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Degradation of Leaf Litter of five Tree Species by Perionyx excavatus with Relation to their Nutrient and Anti-Nutrient Content

Received: 5 February 2014     Accepted: 25 April 2014     Published: 30 April 2014
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Abstract

The ecological suitability of different leaf litter types in enhancing the biological diversity and micronutrient status in soil needs to be understood for deciding the plant species to be used for afforestration practices. The present research work was done to study the colonization of an epigeic earthworm, Perionyx excavatus in the decomposing leaf litter of five locally important tree species- Cashew, Shal, Mango, Acacia and Eucalyptus up to a period of 90 days. The major nutrient and anti-nutrient chemical parameters of the leaf litters were compared and rates of degradation of the selected nutrient and anti-nutrient parameters were studied in laboratory microcosms. P. excavatus showed maximum colonization for Cashew followed by Shal where both these tree species exhibited comparatively lower anti-nutrient content and significantly higher rates of degradation of the selected nutrient parameters. Lowest colonization by P. excavatus was observed in case of Eu-calyptus which exhibited highest polyphenol and tannin content and significant lower rates of degradation of all the selected nutrient parameters and hence their utilization in microcosms with P. excavatus. The results indicated that lower content of tannins and polyphenols in case of Cashew and Shal can be related to the palatability of these leaf litters and thereby exhibiting maximum colonization by P. excavatus. Thus, Cashew and Shal can be considered as suitable tree species for afforestation practices for enhancing nutrient recycling and effective soil conservation.

Published in Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (Volume 3, Issue 2)
DOI 10.11648/j.aff.20140302.22
Page(s) 128-132
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2014. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Colonization, Leaf Litter, Nutrient Parameter, Anti-Nutrient Parameter, Perionyx excavatus

References
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[2] C. Wa-Chendorf, U. Irmler and H. P. Blume, “ Relationship between litter fauna and chemical changes of litter during decomposition, in Driven by Nature: Plant litter Quality and Decomposition, K. E. Giller, Eds. Wallingford, CAB International, 1997.
[3] L. He-neghan, D. C. Coleman, D. A. Crossley Jr, and X. M. Zou, “Nitrogen Dynamics in decomposing chestnut oak (Quercits prinus L.) in mesic temperate and tropical forest,”Appl. Soil. Ecol., vol. 13, pp. 169-175, 1999.
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[5] S.E . Attigon, D. Weibel, T. Lachat, D. Sinsin, P. Nagel and R. Preveling, “Leaf litter breakdown in natural and plantation forests of the Lama forest reserve in Benin,” Appl. Soil. Ecol., vol. 27, pp. 109-124, 2004.
[6] D. C. Coleman, D. A, Crossley Jr, and P. F. Hendrix, “ Fundamentals of Soil Ecology, 2nd edition, San diago, C.A, Academic Press, 2004.
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[13] M. Dubois, K. A. Giues, J. K. Hamil-ton, P. A. Rebers and F. Smith, “Calorimetric determination of sugars and related substances,” Anal. Chem. ,vol. 28, pp. 351-356,1956.
[14] D. L. Morris, “The quantative determination of carbohydrates with Dreywood’s anthrone reagent,” Science, vol. 107, pp. 254-255, 1948.
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[16] T. D. Oliveira, S. Hattenschwiler and I. T. Handa, “Snail and millipede complementaity in decomposing Mediterra-nean forest leaf litter mixtures,” Funct. Ecol., vol. 24, pp. 937-946, 2010.
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    Sayantani Pattanayak, Rupa Dasgupta, Partha Pratim Chakravorty, Susanta Kumar Chakraborty. (2014). Degradation of Leaf Litter of five Tree Species by Perionyx excavatus with Relation to their Nutrient and Anti-Nutrient Content. Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, 3(2), 128-132. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.aff.20140302.22

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    ACS Style

    Sayantani Pattanayak; Rupa Dasgupta; Partha Pratim Chakravorty; Susanta Kumar Chakraborty. Degradation of Leaf Litter of five Tree Species by Perionyx excavatus with Relation to their Nutrient and Anti-Nutrient Content. Agric. For. Fish. 2014, 3(2), 128-132. doi: 10.11648/j.aff.20140302.22

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    AMA Style

    Sayantani Pattanayak, Rupa Dasgupta, Partha Pratim Chakravorty, Susanta Kumar Chakraborty. Degradation of Leaf Litter of five Tree Species by Perionyx excavatus with Relation to their Nutrient and Anti-Nutrient Content. Agric For Fish. 2014;3(2):128-132. doi: 10.11648/j.aff.20140302.22

