Effect of Michelia macclurei intercropping on soil properties and microbial population in young rubber plantation

The rubber tree is an economically important tree planted in many tropical countries. While rubber planting has improved the livelihoods of growers, it has also resulted in soil degradation. However, systematic studies on assessment of soil health and its management in rubber plantations are limited. The present study explored whether intercropping of Michelia macclurei (an ornamental evergreen tree) in rubber plantation could help conserve soil health compared to traditional monoculture practice with randomised complete block design. The rubber tree density was the same in monoculture and intercropping, with the addition of Michelia macclurei in intercropping. The effects of soil properties and microbial communities was used to analyse two different planting patterns of rubber monoculture and rubber intercropping using soil sampling from field plots. The study investigated variation in soil physical structure, soil moisture, soil nutrients, soil microbes, and enzyme activities in two types of rubber plantations viz. a monoclonal plantation without intercrop (RM) and a plantation with Michelia macclurei as an intercrop (RAS). The results from above study showed an increase in soil organic carbon (SOC), total nitrogen (TN), ammonium nitrogen (AN), available phosphorus (AP), nitrate nitrogen (NN) and total potassium (TK) in plantation with intercrop as compared to monoclonal plantation without intercrop. When comparing the corresponding values of RM to RAS, bacteria and total microbial abundance of RAS increased on average by 75.51