Species richness, productivity and quality assessment of grassland resources in hill agroecosystem of western Himalaya

INDER DEV; SUDESH RADOTRA; ASHA RAM; J P SINGH; D DEB; M M ROY; M SRIVASTAVA; PARDEEP KUMAR; SUHEEL AHMAD; R S CHAURASIA

doi:10.56093/ijans.v88i10.84145

Authors

INDER DEV Principal Scientist, ICAR-Central Agroforestry Research Institute, Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh, India
SUDESH RADOTRA Principal Scientist, Livestock Production and Management, Regional Research Centre of Indian Grassland and Fodder Research Institute, Chaudhary Sarwan Kumar Himachal Pradesh Krishi Vishvavidyalaya Campus, Palampur, Himachal Pradesh 176 062 India
ASHA RAM Scientist, ICAR-Central Agroforestry Research Institute, Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh, India
J P SINGH Principal Scientist, ICAR-Indian Grassland and Fodder Research Institute, Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh, India
D DEB Scientist, ICAR-Indian Grassland and Fodder Research Institute, Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh, India
M M ROY Principal Scientist, ICAR-Indian Institute of Sugarcane Research, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India
M SRIVASTAVA DST Women Scientist, ICAR-Central Agroforestry Research Institute, Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh, India
PARDEEP KUMAR Professor, Department of Soil Science, College of Agriculture, Chaudhary Sarwan Kumar Himachal Pradesh Krishi Vishvavidyalaya, Palampur, Himachal Pradesh, India
SUHEEL AHMAD Scientist, ICAR- Indian Grassland and Fodder Research Institute, Regional Station, Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, India
R S CHAURASIA Senior Research Fellow, ICAR-Indian Grassland and Fodder Research Institute, Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh, India

https://doi.org/10.56093/ijans.v88i10.84145

Keywords:

Biomass potential, Diversity indices, Forage quality, Grassland resource, Soil properties

Abstract

Livestock contribution in agricultural economy is significantly higher in hilly regions of India. A detailed study was carried out to assess the productivity, species richness and diversity of grasses of the grasslands in different hill agro-ecosystems of Kangra district of Himachal Pradesh in western Himalaya. Saccharum spontaneum (low hills), Chrysopogon echinulatus (mid hills) and Festuca spp. (high hills) were observed as the most dominant species in hill agro-ecosystems. Productivity assessment was done at five locations, viz. open forest area; enclosed forest area; community land; farmers’ field; and wasteland in each hill zone. High species richness and diversity was observed in mid hill zone as compared to low and high hills. The mean production level was recorded highest in low hills closely followed by mid hills; much less in high hills. Amongst the land-use systems, highest biomass production was recorded at farmers’ field followed by community land and least in wasteland situation. The average herbage production obtained through six cuts at periodic intervals (March to December) was 3,202 DM kg/ha, while in single harvest it was 2,249 DM kg/ha (low-hill conditions); 2,893 and 1,924 DM kg/ha (mid-hill conditions) and 1,399 and 850 DM kg/ha (high-hill conditions), respectively. Averaged over the different locations, 6.01, 6.64 and 10.87% crude protein (CP) was observed (in multicut situation) in low, mid and high hills respectively. Average herbage production obtained through six cuts at periodical intervals (March-December) was consistently higher as compared to single harvest in all the three zones.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

AOAC. 1980. Official Methods of Analysis. 13th edn. Association of Official Analytical Chemists, Washington, DC, USA.

Berger W H and Parker F L. 1970. Diversity of planktonic for aminifera in deep sea sediments. Journal of Science 168: 1345– 47. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.168.3937.1345

Body C S and Svejcar T J. 2004. Regrowth and production of herbaceous riparian vegetation following defoliation. Journal of Range Management 57(5): 448–54. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2111/1551-5028(2004)057[0448:RAPOHR]2.0.CO;2

Bonito G M, Coleman D C, Haines B L and Cabrera M L. 2003. Can nitrogen budgets explain differences in soil nitrogen mineralization rates of forest stands along an elevation gradient? Forest Ecology and Management 176(1): 563–74. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0378-1127(02)00234-7

