Litter decomposition and nutrients release patterns under Gmelina arborea based agroforestry system in Jabalpur region of Madhya Pradesh, India
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Authors
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Parul Sharga
Department of Forestry, Jawaharlal Nehru Krishi Vishwa Vidyalaya, Jabalpur – 482 004,
Madhya Pradesh
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S.D. Upadhyaya
Department of Forestry, Jawaharlal Nehru Krishi Vishwa Vidyalaya, Jabalpur – 482 004,
Madhya Pradesh
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H.L. Sharma
Department of Forestry, Jawaharlal Nehru Krishi Vishwa Vidyalaya, Jabalpur – 482 004,
Madhya Pradesh
Keywords:
Leaf litter, mass loss, nutrient recycling, nylon bag techniqueAbstract
An experiment was conducted to workout decomposition pattern and nutrients released by Gmelina arborea leaves under various tree-crop combinations in agroforestry system. Study consisted of four treatments (T1 - G. arborea + pigeon pea, T2 - G. arborea + cowpea-mustard, T3 - G. arborea + greengram-mustard and T4 - sole G. arborea) and each were replicated three times. The technique adopted to carry out this study was “Nylon bag techniqueâ€. The results revealed that mass loss of leaf litter was highest in T4, followed by T3, T2 and T1. It was concluded that with passage of time, nitrogen and phosphorous content in detritus leaf litter got substantially increased and found maximum in T2, followed by T3, T1 and T4. However, potassium showed decreasing trend with time period. Correlation and regression analysis showed that there are various environmental factors influencing the rate of decomposition pattern under agroforestry system.
