Characteristics of nodules of agroforestry tree legimes for sustainable production in Niger Delta region, Nigeria

A question often asked is why use nitrogen-fixing trees(NFT) and what is their advantage over non-NFT species? There are many good reasons of course. Sinceno plant grows without nitrogen and large areas of tropical soils have low supplies of this nutrient NFT species can establish themselves under these conditions through their ability to fix nitrogen through symbiotic micro-organisms that live in root nodules and convert atmospheric nitrogen into a usable form. Put in simple words NFT species do not depend solely on available nitrogen in the soils like non-NFT species. The majority of more than 15000 species in the family Leguminosae and in other families such as Casuarinaceae and Elaegnaceae are known to fix nitrogen. It is therefore not uncommon for NFT species to find their way into all forms of planting for a wide variety of products and services. Members will notice a new IUFRO logo on this cover page. The IUFRO board agreed to adopt this new logo as part of its strategy that aims at showing IUFRO as a modern organisation. This followed a word change ‘forestry’ to ‘forest’ in the name of this organisation