Abstract
The present investigation on nutrient content of aboveground parts (leaves and branches) of woody elements in cold desert ecosystem of village Goshal was carried out to estimate the mineral nutrient content in different species occurring in cold desert forest ecosystem. The investigation depicted that amount of nutrients (N, P, K, Na and Ca) stored in the leaves was found greater than in branches for all the species. On the basis of our study Ephedra gerardiana and Hippophae rhamnoides were found nitrogen rich species. Populus ciliata exhibited maximum phosphorus and potassium content and minimum was reported in Fraxinus xanthoxyloides. It was further observed that tree species had greater nutrient content (N, P, K, Na and Ca) than the shrubs like Fraxinus xanthoxyloides, Berberis jaeschkeana and Rosa macrophylla and R. webbiana. The result advocates that there is a need for protection of these forest species in natural habitat of cold desert forest ecosystem as the soils are poor in nutrient contents and very less of top soils.
Keywords
Covalence, Hot spots, Precambrian, Calacareous, Phylliter