Chemical properties of leaf litter
Among different species,
Cordia myxa was lowest in nitrogen (0.93%) and highest in C/N ratio (53.1) followed by
Colophospermum mopane (Table 2). Lowest C/N ratio was observed in
Acacia tortilis followed by
Citrus aurontifolia. The lignin content was maximum (45.5%) in the
Cordia myxa and minimum in
A. senegal (12.6%). There was no much variation in lignin content of
A. senegal and
A. tortilis.
Growth and yield
The plant height, grain yield and straw yield of moth bean increased significantly in litter amended soils as compared to control (Table 3). The maximum grain yield of moth bean was observed in the treatment of
Citrus aurontifolia litters followed by
Aegle marmelos. An increase in grain yield of moth bean was observed to the tune of 19.5, 15.5 and 3.8 percent in 2010-11 and 21.4, 18.3 and 16.9 per cent in 2011-12 with the leaf litters of
Citrus aurontifolia,
Aegle marmelos and
Dalbergia sissoo, respectively. The higher yield of moth bean in 2011-12 was due to more rainfall in cropping season (368 mm) as compared to the cropping season of the year 2010-11 which received 281 mm rainfall. Leaf litters of
Colophospermum mopane, Cordia myxa,
Acacia tortilis and
Acacia senegal showed no significant effect on grain yield
.
The residual effect of leaf litters (incorporated to moth bean) on mustard showed that the plant height, grain and straw yield of mustard grown after moth bean was significantly affected by leaf litter of
Citrus aurontifolia,
Aegle marmelos and
Dalbergia sissoo as compared to control (Table 4). Relatively higher plant height, grain and straw yield were observed in the treatment of
Citrus aurontifolia,
Aegle marmelos and
Dalbergia sissoo as compared to other treatments. The increase in grain yield was 14.5, 15.5 and16.9 per cent in 2010-11 and 13.9, 15.0 and 15.9 per cent in 2011-12 with the leaf litters of
Citrus aurontifolia,
Aegle marmelos and
Dalbergia sissoo, respectively. Similarly, the straw yield was increased by 15.3, 12.4 and 13.6 per cent in 2010-11 and 18.5, 16.3 and 16.7 per cent in 2011-12 with the leaf litters of
Citrus aurontifolia,
Aegle marmelos and
Dalbergia sissoo, respectively.
The possible reason for better yield in litter amended soils might be ascribed to the higher nutrient availability for the crops supplied by leaf litters (
Escalada and Ratilla, 1998;
Singh et al., 1998; Kumar et al., 2001; Khatun et al., 2010). Soni et al., (2013, 2016) observed that the release of nutrients during litter decomposition is affected by C:N ratio and lignin content. Due to the lower lignin content of leaf litters of
Citrus aurontifolia (19.8%),
Aegle marmelos (15.4%) and
Dalbergia sissoo (16.2%), in comparison to
Cordia myxa (45.5%) and
Colophospermum mopane (34.1%), the rate of decomposition of
Citrus aurontifolia,
Aegle marmelos and
Dalbergia sissoo was faster as compared to
Cordia myxa and
Colophospermum mopane and higher nutrient release occurred. The lignin content and C:N ratio of
Acacia senegal and
Acacia tortilis was not high (Lignin content = 13.5 and 12.6 and C: N ratio was 20.3 and 24.2 in
Acacia tortilis and
Acacia senegal, respectively), even though, the yield was not increased with the leaf litters of these two species. This may be due to the presence of some allelopathic compound which may interact with the nutrient release and affect the growth and yield of crops. Studies conducted elsewhere have shown good evidences of the existence of alkaloids and phenolic compounds in the leaves of
Acacia tortilis and their inhibitory effect on germination and crop growth
(Nakafeero et al., 2007; Noumi and Chaieb, 2011).
Nutrient uptake
Litter addition had a significant effect on nutrient uptake in both the crops in both the years. The uptake of nutrients in moth bean was significantly higher in
Citrus aurontifolia,
Aegle marmelos and
Dalbergia sissoo amended litter than control (Table 5). The N uptake data averaged over both the years showed that the uptake of N by the grains of moth bean was highest in
Citrus aurontifolia litter amended soils followed by
Aegle marmelos. There was a non-significant difference in N uptake of grains of moth bean in
Colophospermum mopane,
Cordia myxa and
Acacia senegal amended litters as compared to control. The total uptake of N (averaged over both the years) in moth bean increased from 23.5 kg ha
-1 in control to 35.8, 31.6 and 34.3 kg ha
-1 in
Citrus aurontifolia,
Aegle marmelos and
Dalbergia sissoo amended litters, respectively. Similarly, the total uptake of P (averaged over both the years) in moth bean increased from 4.9 kg ha
-1 in control to 6.3, 5.8 and 6.4 kg ha
-1 and uptake of K increased from 10.9 to 14.4, 13.3 and 14.4 kg ha
-1 in
Citrus aurontifolia,
Aegle marmelos and
Dalbergia sissoo amended litters, respectively.