Cain S A. 1932. Concerning certain ecological concepts. Ecological Monoger 27(2): 475–508. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/1943218

Dar J A and Sundarapandian S. 2016. Patterns of plant diversity in seven temperate forest types of western Himalaya, India. Journal of Asia-Pacific Biodiversity 9: 280–92. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.japb.2016.03.018

Deb D, Ghosh A, Singh J P and Chaurasia R S. 2016. A study on general allometric relationships developed for biomass estimation in regional scale taking the example of Tectona grandis grown in Bundelkhand region of India. Current Science 110: 414- 19. DOI: https://doi.org/10.18520/cs/v110/i3/414-423

Dev I, Misri B and Pathania M S. 2006. Forage demand and supply in western Himalaya: A balance sheet for Himachal Pradesh. Indian Journal of Animal Sciences 76(9): 720–26.

Dev I, Singh V and Misri B. 2003. Socio-economic profile of migratory graziers and participatory appraisal of forage production and utilization of an alpine pasture in north-west Himalaya. ENVIS Bulletin: Himalayan Ecology and Development 11(2): 52–62.

Dev I. 2001. Problems and prospects of forage production and utilization of Indian Himalaya. ENVIS Bulletin: Himalayan Ecology and Development 9(2): 11–18.

Gairola S, Sharma C M and Suyal S. 2011. Species composition and diversity in mid-altitudinal moist temperate forests of the western Himalaya. Journal of Forest Science 27: 1–15.

Gaujour E, Amiaud B, Mignolet C and Plantureux S. 2012. Factors and processes affecting plant biodiversity in permanent grasslands: A review. Agronomy for Sustainable Development 32: 133–160. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13593-011-0015-3

Gaur R S and Joshi B D. 2006. Some medicinal flora in the riparian zone of river Ganga at Saptrishi, Haridwar, Uttaranchal. Himalayan Journal of Environment and Zoology 20(2): 237– 41.

GoI. 2013. Agricultural Statistics at a Glance. Directorate of Economics and Statistics, Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India.

Hanway J J and Heidel H. 1952. Soil analysis methods as used in Iowa State College Soil Testing Laboratory. Bulletin 57, Iowa State College of Agriculture.

Hector A. 1998. The effect of diversity on productivity: Detecting the role of species complementarity. Oikos 82: 597–99. Jackson M L. 1973. Soil Chemical Analysis. Prentice Hall of India Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi. 498 pp. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/3546380

Jouri M H. 2010. Ecological investigation of upland rangelands (Alborz Mountain) in scale of two Phytogeographical regions of Irano-Touranian and Euro-Siberian, Pune University, India. 960 p. (In Persian).

Kemp D R, Guodong H, Xiangyang H, Michalk D L, Fujiang H, Jianping W and Yingjung Z. 2013. Innovative grassland management systems for environmental and livelihood benefits. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 110(21): 8369–74. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1208063110

Kumar S and Bhatt R S. 1999. Feeding of white clover (Trifolium repens) hay in angora rabbits. Indian Journal of Animal Nutrition 16: 167.

Margalef R. 1958. Information theory in ecology. General Systems 3: 36–71.

McVicar T R and Korner C. 2012. On the use of elevation, altitude and height in the ecological and climatological literature. Oecologia 171: 335–37. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-012-2416-7

Olsen S R, Cole C V, Watanabe F S and Dean L. 1954. Estimation of available phosphorus in soil by extraction with sodium carbonate. USDA, Washington, Conc. 933.

Panitsa M, Trigas P, Iatrou G and Sfenthourakis S. 2010. Factors affecting plant species richness and endemism on land-bridge islands – An example from the East Aegean archipelago. Acta Oecologica 36: 431–37. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actao.2010.04.004

Pathania M S and Dev I. 2011. Fodder supply from private lands in two agro-climatic zones of Himachal Pradesh. Indian Journal of Animal Sciences 81(7): 740–43.

Picard N, Saint-André L and Henry M. 2012. Manual for building tree volume and biomass allometric equations: from field measurement to prediction. Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations, Rome, and Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement, Montpellier, pp 215.

