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Variations in Vegetation and Nutrient Composition in Sal and Eucalyptus Stands: A Case Study of Bhagabatichak Forest Area, West Bengal, India

Tridib Kumar Sahoo *

Corresponding author Email: tksahoo.botany@gmail.com

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.12944/CWE.16.3.28

The study was conducted on two type of stands one was coppice sal (Shorea robusta  Gaertn. F.) stand (CSS) managed by Forest Protection Committee (FPC) along with the State Forest Department and other was coppice eucalyptus (Eucalyptus tereticornis Sm.) stand (CES) solely managed by the State Forest Department. These two stands are in the Bhagabatichak forest area under Midnapore East Forest Division, West Bengal, India. In this study Importance Value Index (IVI), biomass, species diversity index (H/), concentration of dominance(Cd), species richness index(d), beta diversity(βd), index of similarity (IS), nutrient composition and soil pH of the two stands were measured. The study reveals that the highest numbers of species were available during monsoon period in both the stands; these were 71 and 43 respectively in CSS and CES. The result also shows that the highest IVI was occupied by sal in CSS and eucalyptus in CES in all the seasons. Other major species were Clerodendrum viscosum Vent, Lantana camara L., Combretum roxburghii Spreng. Highest diversity index (H/) was in CSS during monsoon (1.983) and minimum in CES during pre-monsoon (1.274). So, the species richness index (d) was higher in CSS during monsoon (28.259) and lower in CES during pre-monsoon (12.112).Cd shows the opposite trend, it was higher in CES during pre-monsoon (0.125) and lower in CSS during monsoon (0.042). β diversity reflects the rate of species change, which was highest in CSS during post-monsoon (1.300). The similarity index (IS) between the two stands was 64.91%. The total annual above ground biomass (agb) were 87008.043 kg ha-1 yr-1 in CSS and 86309.837 kg ha-1 yr-1 in CES. Among them major contributors were sal (82357.946 kg ha-1 yr-1) in CSS and eucalyptus (84246.358 kg ha-1 yr-1) in CES. In both the stands higher amount of nutrients were available in Combretum roxburghii. In CSS available NPK were 1.272%, 0.527% and 1.867% respectively in Combretum roxburghii. In CES the values were 0.864%, 0.513% and 1.724% respectively for the same species. Soil pH of CSS were 5.53 in top soil and 5.79 in subsoil, in CES soil pH were 4.88 and 5.02 in top soil and subsoil respectively. It was observed that sal stand was better than eucalyptus stand with respect to ecology and biodiversity.

Eucalyptus Stand; Importance Value Index (IVI); Sal Stand; Species Diversity

Copy the following to cite this article:

Sahoo T. K. Variations in Vegetation and Nutrient Composition in Sal and Eucalyptus Stands: A Case Study of Bhagabatichak Forest Area, West Bengal, India. Curr World Environ 2021;16(3). DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.12944/CWE.16.3.28

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Sahoo T. K. Variations in Vegetation and Nutrient Composition in Sal and Eucalyptus Stands: A Case Study of Bhagabatichak Forest Area, West Bengal, India. Curr World Environ 2021;16(3). Available From: