Floral diversity of traditional agroforestry homegardens in Konkan coast of Maharashtra, India

Abstract

The diversity of trees, shrubs, herbs and climbers in traditional agroforestry homegarden system contributes to provision of ecosystem services. Homegarden systems involve deliberate management of multipurpose tree species in intimate association with agricultural crops and invariably livestock. Present study characterizes the floral diversity and composition in the homegardens at proposed Jaitapur Nuclear Power plant site in Konkan coast of Maharashtra (India). For the investigation, 40 homegardens were selected randomly over a 460 km² area for floral diversity analysis. Quadrat sampling technique was used for phyto-sociological analysis. In total, 206 plant species belonging to 70 families were recorded. The vegetation consisted of 88 tree, 48 shrub, 44 herb and 26 climber species. The highest number of species were represented by Fabaceae family (13 species), followed by Apocynaceae and Cucurbitaceae (11 species each), Caesalpiniaceae (10 species), Poaceae (9 species) and Euphorbiaceae, Moraceae and Verbenaceae (8 species each). These eight families cover 38% of total richness of the homegarden flora, while 32 families were represented by a single species. The research findings suggest that homegardens of the region are ecologically and ethno-botanically rich. This study provides a basis for developing measures for the conservation and management of natural resources. The homegarden floral biodiversity in study area is prone to drastic decline due to conversion of forest land to plantations and Nuclear Power Plant installation.