Potential of nitrogen fixing plants for sustainable mountain agricultural development
论固氮植物在山区农业持续发展中的应用

China is a mountainous country with about 70% of its terrestrial land being mountainous. Increasing population pressure and environmental and land degradation have forced farmers to expanded agriculture to steep sloping lands. Mountainous regions in China are rich in natural resources and have been the resources bases for water supply, timber, herbs, and other natural products. Mountain agriculture will become crucial for the food security of China in the coming century considering diminution in agriculatural land and expanding ubanisation. Use of nitrogen fixing plants in soil fertility improvement has a long history in China. But they areusually only used in intercropping or rotation and green manure plantation. Potential use of nitrogen fixing plants and its prospect for a sustainable agricultural development in the mountainous region are discussed, including using nitrogen fixing plants for soil fertility improvement, soil and water conservation, woody fodder, pulp and fuelwood supply. For soil fertility improvement, besides the traditional application, new concept and philosophy of using perennial woody nitrogen plants to improve soil fertility are introduced and discussed in detail. For soil and water conservation, biological terrace (bioterrace) concept, how to establish bioterrace, its advantages over the traditional bench terrace are discussed. Since forage in China mostly means herbaceous grasses only, development of perennial and woody nitrogen fixing plants as fodder as a potential direction in the rehabilitation of degraded mountain ecosystem has also been discussed.