Urban inflorescence litter of Jacaranda mimosifolia and Piscidia
piscipula improves soil with nutrimental elements and provides a
specific elemental stoichiometric fingerprint
Abstract
There are many natural resources generated in cities that are not being
used. Inflorescences litter produced by trees in cities can have great
potential for use and little is known about the nutritional
contributions and chemical composition they could have as soil
improvers. The objective of this study was to evaluate the nutritional
properties and chemical composition of inflorescence litter of two tree
species commonly used in urban landscaping, Jacaranda (Jacaranda
mimosifolia) and Jabin (Piscidia piscipula), and mixtures of
inflorescence litter material with Andosol type soil. Soil was mixed
with inflorescence litter material in different proportions and after an
incubation period of 69 days. Changes in nutrient concentrations and
chemical composition of substrates were recorded using infrared
spectroscopy. It was found that the physical state of the matter and its
transformation dynamics differ according to the litter material of the
inflorescence and the proportion of mixtures; each species reacts
differently to the availability, immobilization or sequestration of
elements such as C, N, P, K, Na, Ca, Mn, Mg, Zn and Cu. Microbial
capacity intrinsically contained in substrates could partly explain
these results, changing the structural and chemical composition, and the
physical state of the matter in substrates. The use of inflorescence
litter to fertilize or improve soil can be an innovative but still
unexplored technique, and a viable line of research to take advantage of
a sustainable natural resource that is generally wasted in urban areas.