Seasonal Variations of Soil Nutrient Dynamics in Sal Forests under Two Management Regimes in Nandhaur Range, Nainital, Uttarakhand

This paper aimed to investigate soil physicochemical properties and concentration of nutrients released by litter in assisted natural regeneration (ANR) Sal Forest and compared with non-ANR. Soils were collected at 0?15 cm and 16?30 cm depths across each site for three seasons, that is, summer, rainy, and winter. The soil at both the study sites was sandy loam. The results indicate the maximum values of soil physicochemical characteristics during the rainy season, i.e., soil moisture (25.04%), bulk density (1.5%), pH (7.24%), carbon (2.26%), nitrogen (0.096%), phosphorus (0.006%), and potassium (0.27%) followed by summer and minimum in the winter season. The values decline with increasing depths whereas pH and bulk density have shown a reverse trend. In both the sites, the nutrient content of litter was maximum in the rainy and minimum in the winter season in the following order: N > K > P. Hence, the findings unveil that ANR Sal Forest has rich physicochemical properties of soil as well as litter nutrients compared to non-ANR sites. The present study is the first comparative research made so far on soil physicochemical properties and litter nutrient dynamics in Sal ANR and non- ANR forests of Nainital, Kumaun Himalaya, and recommends that ANR practices are good for nutrient enrichment of soil and Sal growth and regeneration. .