Agroforestry amelioration for rehabilitation of degraded land

Abstract

There are many sites of the degraded arable land in Uzbekistan, the use of which is unprofitable for production of the main crops. Planting of multi-purpose tree species on such land pro-motes restoration of soil fertility and their use for agricultural production. Abandoned land starts to bring benefits, providing the population with fuel and construction wood, cattle with a deciduous forage, etc. The wellconsidered selection of tree species provides ecological services, such as decrease of water-logging through a biodrainage and control of soil salinization; ni-trogen-fixation capacity of certain species enriches the soil with nitrogen, and litter from leaves with humus. These sites can again be turned to a category of an arable land or to continue to use them for wood production in a longterm perspective.