Assessment of woody species in agroforestry systems around jimma town, southwest Ethiopia

Abstract

Woody species are the major components of traditional agroforestry system. Agroforestry species varies with the types of agroforestry practices in different parts of Ethiopia. This study was conducted to assess woody species across land uses in three different sites around Jimma town, Southwest Ethiopia. A total of 100 plots were laid out (20 plots of homegardens, 24 plots of crop fields, 19 plots of coffee farms, 20 plot of pasture lands and 17 plots of woodlots) with sample plot size of 25m x 25m for homegarden, coffee farm and grazing land, 40mx 40m for crop field and 10m x10m for woodlots and calculated per hectare. The result showed that a total of 60 woody species belonging to 34 families and 54 genera were identified from three sites. Fabaceae was the most dominant family with 11 (18.3%) species followed by Euphorbiaceae family with 7 (11.7%) species. Out of identified species, 53.3% were trees, 45% shrubs and 1.67% climber. Species diversity, richness, evenness and density were statistically not significantly different (P > 0.05) within sites, slope and elevation classes, whereas highly significant different (P < 0.05) between land uses system. Grazing lands were more diversified than homegardens, coffee farm, crop field and woodlots in the overall study sites. A density of woody species in woodlots (9495 stems/ha) was higher than coffee farm (2485 stems/ha), homegarden (2112 stems/ha), grazing land (1192.3 stems/ha) and crop field (532 stems/ha) in the study area. Therefore, density and frequency of individual woody species were identified various in different land use type, slope and elevation classes. The higher percentage of woody species was frequently observed at the lower frequency classes in all land use system. Generally, agroforestry systems are conserving several woody species diversity in its system and woody species were varies among land use types in the study area. More basic and applied researches should be encouraged and done to support the plan and management of agroforestry system