Litter was collected every two weeks and separated, firstly, by species
and secondly by vegetative part (leaves and branches), and subsequently oven
dried (70°C) to a constant weight of 0.1g. The pruning residues which
fell directly onto the trap were measured separately. Monthly subsamples
were ground, passed through a 0.5 mm sieve and analyzed for N, P, K, Ca and
Mg [6]. Litter and pruning residues per trap were multiplied by their
corresponding annulars and the six values were summed to give input per tree
(sample area = 44.2m2). The average of the three trees per association was
used to calculate kg/ha input on an area basis.