Author(s)

Jorge H. Ramírez-Silva^1*, Genovevo Ramírez-Jaramillo¹, Mónica Guadalupe Lozano-Contreras², Alejandro Cano-González¹, Fernando Arellano-Martín³

¹Centro de Investigación Regional Sureste del Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Forestales, Agrícolas y Pecuarias (INIFAP), Mérida, México.
²Campo Experimental Mococha del Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Forestales, Agrícolas y Pecuarias (INIFAP), Chetumal, México.
³Campo Experimental Chetumal del Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Forestales, Agrícolas y Pecuarias (INIFAP), Chetumal, México.

The Slash and Burn (SB) System, practiced by the Mayan farmers of Yucatan, is one of the oldest forms of land use. After SB the soil is cultivated with corn by two or three consecutive years and then abandoned for a fallow period of 15 to 40 years to restore soil fertility when new vegetation is cut and burned again. There are contrasting points of view related to the advantages of SB on soil fertility. So, this work aimed to evaluate changes in the soil fertility of two Mayan farmers (Leoncio and Epitacio), practicing SB in five different agroecosystems of Yucatan, Mexico. Three soil subsamples, at 0 - 20 cm deep, were taken per each agroecosystem and mixed to form a composite sample to analyse: pH, Organic Matter (OM), Nitrogen (N) as Nitrates (N-NO₃), Available Phosphorus (P), Potassium (K⁺), Calcium (Ca²⁺), Magnesium (Mg²⁺) and Zinc (Zn²⁺). There was a general trend to increase OM, N-NO₃, P, K and Mg in SB of Leoncio but Zn decreased. In Epitacio’s OM, P and K increased with SB. Long fallow periods showed the lowest pH values while the highest ones in the SB showed the influence of ashes. All agroecosystems showed High and Very High contents of OM although the contents of N-NO₃ and P were Low, except the Very High content of N-NO₃ in the Agroecosystem 3 of Epitacio in the rendzic Leptosol (rz LP). In all agroecosystems K and Ca were High whilst Mg was Medium. The overall average Zn content in Leoncio’s was Lower (0.38 ppm) than Epitacio’s ecosystem (2.76 ppm). A rendzic Leptosol showed extreme higher contents of all nutrients than the red Cambisol.

Nutrients, Heterogeneity, Critical Levels, Chac Lu’um, Pus Lu’um

Ramírez-Silva, J.H., Ramírez-Jaramillo, G., Lozano-Contreras, M.G., Cano-González, A. and Arellano- Martín, F. (2021) Soil Fertility in Two Shifting Cultivation Mayan Systems of Yucatan, Mexico. Open Access Library Journal, 8, 1-18. doi: 10.4236/oalib.1107858.