Abstract
Litter fall and nutrients return by eight year old trees of Albizia amara in a silvopastoral system on degraded shallow soils of Jhansi was assessed. The average litter production was 6.08 t/ha/yr of which major proportion was leaf (84.2 %) followed by branch (12.8 %), miscellaneous (1.8 %) and pod (1.2 %). The litter fall was recorded throughout the year; highest litter production was recorded in the month of February (1.5 t/ha), followed by January (0.87 t/ha) and April (0.72 t/ha). The total litter production was significantly correlated with leaf litter (r = 0.96) and branch litter (r = 0.89). No significant correlation was found between climatic parameters and leaf litter. However, branch litter production was negatively correlated with the average minimum temperature (r = 0.55). Among different litter parts, highest concentration of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium was found in pod followed by leaf, miscellaneous and branch. Potential nutrient return to the system on account of tree litter produced by this species, computed on an annual basis, was 77.8 kg/ha nitrogen, 49.6 kg/ha potassium and 3.9 kg/ha phosphorus.
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