Comparison of plant litter quality in three range plant species and its relationship with soil characteristics

Document Type : Complete scientific research article

Authors

1 range and watershed management, Faculty of Soil and Water, University of Zabol

2 Department of Range and Watershed Management, Faculty of Soil and Water, University of Zabol

3 1Dept. of Soil Science and Engineering, University of Zabol, Zabol, Iran

Abstract

Background and Objectives: Despite the importance of litter quality in soil conservation and stability, improvement of soil chemical properties, and increasing forage production in the rangeland ecosystem, very few studies have been carried out on the litter quality of range plant species and most studies on plant quality are limited to forage quality of plants in rangeland. This study aimed to measure and compare the litter quality of three range plant species, i.e., Artemisia aucheri, Centaurea virgata and Scariola orientalis and its relationship with some physico-chemical characteristics of soils in Hajibeyggi rangeland, Torbat Heidarieh, eastern Iran.
Materials and Methods: Plant litter was sampled through systematic-randomize sampling method on three transects with a length of 200 meters and 1 m2 quadrat. One litter sample of plant species along with one soil sample was collected from 0-15 cm depth in each plot. Parameters related to litter quality including phosphorus (P), potassium (K), calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg), phenol and lignin were measured by standard methods. Also, soil characteristics including texture, lime percentage, EC, bulk density, pH, phosphorus (P), potassium (K) and organic carbon were measured by standard methods. One-way ANOVA was used to compare the litter quality of species and Duncan test was used to separate means with significant difference. The relationship between litter quality and soil characteristics was investigated using Pearson correlation.
Results: The highest amount of P was in litter and dead materials of C. virgata, the highest amount of K was in A. aucheri and the highest amount of lignin was in S. orientalis. The highest amount of soil P, lime, silt, clay, clay+silt, pH, organic carbon and bulk density was found under A. aucheri canopy and the highest amount of K and gravel under S. orientalis canopy. The amount of calcium in A. aucheri litter was significantly correlated with soil lime, and its Mg content was related to soil EC and pH. The amount of P in C. virgata litter was significantly correlated with soil pH, and its K content was related with soil gravel, silt and clay + soil silt. The amount of P in S. orientalis litter was significantly correlated with soil K, organic carbon, lime, clay, silt, sand and silt.
Conclusion: Lignin and phenol are anti-quality chemical consitituents in plant litter and dead materials. Mean values of lignin in all plant species were similar, but the quantity of phenol in the litter of A. aucheri was higher than that in other two species. The amount of Mg and Ca were also similar in all plant species, but mean value of P in C. virgate was greater than that in other two species. It was not found clear relationships between litter quality and soil physico-chemical variables in this study.