Robins P, Holmes R B and Laddish K. 2001. Bringing farm edges back to life. Yolo County Resource Conservation District, Woodland, CA.

Routledge R D. 1977. On Whittaker’s components of diversity. Ecology 58: 1120–27. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/1936932

Sabetpour T, Jouri M H and Erfanzadeh R. 2002. Preliminary study to selection of the best method of range condition’s determination on upland rangeland of north of Iran. Proceeding of Third Conference, Technical Publication of Rangeland and Range Management, pp 930–946 (In Persian).

Sanderson M A, Skinner R H, Barker D J, Edwards G R, Tracy B F and Wedin D A. 2004. Plant species diversity and management of temperate forage and grazing land ecosystems. Crop Science 44: 1132–44. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2135/cropsci2004.1132

Shaheen H, Khan S M, Harper D M, Ullah Z and Qureshi R A. 2011. Species diversity, community structure, and distribution patterns in Western Himalayan alpine pastures of Kashmir, Pakistan. Mountain Research and Development 31(2): 153– 59. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1659/MRD-JOURNAL-D-10-00091.1

Shannon C E and Weiner W. 1963. The Mathematical Theory of Communication. University of Illinois Press, Urbana. pp 117.

Sharma C M, Baduni N P and Gairola S. 2010. Effects of slope aspects on forest compositions, community structures and soil properties in natural temperate forests of Garhwal Himalaya. Journal of Forestry Research 21: 331–37. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11676-010-0079-y

Sharma J R and Ghosh A N. 1997. Grassland productivity in the India Himalaya and performance of introduced temperate forage species in cold and semi-arid environment. www.internationalgrasslands.org/files/igc/publications/1997/ 2-21-043.pdf.

Sharma P, Rana J C, Devi U, Randhawa S S and Kumar R. 2014. Floristic diversity and distribution pattern of plant communities along altitudinal gradient in Sangla Valley, Northwest Himalaya. Scientific World Journal. Article ID #264878. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1155/2014/264878

Sharma A. 2011. ‘Status and distribution of micronutrients under different land uses in soils of Kangra district.’ M.Sc. Thesis, Department of Soil Science, CSKHPKV, Palampur.

Shekhar C. 2009. ‘Status and distribution of magnesium in acidic soils of north–western Himalaya’. M.Sc. Thesis, Department of Soil Science, Chaudhary Sarwan Kumar Himachal Pradesh Krishi Vishvavidyalaya, Palampur. pp 1–57.

Simpson E H. 1949. Measurement of diversity. Nature 163: 688. Singh J P, Radotra S and Roy M M. 2009. Grasslands of Himachal Pradesh. Indian Grassland and Fodder Research Institute, Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh, India. p. 25–47.

Singh V, Gaur R D and Bohra B. 2008. A Survey of fodder plants in mid-altitude Himalayan rangelands of Uttarakhand, India. Journal of Mountain Science 5: 265–78. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11629-008-0170-4

Subbiah B V and Asija G L. 1956. A rapid procedure for assessment of available nitrogen in rice soils. Current Science 25: 259–60.

Tewari S, Dev I, Agrawal R K, Dixit A K and Ram S N. 2012. Agronomic research on forages in India: An overview. Indian Journal of Agronomy 57: 101–113.

Tyagi R K and Shankar V. 1995. Forage supply-demand analysis for Saurashtra and Kachchh. Range Management and Agroforestry 16(2): 45–57.

Walkley A J and Black I A. 1934. An examination of the Degtjareff method for determination of soil organic matter and a proposed modification of the chronic acid titration method. Soil Science 37: 29–38. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1097/00010694-193401000-00003

Wei Y W, Li M H, Chen H, Lewis B J, Yu D P and Zhou L. 2013. Variation in carbon storage and its distribution by stand age and forest type in boreal and temperate forests in northeastern China. PLoS ONE 8(8): 1–9. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0072201

Whittaker R H. 1972. Evolution and measurement of species diversity. Taxon 21(2): 213–51. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/1218190