivated land, D: Deciduous forest land, E: Evergreen forest land, G: Grassland (Same numerical indicates
paired samples from adjoining areas).
Locations given in the map (Figure 1).

forested areas (Adams and Boyle, 1982; Hendrickson
et al., 1989).
Although deforestation effects on soil CEC is a se-
rious problem in the tropics, literature on this subject
is fairly limited. More importantly, most of such stud-
ies have been done with only a few samples; hence,
in many studies, statistical procedures could not be
applied for testing the validity of the conclusions.
We have been conducting a series of investigations
on changes in various soil properties due to forest
clearing and cultivation, within a National Park in In-
dia. Here, small patches of the forest in several areas
have been cleared and cultivated since variable pe-

riods of time thereby providing numerous samples;
moreover, this is a remote region where only primitive
techniques are used for cultivation. This study, there-
fore, provides results of changes occurring in soils
when no external chemical inputs have been added.
Also, the availability of a large number of samples
makes it possible to statistically analyse the results
thereby providing more concrete views on this prob-
lem. This report is a continuation of a previous study
(Saikh et al., 1998) in which the same samples were
analysed for changes in C, N and P levels. Here,
further studies have been done to assess the effects
of cultivation on soil CEC, total exchangeable base
content, contents of exchangeable Ca2+ , Mg2+ , Na+ ,
K+ and base saturation levels. Influence of vegeta-
tive cover on these factors, have also been assessed.
Finally, statistical methods have been used to inter-
pret the results. A combination of the results of this
study alongwith the earlier one (Saikh et al., 1998)
is expected to provide a more complete picture and a
better understanding of the effects of deforestation and
cultivation in tropical regions.
Materials and methods
Soil samples were collected from within the Simli-
pal National Park (Orissa, India) as described before
in detail (Saikh et al., 1998). Physiography, climate
and botanical features of this region are also described
therein. Briefly, the region is hilly (ranging from
300–1500 m) with monsoon climate (average rainfall
1500–2000 mm), hot summers (35–40 ◦ C) and fairly
cold winters (0-10 ◦ C). Different types of vegetative
zones, viz. deciduous, evergreen and natural grass-
lands are present in different regions of the National
Park. Wild life (elephant, tiger, leopard, deer, etc.)
is abundant. Sampling sites are accessible mostly by
fair-weather roads but sometimes only by foot (game-
tracks). Location and topography of the sampling sites
are shown in Figure 1 and Table 1.
Soil samples are labelled with a numerical fol-
lowed by the alphabets C, D, E or G indicating that the
samples are from cultivated areas, deciduous forests,
evergreen forests or grasslands, respectively. The same
numerical indicates paired samples from adjoining
areas. Thus, 9C and 9D are soil samples from a cul-
tivated area and the adjoining deciduous forest. All
paired samples were taken from topographically sim-
ilar locations and are practically within less than one
hundred metres of each other. The samples 7C and 8C
177
are the most recent cultivations (5 years, when sam-
pling was done); this is followed by 1C, 2C, 16C and
18C (15 year cultivations); 9C and 22C are 30 year old
cultivations and 4C is a little older; 5C has been culti-
vated for 60 years, 14C for 70 years, 15C for 80 years;
3C, 6C and 13C are the oldest cultivated areas (>100
years). Detailed soil survey and soil profile studies in
this area have not been done. However, some pro-
files studied by us showed that these ferruginous soils
are Lithic Rhodustalf/Haplustalf, Rhodic Palustalf and
Typic Palustalf/Haplustalf.
Cation exchange capacity (CEC) of the soil was
determined by leaching the soil with KCl followed
by extraction of exchangeable K+ by ammonium ac-
etate (Rhoades, 1990); K+ in solution was determined
flamephotometrically.
Total exchangeable bases were determined after
leaching the soils with ammonium acetate (Thomas,
1990). Amounts of Ca2+ and Mg2+ in the leachate
were analysed by AAS and K+ and Na+ were
analysed flamephotometrically.
For statistical analysis of the differences between
the soil parameters, two types of testing procedures
were used. First, assuming normal distribution of the
values, t-tests were used (Goon et al., 1975) to test
the significance of the differences in the mean val-
ues (paired - t test for paired samples and Student’s
t test for independent samples). Additionally, non-
parametric tests were also used. For paired samples,
signed-rank test (Goon et al., 1975) was used. For
independent samples, Dunn’s test (Procedure II) was
employed to test the significance of the differences
between two groups of samples (Dunn, 1964). It may
be pointed out that since non-parametric tests are less
sensitive (since only ranks and not actual values are
considered), the usual parametric tests have also been
employed.
Results and discussion
CEC of the soil samples and their contents of ex-
changeable bases are shown in Table 1. Changes in
CEC of soils due to cultivation are quite remarkable.
The soil 8C (which has been cultivated for only 5
years) shows a reduction to 43% in CEC compared
to that of the adjoining forest, 8D. Although all culti-
vated soils show reductions in CEC values, the extent
of reduction varies widely. Both 1C and 16C, which
have been cultivated for about 15 years, show CEC
reductions to 27% and 67%, respectively, of the val-
178
Figure 1. Location of study area (86◦ 150 – 86◦ 300 E and 21◦ 300 – 22◦ 00 N).
ues corresponding to non-cultivated treatments; the
soil 6C which has been cultivated for over a century,
however, has its CEC lowered to 28% only. A similar
phenomenon has also been observed with organic C
and N levels (Saikh et al., 1998). Therefore, as with or-
ganic C and N (Saikh et al., 1998), it appears that CEC
of soils are rapidly reduced and reach equilibrium val-
ues which are independent of the initial values; the
equilibrium values vary and are probably dependent
on the soil mineralogy.
CEC of soils also show variations due to changes
in vegetative cover. The average CEC of cultivated
soils is 5.85 whereas those of grasslands, deciduous
and evergreen forest soils are respectively 5.92, 8.37
and 14.87 cmol(p+ )kg−1. Statistical analysis showed
(Table 2) that the CEC differences between grasslands
and deciduous forest as well as deciduous and ever-
green forest soils are significant; decrease in CEC due
to cultivation is also statistically significant. However,
the CEC of grasslands and cultivated lands are not
significantly different (Table 2).
Correlation coefficients (r) were also computed be-
tween soil CEC and organic C levels (taken from Saikh
et al., 1998). The r values indicate that soil CEC
is poorly correlated to organic C levels in cultivated,
grassland and deciduous forest soils (r = 0.18, 0.36,
0.49); only in evergreen forest soils, a fairly good cor-
relation is present (r = 0.80). The relationship between
these two parameters may be further seen from the
scatter diagram (Figure 2). In cultivated, grassland and
deciduous forest soils, the points are highly scattered
indicating poor correlation. Apparently, organic C lev-
els in these soils are too low to be the dominant factor
influencing CEC; soil mineralogy probably has a more
important role. However, under evergreen forest cover,
some interrelationship is evident; here organic C levels
are probably sufficiently high to become the dominant
factor influencing CEC. These findings have some
important implications because they suggest that soil
CEC is not likely to be increased to any significant
level except by a evergreen vegetative cover. Thus, af-
forestation with deciduous vegetation such as Shorea
robusta, which is a common practice in the tropics es-
pecially in India, may not be a very effective measure
for restoring soil productivity. It would seem more ap-
propriate to use evergreen species for land reclamation
of ferruginous soils having low CEC.
Trends of total exchangeable base contents are
similar to those observed with CEC. Average val-
ues follow the order, grasslands < cultivated lands
< deciduous forests < evergreen forests. However,
statistical analysis shows (Table 2) that the differ-
ences between the average values for cultivated and
grasslands are not significant. Deciduous forests have
significantly more exchangeable bases than grasslands
but significantly less than that of evergreen forests.
 179
Table 2. Average values and statistical relationships

