Abstract
A field experiment was conducted during 2020-21 at agroforestry farm of Faculty of Forestry in Birsa Agricultural University, Ranchi, Jharkhand, India with two years old Gamhar (Gmelina arborea) trees intercropped with leguminous crops viz., Pigeon pea (Cajanus cajan), Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) and Urad (Vigna mungo) under Gamhar based agroforestry system to estimate the litterfall produced by Gamhar tree and respective nutrient return associated with litter decomposition. The experiment was laid out in Randomized Block Design (RBD) with four treatment combinations viz., T1= G. arborea + C. cajan, T2= G. arborea + V. unguiculata, T3= G. arborea + V. mungo, T4= Sole G. arborea (control) which were replicated three times and statistically analyzed. The results indicate that the maximum litter from litter trap (342 kg ha-1) was found in month of February, the total annual litterfall was estimated to be 865 kg ha-1. Litter biomass was found to be high in G. arborea + C. cajan (892 kg ha-1), even the nutrient release pattern was found to be highest in G. arborea + C. cajan viz. 13.38 kg ha-1, 1.34 kg ha-1 and 10.08 kg ha-1 of total N, P and K respectively. The study concludes that Gamhar based agroforestry system has a good potential for nutrient cycling, particularly when Gamhar is intercropped with pigeon pea, it showed a positive influence on the nutrient release pattern.
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