Effects of shifting cultivation on soil ecosystems in Sarawak, Malaysia. III. Results of burning practice and changes in soil organic matter at Niah and Bakam experimental sites

The effects of burning on the levels of soil organic matter, soil nitrogen, and soil microbial biomass were studied by carrying out experimental shifting cultivation at two sites, Niah and Bakam. in Sarawak, Malaysia. Vegetation biomass was burned in plots (10 x 10 m(2)) at the rates of 0 (control), 100, 200, and 300 Mg ha(-1) at the Niah site and 0, 20, and 100 Mg ha(-1) at the Bakam site. At the Niah site, the levels of total C and N of the soils did not change throughout the experiment in spite of enhanced soil respiration until 2 months after burning. Although burning induced an increase in the amount of NH4-N of the soils, the readily available pool of N (the sum of the NH4-N, NO3-N, microbial biomass N, and extractable organic N pools) in the burned plots was depleted appreciably at the end of rice cultivation. The effects of burning on these properties tended to be substantial with increasing amounts of the vegetation biomass burned. On the other hand, the levels of total C and N and the readily available N pool at the Bakam site were low before burning compared with those at the Niah site, and the burning treatments did not affect them appreciably. While the rice yield at the Niah site reached the average value obtained in traditional shifting cultivation in Sarawak, that at the Bakam site was much lower. It was suggested that the flush of NH4-N induced by burning was one of the major factors for rice growth.