Rhizosphere Effects of Melocanna baccifera on Soil Microbial Properties under Different Fallow Phases Following Shifting Cultivation

Abstract

Rhizosphere plays an important role in regulating soil fertility and nutrient cycling in different ecosystems. Bamboos are important secondary successional plants in fallow land that have strong impact on the soil fertility of different fallow lands. The main objectives of the present study is to examined the rhizosphere effects of bamboo (Melocanna baccifera) on soil microbial properties (soil organic carbon, SOC; total nitrogen, TN; microbial biomass C and N, MBC and MBN; dehydrogenase activity, DHA; acid phosphatase activity, APA; β-glucosidase activity, GSA) in rhizosphere (RS) and bulk soil (BS) in shifting cultivation stand with different fallow phase (2 years old, FP-2; 5 years old, FP-5; and 10 years old fallow, FP-10) in Mizoram. The result indicated that soil microbial properties were significantly higher (p<0.05) in RS compared to BS. Further, the level of microbial properties significantly increases in longer fallow (FP-10) compared to shorter fallow (FP-2 and FP-5). On contrary, magnitude of rhizosphere effect of M. baccifera was greater in shorter fallow phase compared to longer fallow phase for all microbial properties except in APA and GSA. It was concluded that the rhizosphere effect of bamboo in shorter fallow is microbial mediated

Soil properties under different land use systems of Mizoram, North East India

“…This has led to raise major concerns about the sustainability of such land use types in the tropics (Lal, 2010). Although several studies have already been reported related to shifting agriculture (Hauchhum and Tripathi, 2017;Wapongnungsang, 2017;Wapongnungsang et al, 2018), however, the impact of land use change and plantations on soil physicochemical and biological properties is poorly understood. Therefore, the present study aims to investigate the soil properties in five different land use systems, namely, Rubber Plantation, Oil Palm Plantation, Bamboo Forest, Fallow land (~20 yrs) and Natural Forest.…”

Changes in soil exchangeable nutrients across different land uses in steep slopes of Mizoram, North-east India

“…Shifting cultivation (Jhum) is a major issue in most tropical regions, especially in North-east India, where this practice is the most prominent form of agriculture, leading to loss of vegetation cover while inducing land use change. The decrease in the fallow period has led to soil degradation, while the increase in the fallow period following shifting cultivation has been observed to enhance SOM and increase nutrient content due to changing belowground dynamics (Wapongnungsang et al, 2017;Hauchhum and Tripathi, 2017;Singha and Tripathi, 2017). The study area (Mizoram) is characterized by extreme slopes and undulating physiographic conditions.…”