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  • @article{10.11648/j.aff.20140302.22,
      author = {Sayantani Pattanayak and Rupa Dasgupta and Partha Pratim Chakravorty and Susanta Kumar Chakraborty},
      title = {Degradation of Leaf Litter of five Tree Species by Perionyx excavatus with Relation to their Nutrient and Anti-Nutrient Content},
      journal = {Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries},
      volume = {3},
      number = {2},
      pages = {128-132},
      doi = {10.11648/j.aff.20140302.22},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.aff.20140302.22},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.aff.20140302.22},
      abstract = {The ecological suitability of different leaf litter types in enhancing the biological diversity and micronutrient status in soil needs to be understood for deciding the plant species to be used for afforestration practices. The present research work was done to study the colonization of an epigeic earthworm, Perionyx excavatus in the decomposing leaf litter of five locally important tree species- Cashew, Shal, Mango, Acacia and Eucalyptus up to a period of 90 days. The major nutrient and anti-nutrient chemical parameters of the leaf litters were compared and rates of degradation of the selected nutrient and anti-nutrient parameters were studied in laboratory microcosms. P. excavatus showed maximum colonization for Cashew followed by Shal where both these tree species exhibited comparatively lower anti-nutrient content and significantly higher rates of degradation of the selected nutrient parameters. Lowest colonization by P. excavatus was observed in case of Eu-calyptus which exhibited highest polyphenol and tannin content and significant lower rates of degradation of all the selected nutrient parameters and hence their utilization in microcosms with P. excavatus. The results indicated that lower content of tannins and polyphenols in case of Cashew and Shal can be related to the palatability of these leaf litters and thereby exhibiting maximum colonization by P. excavatus. Thus, Cashew and Shal can be considered as suitable tree species for afforestation practices for enhancing nutrient recycling and effective soil conservation.},
     year = {2014}
    }
    

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  • TY  - JOUR
    T1  - Degradation of Leaf Litter of five Tree Species by Perionyx excavatus with Relation to their Nutrient and Anti-Nutrient Content
    AU  - Sayantani Pattanayak
    AU  - Rupa Dasgupta
    AU  - Partha Pratim Chakravorty
    AU  - Susanta Kumar Chakraborty
    Y1  - 2014/04/30
    PY  - 2014
    N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.aff.20140302.22
    DO  - 10.11648/j.aff.20140302.22
    T2  - Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries
    JF  - Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries
    JO  - Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries
    SP  - 128
    EP  - 132
    PB  - Science Publishing Group
    SN  - 2328-5648
    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.aff.20140302.22
    AB  - The ecological suitability of different leaf litter types in enhancing the biological diversity and micronutrient status in soil needs to be understood for deciding the plant species to be used for afforestration practices. The present research work was done to study the colonization of an epigeic earthworm, Perionyx excavatus in the decomposing leaf litter of five locally important tree species- Cashew, Shal, Mango, Acacia and Eucalyptus up to a period of 90 days. The major nutrient and anti-nutrient chemical parameters of the leaf litters were compared and rates of degradation of the selected nutrient and anti-nutrient parameters were studied in laboratory microcosms. P. excavatus showed maximum colonization for Cashew followed by Shal where both these tree species exhibited comparatively lower anti-nutrient content and significantly higher rates of degradation of the selected nutrient parameters. Lowest colonization by P. excavatus was observed in case of Eu-calyptus which exhibited highest polyphenol and tannin content and significant lower rates of degradation of all the selected nutrient parameters and hence their utilization in microcosms with P. excavatus. The results indicated that lower content of tannins and polyphenols in case of Cashew and Shal can be related to the palatability of these leaf litters and thereby exhibiting maximum colonization by P. excavatus. Thus, Cashew and Shal can be considered as suitable tree species for afforestation practices for enhancing nutrient recycling and effective soil conservation.
    VL  - 3
    IS  - 2
    ER  - 

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Author Information
  • Department of Zoology, Raja N. L. Khan Women’s College, Midnapore, India

  • Department of Zoology, Raja N. L. Khan Women’s College, Midnapore, India

  • Department of Zoology, Raja N. L. Khan Women’s College, Midnapore, India

  • Department of Zoology, Vidyasagar University, Midnapore, India

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