Conservation of Plant Diversity in Rural Homegardens with Cultural and Geographical Variation in Three Districts of Barak Valley, Northeast India1

Abstract

Northeast India Homegardens are recognized worldwide as sustainable agroforestry systems that are repositories of species and genetic diversity. Species diversity and composition of homegardens are influenced by a number of environmental, socioeconomic, and cultural factors. The present study examines the tree species diversity in the homegardens of different cultural groups of Barak Valley, Assam, Northeast India. Complete enumeration was done for diversity analysis in 181 homegardens from 38 villages in the three districts of the Valley. Factors affecting plant diversity were analyzed, and the floristic composition of the homegardens was found to vary with garden size, ethnicity of the homegarden owners, and geographical parameters such as location and altitude. Results indicate high plant diversity, with a total of 161 tree species identified from 47 families. Tea garden labor communities were comparatively found to hold more diversity in their homegardens. Similarity and cluster analysis revealed the distinctness of the majority of the homegardens, and seven groups of homegardens with very low distance were revealed. Homegardens were also found to maintain considerable conservation value as repositories of many underutilized, wild, and rare plant species. Biodiversity conservation in the homegardens was found to be linked to the multiple values of the different plant species to the homegardeners and further highlight the concept of the Bconservation through use^ap-proach. For the preservation of such traditional agroforestry systems, which also have the potential to provide options for adaptation to climate change, proper documentation of traditional knowledge concerning the different plant species and the human-nature interaction in the homegardens is necessary before such systems are completely lost.

Plant Diversity in the Indigenous Home Gardens in the Eastern Himalayan Region of Mizoram, Northeast India

“…In addition, the maintenance of large numbers of species in home gardens provides indirect benefits and ecological services. Similar services from home gardens throughout the world have been reported (Calvet-Mir et al 2012;Clarke et al 2014;Das and Das 2015;Fernandes and Nair 1986;Gautam et al 2008;Idohoua et al 2014;Mendez et al 2001;Sunwar et al 2006).…”

“…Farmers constrained with land shortage concentrate on fewer species with high usage and allocate more land area for food crops as evident by the significant (R=0.650, P<0.001) positive correlation between garden size and plants used for food. This pattern of increasing tree species richness with increasing land holding is also reported in other home gardens (Das and Das 2015;Kumar et al 1994;Mendez et al 2001;Zhang and Jim 2014).…”

“…The size of home gardens in Mizoram ranged between 0.10 and 0.60 ha, which is similar to global average home garden sizes of 0.10 -0.50 ha (Das and Das 2005;Fernandes and Nair 1986;Kumar et al 1994). Plant diversity and home garden productivity is largely a function of garden size; large home gardens provide sufficient products for home consumption as well as significant financial gains through sale (Table 4).…”

“…Many other studies (Eyzaguirree and Linares 2004; Gautam et al 2008;Poot-Pool et al 2015;Shastri et al 2002) also highlighted the importance of home gardens for the maintenance and conservation of plant genetic diversity. Several taxa such as Allium, Annona, Brassica, Calamus, Citrus, Dioscorea, Carica, Capsicum, Curcuma, Mangifera, Psidium, and Spondias have been reported in several tropical home gardens in many regions of the world (Das and Das 2015;Das and Das 2005;Kabir and Webb 2009;Shastri et al 2002;Sunwar et al 2006). In general, the plant richness estimated in this study is relatively higher than the other reported home gardens of India including Assam in NEI (Das and Das 2005), Karnataka (Shastri et al 2002), and Kerala (Kumar et al 1994).…”

Agrobiodiversity conservation enhances food security in subsistence-based farming systems of Eastern Kenya

“…The high variation observed in the diversity between different agroecological zones can be explained by a change in altitude and climatic differences. Other studies on agrobiodiversity noted that there was a sharp decline in crop diversity with an increase in altitude [34]. However, site location cannot exclusively determine crop diversity due to climatic factors.…”