Soil parameters Soil sampling sites

Paired samples
Cultivated land (C) Grassland (G) Deciduous forest land (D) Evergreen forest land (E) Forest land Adjoining cultvated
(D or E) land (C)

CEC 5.85a 5.92a 8.37b 14.87c 10.67x 5.13y

(cmol(p+ )kg−1 )
Exchangeable bases
(cmol(p+ )kg−1 )
Ca2+ 3.31a 3.20a 5.41a 11.26b 7.57x 2.64y
Mg2+ 0.93a 0.72a 1.38a 1.41a 1.40x 0.75y
Na+ 0.29a 0.30a + 0.26a + 0.40b 0.33x 0.27x
K+ 0.64a 0.61a 0.58a 0.89b 0.67x 0.63x
Total exchangeable 5.17a 4.83a 7.63b 13.96c 9.98x 4.29y
bases (cmol(p+ )kg−1 )

Base saturation (%) 84.31a 82.63a 90.91a 92.93a 91.92x 81.83x

Correlation coefficient
between
CEC and organic C +0.18 + 0.36 + 0.49 + 0.80
CEC and total
exchangeable bases +0.98 +0.97 +0.96 +0.97

Note:Statistical comparisons were made between the independent sample groups C and G; G and D; D and E at the 5% level using Student’s
t as well as Dunn’s test (procedure II). Both tests gave same results except in samples marked + in which the difference between D and E is
not significant by Dunn’s procedure.
Numericals with identical letters are not significantly different at the 5% level.
For paired samples, comparisons were made using paired t test as well as signed-rank test. The results of both tests were the same.

