~ 1203 ~  International Journal of Chemical Studies 2017; 5(6): 1203-1210                     P-ISSN: 2349–8528  E-ISSN: 2321–4902 IJCS 2017; 5(6): 1203-1210 © 2017 IJCS Received: 12-09-2017 Accepted: 14-10-2017   Ashish Kumar Shukla (A). Department of Environment Science, School of Forestry and Environment, Sam Higginbottom Institute of Agriculture, Technology and Sciences, Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, India (B). CSIR-National Botanical Research Institute, Rana Pratap Marg, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India Pankaj Kumar Srivastava CSIR-National Botanical Research Institute, Rana Pratap Marg, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India Bajrang Singh CSIR-National Botanical Research Institute, Rana Pratap Marg, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India Soumit Kumar Behera CSIR-National Botanical Research Institute, Rana Pratap Marg, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India Tarence Thomas Department of Environment Science, School of Forestry and Environment, Sam Higginbottom Institute of Agriculture, Technology and Sciences, Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, India Correspondence Ashish Kumar Shukla (A). Department of Environment Science, School of Forestry and Environment, Sam Higginbottom Institute of Agriculture, Technology and Sciences, Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, India (B). CSIR-National Botanical Research Institute, Rana Pratap Marg, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India Litterfall patterns and soil nutrient chemistry in varied tropical deciduous forests Ashish Kumar Shukla, Pankaj Kumar Srivastava, Bajrang Singh, Soumit Kumar Behera and Tarence Thomas Abstract Vegetation affects the nutrient composition of soil through nutrient inputs via litterfall. Nutrient properties and enzyme activities of soils were examined under the influence of litterfall in natural dry miscellaneous forest (DM), natural Sal (Shorea robusta) mixed forest (SM) and a 50-year old commercial Teak (Tectona grandis) plantation forest (TP) in a tropical deciduous forest area of northern India. Annual litterfall was 6.7, 5.9 and 5.0 Mg ha -1 in the DM, SM and TP, respectively. The highest nutrient concentrations (4.46% N, 0.588% P and 0.773% K) were measured in the DM litter and lowest in the TP litter. Soil N, P and K were highest in DM and lowest in the TP forests. Likewise, soil enzyme activity followed the same pattern. In natural forests, higher nutrients might lead to the higher soil nutrient properties and enzyme activities compared to the monoculture commercial plantations. Keywords: dry miscellaneous forest, Shorea robusta, teak plantation, litter, soil 1. Introduction Tropical deciduous forests constitute 64.5% of the total forest area of India [1] . Forest cover in India is about 21.02% of its geography and is classified into moist (34%) and dry (30%) deciduous forest, with the remaining 36% comprising wet evergreen or semi-evergreen forest [2] . Litterfall is an important pathway for nutrient transfer from plants to soil in forest ecosystems. Litterfall sustains forest growth on one hand and exerts a great influence on nutritional and biological characteristics of forest soil. Trees and associated plant-soil interactions regulate the nutritional properties of forest soil [3, 4] . A variation in composition of soil microbial community has been observed under different forest plant species, playing a key role in litter decomposition and nutrient cycling processes [5, 6] . The effects of vegetation on soil biological processes are complex and dynamic due to spatial heterogeneity of forest soils. Tree species composition is also a key factor affecting soil biological dynamics and nutrient turnover in soil [7] . Soil enzymes are indicators of the soil quality [8] and may vary with vegetation composition and tree cover [9] . At various places in India and other parts of the world, the conversion of natural forests to commercial plantations has happend in the past. This process may affect forest soil properties and the forest productivity adversely [10] . This study aimed to assess the difference in soil properties between natural forests and a commercial plantation under the influence of differences in the litterfall. We investigated the changes in soil properties of three distinct tropical forest types, namely, two natural forests (dry miscellaneous, and sal (Shorea robusta C. F. Gaertn.) mixed) and a 50-year old monoculture commercial teak (Tectona grandis L.f.) plantation forest. It was postulated that soil nutrient content and enzyme activity may be higher in the forest type having higher annual litterfall. 2. Materials and Methods 2.1. Study area and ecological description The study was performed during 2012-2014 in three forest types of Katarniaghat Wildlife Sanctuary (KWS) located in the Terai region of northern India (28 0 06'N, 81 0 11'E to 28 0 16'N, 81 0 18'E) (Fig. 1). The annual precipitation here is 1500 mm [11] . The annual maximum and minimum mean temperatures recorded are 40 0 C and 8 0 C, respectively [11] . The three forest types were (i) dry miscellaneous natural forest (DM; 28 0 06'7.3'' to 28 0 06'42.9''N, 81 0 18'19.1'' to 81 0 18'30.3''E), (ii) Sal (S. robusta) mixed natural forest (SM; 28 0 15'2.8'' to 28 0 15'28.2''N,