ISSN:
1573-5036
Keywords:
Biomass
;
Grassland
;
Nitrogen cycling
Source:
Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
Topics:
Agriculture, Forestry, Horticulture, Fishery, Domestic Science, Nutrition
Notes:
Summary The present paper deals with the distribution of nitrogen in the different plant compartments and in the top 30 cm soil among the protected, semi-protected and open-grazed grasslands at Kanpur (26° 26′ N latitude and 80° 22′ E longitude). The protected site indicated greater nitrogen content (g N m−2) in the aboveground and belowground plant parts as compared to those of semi-protected and open-grazed sites. Nitrogen content in the combined live and dead herbage varied from 2.6 to 53.5 g m−2 in protected community, 1.6 to 27.6 g m−2 in semi-protected and 0.9 to 17.4 g m−2 in open-grazed community. The content ranged between 1.0 to 17.7, 0.5 to 9.7 and 0.4 to 6.6 g m−2 for belowground and from 0.1 to 1.1, 0.1 to 0.5 and 0.1 to 0.3 g m−2 for litter compartments in protected, semi-protected and open-grazed community respectively. A significant positive relationship was found with the nitrogen per gram dry weight in combined live and dead herbage of the study sites and the average monthly relative humidity. The distribution pattern of nitrogen in plant/soil system indicated that the major portion of nitrogen (91 per cent in the protected, 95 per cent in the semi-protected and 96 per cent in the opengrazed stands) in the system was retained in the soil while a small fraction of it (9 per cent, 5 per cent and 4 per cent on protected, semi-protected and open-grazed area respectively) resided in plant compartments. Partitioning, uptake, transfer and release of nitrogen have been discussed in detail for all three sites.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF02277870
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