A highly significant decrease in the exchangeable
base content due to forest clearing and cultivation is
observed (Table 2). The exchangeable base level is
also highly correlated to the CEC of the soil (Table 2).
Thus, with a reduction in soil CEC, exchangeable
bases are also removed. The soil 1C (a 15 year old
cultivation) shows a large reduction in exchangeable
bases whereas in another soil, 16C (also a 15 year old
cultivation) shows no reduction. In fact, most of the
cultivated soils show an exchangeable base content of
5 cmol (p+ ) kg−1 or less.
Of the exchangeable cations, the dominant is
Ca2+ ; this is followed by Mg2+ , K+ and Na+ , in that
order. Cultivated lands and grasslands have the lowest
Ca2+ contents (their difference is not significant), de-
ciduous forests are somewhat richer in Ca2+ but this
increase is also not significant at the 5% level. How-
ever, evergreen forest soils are significantly higher in
Ca2+ ; this again suggests that only evergreen species
can enhance the Ca2+ levels and are, therefore, the
most suitable for reclamation of ferruginous soils.
Unlike Ca2+ , the Mg2+ levels under different veg-
etative covers are not significantly different. With K+ ,
evergreen forest cover appears to enhance K+ contents.
However, with Na+ , results of the two statistical tests
are not so conclusive (Table 2) and, therefore, the Na+
levels may or may not increase under an evergreen
forest cover.
Changes due to deforestation and cultivation can
be seen in Table 2. Thus, Ca2+ and Mg2+ levels de-
crease significantly due to cultivation but K+ and Na+
levels are not significantly altered. This phenomenon
may be due to the fact that the primary minerals in
these soils (Iyengar and Alwar, 1965) contain suffi-
cient K+ but not much Ca2+ . Thus, weathering would
release K+ into the soils keeping the levels fairly con-
stant; Ca2+ enrichment of the soil can only be done by
deep rooted trees which absorb Ca2+ from deeper soil
layers and recycle these into the soil during leaf decay.
Where this mechanism is absent, as in cultivated areas
and grasslands, the soil gets rapidly depleted of Ca2+ .
Enrichment of soil Ca2+ (and also K+ ) is very effi-
ciently effected by evergreen trees. It may be observed
from the pairs 10E–10G, 11E–11G and 12E–12G that
evergreen forest soils have much higher Ca2+ levels
compared to the adjoining grassland soils (Table 1). It
is also interesting to note that soils under cultivation
do not show any significant difference in Ca2+ from
that in grassland soils although in the latter, there is no
loss of Ca2+ due to crop removal.
Percent base saturation of the soils are shown in
Table 1; their average values are shown in Table 2.
180
Figure 2. Scatter diagram showing the relationship between CEC
and Organic C. (E: evergreen forest, D: deciduous forest, G:
grassland, C: cultivated land.
For evergreen and deciduous forest soils, the average
values are not significantly different; this is also true
for cultivated and grassland soils (Table 2). It is also
surprising to note that deforestation and cultivation
does not result in significant changes in percent base
saturation of the soils. Probably increased H+ levels
due to organic matter in forest soils compensate for
the higher base levels thereby producing base satu-
ration percentages which are not too different from
the cultivated soils. (Since% base saturation = (total
bases/CEC) × 100 or {total bases/(total bases + H+ )}
× 100, increase in the proton content will result in
lowering of % base saturation values).
Conclusions
Cultivation causes a highly significant reduction in
CEC of the soils. However, the extent of CEC loss
is not related to the period of cultivation; soils under
similar periods of cultivation sometimes show wide
differences in the CEC reduction. It appears that soils
suffer from a rapid loss of CEC on cultivation and
some equilibrium values are reached which are not re-
lated to the initial values but are probably related to the
mineralogy of the soil. Grasslands and cultivated lands
have statistically similar CEC but levels are higher in
deciduous forest soils and highest in evergreen for-
est soils. Correlation coefficients between soil organic
C and CEC showed that only in evergreen forests,
the soil organic material contributes significantly to
soil CEC. The results suggest that under grassland
or deciduous forest cover, soil organic C will not be
enough to contribute significantly to the CEC of the
soil. Only under an evergreen cover, the soil organic C
can significantly increase the CEC of the soil.
Exchangeable base contents tend to be also highest
in evergreen forest soils followed by deciduous for-
est soils and grasslands; however, differences between
grasslands and cultivated lands are not significant.
Cultivation results in a highly significant lowering of
the exchangeable base content compared to the ad-
joining forest soil. In all soils, Ca2+ is the dominant
base followed by Mg2+ , K+ and Na+ in that order.
Whereas the levels of Ca2+ and Mg2+ are significantly
reduced by cultivation, the levels of K+ and Na+ do
not change. This phenomenon is probably due to the
mineralogical composition of these soils. Evergreen
forests greatly enrich Ca2+ in soils; under other veg-
etative covers, amounts of Ca2+ are lower. Evergreen
forests also enrich K+ in soils.
In conclusion, it appears that forest clearing
and cultivation cause a drastic loss of CEC, Ca2+
and Mg2+ . The most effective afforestation measure
for regenerating the productivity of such soils would
be by the use of an evergreen vegetative cover rather
than a grass or deciduous cover.
Acknowledgements
The authors are grateful to the Ministry of Environ-
ment, Government of India for financial support. They
also thank the Government of Orissa for extending
necessary help.
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Section editor: R F Hüttl