Soil Characteristics under Three Different Plant Communities of North-East India

Abstract

The present study highlights the physico-chemical properties of soils under three different plant communities. In natural forest the soil was sandy loam in texture and was more acidic in nature in comparison to jhum fallow. Total N, available P, organic C and exchangeable Ca, Mg and K were found to be high in natural forest followed by bamboo forest and jhum fallow respectively. The concentration of all the nutrients were fairly high in upper soil layers and gradually decrease with soil depth. Due to the high rate of leaching, exchangeable calcium in lower soil depths was found to be high in bamboo forest and jhum fallow.