Glossary for agroforestry

Compiled and edited by Peter Huxley and Helen van Houten, International Centre for Research in Agroforestry - 1997

zero-grazing

A method of keeping animals that involves bringing fodder to them rather than letting the animals graze freely. It is commonly done where land is in short supply. Napier grass (Pennisetum purpureum) is a common element in zero-grazing systems in East Africa, for example. Trees that can be lopped, like Leuceana leucocephala, provide an important addition to these systems. So too do trees like Acacia tortilis, which produces edible pods.

zero tillage

Growing crops without any significant cultivation of the soil, and often by leaving the previous crop residues on the soil surface as a protective mulch. See also minimum tillage, stubble mulching

zonal agroforestry

A spatial planting arrangement in which the different species each system remain contiguous to some extent, that is, as strips, plots or even alternate rows; alley cropping is an example. Zonal planting can reduce the tree–crop interface compared with mixed planting. See also strip cropping

zonal soil

A soil type that is defined largely on the basis of climatic belts, where the influence of such factors as parent material is less evident than the influence of climatic development processes.