Keywords

References

1.Aghbash Ghasemi, F., Jalali, Gh.A.,Hosseini, V., Hosseini, C.M., and Berg,Zh. 2015. Study of the relationship ofnutrients dynamics and chemicalcomposition of litter with decompositionrate in late decomposition stages. J. PlantRes. (Iran. J. Biol.). 4: 27. 715-727.
2.Ahmadkhany, R., Ariapour, A., Ahmadi,A., and Ahmadkhany, Y. 2011.Relationship between the elements inplant Galium verum and soilcharacteristics (Case example: MartyrsValley, West Azarbaijan province). PlantEcophysiology. 3: 9. 17-28.
3.Augusto, L., Ranger, J., Binkley, D., andRothe, A. 2002. Impact of severalcommon tree species oftemperate foreston soil fertility. Annals of Forest Science,59: 2. 233-254.
4.Burton, V., Zak, D.R., Denton, S.R., andSpure, S.H. 1998. Forest ecology andmanagement, 3th ed. New York. 774p.
5.Comulo, S.C.M., Elliot, E.T., Valentine,D.W., and Williams, S. 2001. Carbon andnitrogen dynamics in elk winterranges.J. Range Manag. 54: 400-408.
6.Ghezelseflou, N., Mahdavi, S.Kh., andHosseyni, A. 2012. Study on litter qualitytwo rangeland Species Artemisia sieberiand Salsola dendroides and its effects onsoils properties in Til-Abad (Golestanprovince). J. Plant Ecophysiol. 4: 1. 49-60.
7.Hajibegloo, A. 2007. Relationshipbetween litter quality and shoot of somerange species. Range management M.Sc.Thesis, Tehran University, 86p.
8.Hajibeglo, A. 2006. Investingatingrelationship between litter quality andstand organs in some range plant species.M.Sc. Thesis. Faculty of NaturalResources, Tehran University, Tehran.
90p.
9.Hoseini, V., Azizi, M., Tabari, V., andHoseini, M. 2006. Comparison ofdecomposition summer alder litter in twohabitats with different native stone. J.Natur. Resour. 58: 3. 551-545.
10.Jafari, M., and Sarmadian, F.2003. Fundamental of soil Taxonomy.University of Tehran Press, 788p.(In Persian)
11.Jafari, M., Azarnivand, H., Hajibaglo,A., and Alizadeh, E. 2010. Investigationof litter quality and aerial organs andtheir effect on soil characteristics of fourrangeland species (Case study: Hamand
Absard) Range Water. Manage. J.3: 68. 307-318.
12.Jafari, M., Saberi, M., Tavili, A., andZare Chahouki, M.A. 2012. Comparisonof Litter and Aerial Organs Quality inThree Rangeland Species (Case study:Taleghan Rangelands). 72: 89-96.
13.Jafari, M., Zare Chahouki, M.A., RahimZadeh, N., and Shafizadeh M. 2008.Comparing the litter quality and itseffect on soil characteristics of threespecies in rangelands of Vard-Avard.J. Range. 1: 2. 1-10.
14.Jafari, Z., Niknahad, H., and Komaki,Ch.B. 2014. Comparing qualitative soilindicators under two range managementscenarios (Case study: Chut Rangelandsin Gonbadekavoos). Desert Ecosyst.
Engin. J. 4: 3. 11-20.
15.Kamali, A.A., Foroozandeh, A.D.,Tabatabaei, S.N., and Ranjbari, A.R.2014. Determination of nutritive valueof Aeluropus lagopides in BushehrProvince rangelands. Animal Sciences
Journal. Intake of water. Nebr. Agric.Exp. Stn Res. Bull. No. 112.
16.Katzensteiner, K. 2003. Effect ofharvesting on nutrient leaching inaNorway spruce (Picea abies karst.)ecosystem on a lithic leptosol in theNorthern Limestone Alps. Plant andSoil, 250: 59-73.
17.Keshavarz, P., Zangiabadi M., andAbbaszadeh M. 2013. Relationshipbetween soil organic carbon and wheatgrain yield as affected by soil claycontent and salinity. Iranian Journal ofSoil Research (Formerly Soil and WaterSciences): 27: 3. 359-371.
18.Khorasan Razavi General Office forNatural Resources and WatershedManagement. 2016. Aerial photo studiesof Kadkan-Bers watershed. TorbatHeydaryeh Office of Natural Resources
and Watershed Management, ZarinDasht Company, 105p.
19.Li, Y.L., Wang, L., Zhang, W.Q.,Zhang, S.P., Wang, H.L., Fu, X.H., andLi, Y.Q. 2010. Variability of soil carbonsequestration capability and microbialactivity of different types of salt marshsoils at Chongming Dongtan. Ecol. Eng.36: 1754-1760.
20.Moslehi, M., Habashi, H., and Rahman,R. 2016. Seasonal changes of soilorganic carbon pool in the managed andunmanaged beech-hornbeam stands.Iran. J. For. Pop. Res. 13: 1. 23-34.
21.Naseri, S., Adibi, M.A., Javadi, S.A.,Jafari, M., and Zadbar, M. 2012.Investigation of the Effect of BiologicalStabilization Practice on Some SoilParameters (North East of Iran). J.Range. Sci. 2: 4. 643-653.
22.Page, A.L., Miller, R.H., and Keeney,D.R. 1982. Methods of soil Analysis,Part 2, second edition, American Societyof Agronomy-Soil Science Society ofAmerica, Madison, USA, 1159p.
23.Saberi, M., Jafari, M., Tavili, A.,Chahouki, Z., and Tahmoures, M. 2012.Comparison the Amount of ExistingMineral Elements in plant Aerial Parts,Litter and Soil of Three Range Species inTaleghan Region. Desert, 17: 1. 91-97.
24.Sadeghi Shahrakht, T., Jankju, M., andMesdaghi, M. 2013. Effects of ShrubCanopy on the Microclimate and SoilProperties of Steppe Rangeland, J.Range. Sci. 3: 3. 213-222.
25.Sadeghirad, A., Nasrollahi, M.,Azarvand, H., and Zare Chahoki, M.A.2015. Comparison of Plant LitterComposition in Three Range Speciesand its Effects on Soil Fertility (Casestudy: North Eastern IslamabadRangeland, Kermanshah Province, Iran).J. Range. Sci. 5: 2. 1-10.
26.Sauvadet, M., Chauvat, M., Fanin, N.,Coulibaly, S., and Bertrand, I. 2016.Comparing the effects of litter qualityand quality on soil biota structure andfunctioning: Application to a cultivated
soil in Northern France. Applied SoilEcology, 107: 261-271.
27.Singh, H., Dixit, A., Sharma, R.A., andSharma, R. 2015. Comparativeevaluation of total phenolic content,total flavonoid content and DPPH freeradical scavenging avtivity of differentplant parts of vitex negundo L.Inter. J. Pharmacy Pharmaceutical Sci.7: 2. 144-147.
28.Tamartash, R., Jafari, M., HeidarySharifabad, H., Zahedi Amiri, G., andZehtabian, G.R. 2013. Determination ofrelationship between some herbalplants and soil in the ecosystems of
mountainous rangeland of Taleghan.
PEC. 1: 3. 15-29.29.Varmaghani, S., Moosavi, M.A., andJafari, H. 2005. Determination of
minerals in range plants of IlamProvince. J. Res. Cons. 73: 103-109.
30.Zare Chahouki, M.A. 2014. Plantspecies effects on soil properties inNirrangelands of Yazd Province (Iran),International Conference on Biological,Environment and Food Engineering.
Pp: 10-14.
31.Zhou, Z., Sun, O.J., Luo, Z., Jin, H.,Chen, Q., and Han, X. 2008.Variation insmall-scale spatial heterogeneity ofsoil properties and vegetation withdifferent land use in semiarid grassland
ecosystem. Plant Soil, 310: 103-112.
Journal of Water and Soil Conservation
Volume 26, Issue 1
May and June 2019
Pages 205-218

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics