SEMINAR

TOPIC: Needle litter decomposition of subtropical pine forest in relation to climate and litter quality.

Dr. Kh. Ujala Devi

Department of Botany Presidency College, Motbung.

INTRODUCTION
Litter decomposition is a fundamental process in forest ecosystems, influencing rates of nutrients cycling and carbon flux.

It is controlled by its litter quality,by the activity of soil organism and by the physical micro environment.
The decomposition of needle litter can be divided into two phases . In the first phase , decomposition rate is regulated by the concentration of nutrients in the litter and in the second phase , lignin decomposition rate is the regulating factor (Berg and Staaf , 1980).

The present study aims to :

evaluate the rate of needle litter decomposition.

release of nutrients (N , P , K & Na).

rate of lignin and cellulose in bimonthly intervals.

Study sites:
The present investigation was carried out in two sub-tropical pine forest ecosystem of Imphal West District.

Site l, Engel ching (Undisturb site)

Site II (Disturb site).

at Khamran Village 24 52 N latitude and 93
Altitude 960 m from MSL.

Located at Tendongyan Village . 24 55N latitude and 93 55 E longitude. 54E longitude 895 m altitude ; Distance 16 km from Imphal. Distance 12 km from Imphal City

METHODS:
Litter bag method (Gilbert and Bocock , 1962).
Needle litter of Pinus kesiya were collected from forest site i and forest site ii . 5 gm of dried needle leaves were kept in nylon litter bags . Litter bags of nylon net with a mesh size of 1mm and an over all size of 10cm 10cm were used . The litter bags were placed randomly on both the forest floor 9 litter bags were collected from each sites at bimonthly intervals . The recovred litter bags were brought to the laboratory . The residual material were wash by using water and removed all the soil particles . Dried in oven at 80 C and ground for chemical analysis . Estimation of Nitrogen and phosphorus were determined the method given by Anderson and Ingram. Potassium and sodium by Flame Photometer.

Figure 1: Bi-monthly variation of rate of needle litter decomposition (%) in pine forest site I and forest site II

Rate of decomposition (%)

Months

Table 1 : Initial Nitrogen, Lignin to nitrogen ratio ,Cellulose and Remaining Biomass of pine forest site I and site II .
Forest Site I Site II IN IL IL/IN IC RB IN 0.60 0.59 IL 27 32 IL/IN 45 54 IC 20 17 RB 2 4

Initial nitrogen concentration (%) Initial Lignin(%) Initial Lignin to nitrogen ratio Initial cellulose(%) Remaining Biomass

Table 2:

Correlation between rate of weight loss and a biotic variables in forest site I and II (n = 12)
Parameter Forest site I SM ST RF MAT Forest site II SM SM RF MAT r 0.51** 0.55** 0.42* 0.10* 0.51** 0.52** 0.51* 0.16* Variability % 26 30 18 1 26 27 26 3

* **

Show significant at P<0.05 level Shows significant of P<0.01 level.

RF-Rainfall MAT-Mean Air Temperature

SM-Soil Moisture ST-Soil Temperature

Undisturbed Forest (site I )

Nutrient concentration (%) Months

Disturbed Forest (site II )

Nutrient concentration (%)

Figure 2: Variation in concentration (%) of nutrients (NPK&Na) during needle litter decomposition in pine forest site I. and forest site II

Disturbed Forest (site II ) Undisturbed Forest (site I )

Lignin & Cellulose (%)

Lignin & Cellulose (%)

Months Figure 3: Variation in lignin and cellulose concentration (%) during needle litter decomposition in pine forest site I and forest site II

Table 6 :

Average concentration (%) of nutrients (N, P, K and Na), lignin and cellulose in decomposed needle litter during study period Nutrients %
N P 0.13 0.13 K 0.14 0.14 Na 0.03 0.04 Legnin 36.75 40.33 Cellulose 11.33 9.0

Forest Site

Site I Site II

0.98 0.92

Table 7 : Changes in absolute amount of nutrients (N, P, K & Na) (% remaining) in the

decomposing needle litter in pine forest site I.

Months August 2004 October December February 2005 April June August October December February 2006 April June August N 100 108 (+8) 103 (5) 93 (10) 99 (+6) 90 (9) 66 (24) 42 (24) 42 (0) 28 (14) 16 (12) 13 (3) 5 (8) P 100 74 (26) 73 (1) 73 (0) 80 (+7) 78 (2) 47 (31) 28 (19) 23 (5) 16 (17) 9 (7) 8 (1) 3 (5) K 100 22 (78) 27 (+5) 30 (+3) 30 (0) 34 (+4) 29 (5) 17 (12) 9 (8) 7 (2) 4 (3) 3 (1) 1 (2) Na. 100 89 (11) 87 (2) 80 (7) 56 (24) 50 (6) 35 (15) 25 (10) 17 (8) 11 (6) 8 (3) 3 (5) 1 (2)

Table 8.

Changes in absolute amount of nutrient N, P, K & Na (% remaining) in the decomposing needle litter in pine forest site II. Months N P K Na. August 2004 100 100 100 100 October 118 (+18) 77 (23) 28 (72) 68 (32) December 116 (2) 80 (+3) 36 (+8) 65 (3) February 2005 91 (25) 84 (+4) 43 (+7) 84 (+19) April 115 (+24) 79 (5) 44 (+1) 79 (5) June 107 (8) 81 (+2) 43 (1) 70 (9) August 82 (25) 76 (5) 35 (8) 64 (6) October 53 (29) 34 (42) 18 (17) 37 (27) December 36 (17) 24 (10) 11 (7) 20 (17) February 2006 33 (3) 15 (9) 6 (5) 13 (7) April 19 (14) 11 (4) 5 (1) 8 (5) June 11 (8) 6 (5) 3 (2) 6 (2) August 8 (3) 5 (1) 2 (1) 4 (2)

Conclusion:
In the present study it is found that the rate of needle litter decomposition in the undisturbed forest is higher than the disturbed forest. So it indicate that undisturbed forest has rich soil fertility than the disturbed forest because of the natural decomposition processes. We should avoid to disturbed the natural forest as can as possible not to give any hindrance to the forest ecological processes.

THANK YOU.