Resumen en inglés

In Córdoba state, Colombia, there is little information on the contribution of silvopastoral systems to the physical, chemical, and biological properties of soils, in addition to this, ecological balance and animal welfare. The objective of this investigation was to evaluate the effect of the litter of forest species in silvopastoral arrangements on some properties indicative of soil quality. The research was carried out under a completely randomized block design with four treatments T1= Brachiaria cv. Mulato II, T2= Tabebuia rosea + Brachiaria cv. Mulato T3= Acacia mangium + Brachiaria cv. Mulato II, T4= Gmelina arbórea + Brachiaria cv. Mulato II, with three repetitions, through: 1). Determination of the litter production and the potential contribution of nutrients during 7 months, obtaining highly significant differences, being the forest species G. arborea and A. mangium those that obtained the highest litter production with 6938.1 and 5945.5 kg ha-1 respectively, followed by T. rosea with 3912.6 kg ha-1 and finally Mulato II with 2264.6 kg ha-1 . Regarding the potential contribution of the evaluated nutrients, the highest content of Nitrogen (N) in the leaf litter was recorded in the species G. arborea and A. mangium, with 70.77 kg ha-1 and 62.45 kg ha-1 respectively, while Mulato II recorded a value of 9.97 kg ha-1 . For the phosphorus nutrient (P), the highest values were obtained in G. arborea with 14.57 kg ha-1 and T. rosea with 5.48 kg ha-1 , while Mulato II registered 5.67 kg ha-1. For its part, calcium (Ca) and potassium (K) presented their highest content in G. arborea with 96.47 kg ha-1and 37.48 kg ha-1 , respectively, unlike Mulato II with 9.75 kg ha-1 and 14.51 kg ha-1 respectively. two). Litter decomposition rate evaluation for 7 months, where the results showed a highly significant difference between the average residual dry mass (MSR) of the litter of the A. mangium species, with the highest record, followed by T. rosea, G arborea and finally Mulato II, with the 0.74, 0.66 0.59 and 0.56 respectively. The decomposition speed showed that Mulato II and G. arborea exhibited the highest decomposition rate (k) with a value of 1.87 and 1.77 respectively, indicating an inverse relationship between these variables (MSR and k). 3). Determination of physicochemical properties with significant differences in organic matter between the SSP with T. rosea (4.43%) and A. mangium (4.33%), with respect to the Mulato II pasture (3.3%). The lowest record of mechanical resistance to penetration was obtained in Mulato II (1.62 MPa), followed by SSP with A.mangium (1.74 MPa), T. rosea (1.82 MPa) and G. arborea (1.85 MPa). The soil variables that did not register significant differences were bulk density, phosphorus, calcium, magnesium, potassium content and pH. These results allow us to conclude that silvopastoral arrangements contribute to the improvement of soil quality through the recycling of nutrients, becoming a clear alternative to traditional pasture systems.