The residual effect of leaf litters on nutrient uptake in grain and straw of mustard showed relatively higher nutrient uptake in the treatments of
Citrus aurontifolia,
Aegle marmelos and
Dalbergia sissoo leaf litter as compared to
Colophospermum mopane,
Cordia myxa,
Acacia tortilis and
Acacia senegal (Table 6). The total N uptake (Seed + straw) in mustard (pooled data of both the years) increased from 48.0 kg ha
-1 in control to 59.8, 59.4 and 58.3 kg ha
-1 with
Citrus aurontifolia,
Aegle marmelos and
Dalbergia sissoo amended litters
, respectively. Similarly, the total P uptake in mustard increased from 14.1 kg ha
-1 in control to 17.7, 16.4 and 15.2 kg ha
-1 with
Citrus aurontifolia,
Aegle marmelos and
Dalbergia sissoo amended litters, respectively. The total K uptake in mustard increased from 70.2 kg ha
-1 in control to 80.7, 81.3 and 76.8 kg ha
-1 with
Citrus aurontifolia,
Aegle marmelos and
Dalbergia sissoo amended litters, respectively.
The release of nutrients from leaf litters depends upon their rate of decomposition which is governed by C:N ratio, lignin content, polyphenols,
etc. The easily decomposed plant materials are termed as good quality litters. They release the nutrients faster and results in higher uptake of nutrients by the crops (
Uyoybisere and Elemo, 2002). In the present study, the higher uptake of nutrients in
Citrus aurontifolia,
Aegle marmelos and
Dalbergia sissoo litter amended soils was due to their better quality leaf litters in terms of low C:N ratio and low lignin content which enhance the rate of litter decomposition, faster release of nutrients and higher yield than the poor quality leaf litters of
Cordia myxa,
Colophospermum mopane,
Acacia senegal and
Acacia tortilis (
Soni et al., 2013 and
2016). Furthermore, the total quantity of nitrogen applied through leaf litters was relatively higher in
Citrus aurontifolia (54.2 kg ha
-1),
Dalbergia sissoo (41.4 kg ha
-1) and
Aegle marmelos (37.8 kg ha
-1) as compared to
Colophospermum mopane (24.8 kg ha
-1) and
Cordia myxa (23.3 kg ha
-1) and the N release in
Citrus aurontifolia,
Aegle marmelos and Dalbergia sissoo during the cropping season (July to October) was 54.1, 47.6 and 11.4% of the total nitrogen contained in these litters
(Soni et al., 2013), which showed significant effect on nitrogen uptake by the crops.
Soil nutrient status after crop harvest
Concentration of available N and P after the crop harvest was significantly more in litter amended soils as compared to control (Table 7, Fig 1). No significant difference was observed in available K in litter amended soils as compared to control. The concentration of available N was maximum in
Citrus aurontifolia amended soil and followed the order
Citrus aurontifolia >
Acacia tortilis>
Aegle marmelos>
Acacia senegal >
Dalbergia sissoo. This was due to higher nitrogen content in the leaf litters of
Citrus aurontifolia (2.17%),
Acacia tortilis (2.18%),
Acacia senegal (1.76%),
Aegle marmelos (1.66%) and
Dalbergia sissoo (1.51%) as compared to
Colophospermum mopane (0.99%) and
Cordia myxa (0.93%). This shows that the addition of leaf litters with higher nutrients
viz. N and P to the poor fertility soils enhance the available N and P in soil which have been reported by other authors also
(Murthi et al., 1990). Murthy et al., (1990) found that the incorporation of siris (Albizia lebbeck) (4.7% N), neem (2.6% N) and subabul (3.2% N) leaves improved the available and total N status of soil over control (no incorporation).
Singh and Sharma (2007) found that the soils amended with leaf litter of dek (1.42% N) had significantly higher soil available nutrient as compared to poplar (1.26% N) and eucalyptus (1.04% N) leaf litters.