We assessed a restoration treatment (planting tree seedlings and sowing grass seeds as nurse plants in waterharvesting half-moon pits) on degraded, compacted soils with surface crusts in Niger. Height and above-ground biomass of herbaceous plant species, tree stem circumference, and relative cover of erosive crust, gravel crust, bare ground, rock, litter, and total vascular plants were assessed at three sites with similar environmental conditions but different treatment periods (3, 5, 7 years). Species richness, evenness and Shannon-Weaver index were lowest at the 7-year site and highest at the 5-year site. Above-ground biomass of herbaceous plants and percent plant cover were lowest at the 3-year site and highest at the 7-year site.
In semi-arid areas, forest and landscape restoration (FLR) practices are being implemented to reverse the land degradation process. The objective of this study was to investigate the long-term effect of FLR practices on soil organic carbon stock (SOCs) under different land uses in the semi-arid region of Burkina Faso. The study was conducted on degraded land under rehabilitation practices for 45, 27, 18 and 11 years, which were compared to similar land without specific rehabilitation measures. The soil was collected in 2018 in 35 sampling plots of 30 m x 30 m. Soil analysis concerned bulk density, soil particle size, soil pH, soil organic carbon content, and respiratory activity of microorganisms. SOCs increased by 150%, 98% and 29% over 0-10 cm depth in 45-, 27- and 11-year of FLR practices, and decreased by 6% in 18-year of FLR practices compared to their respective control. SOCs were not linearly increased with the duration of the implementation of FLR practices because the variation of SOCs depends on several other parameters such as soil texture, and types of combination of FLR practices. The highest SOCs were recorded for 27 years (9.5 t.ha-1) and 45 years (8.5 t.ha-1) of FLR practices. This study revealed the importance of including Assisted Natural Regeneration (ANR) as one of the combined FLR practices, for improvement of SOCs.