On decomposing a hypergraph into k connected sub-hypergraphs

By applying the matroid partition theorem of J. Edmonds [1] to a hypergraphic generalization of graphic matroids, due to M. Lorea [3], we obtain a generalization of Tutte’s disjoint trees theorem for hypergraphs. As a corollary, we prove for positive integers k and q that every (kq)-edge-connected hypergraph of rank q can be decomposed into k connected sub-hypergraphs, a well-known result for q = 2. Another by-product is a connectivity-type sufficient condition for the existence of k edge-disjoint Steiner trees in a bipartite graph.