Annual Burning Enhances Biomass Production and Nutrient Cycling in DegradedImperataGrasslands

The invasive speciesImperata cylindricais a dominant grass covering a large part of degraded lands of India.Imperatais managed through traditional annual burning, a practice that is prevalent throughout tropical grasslands. A field experiment was conducted to quantify the effects of burning on aboveground and belowground biomass production and soil organic carbon (SOC), total nitrogen (TN), available phosphorus (Ave P), potassium (K+), calcium (Ca+), and magnesium (Mg+) concentrations in 0‐ to 15‐cm soil depth underImperatagrassland. The burnt site had 44% and 14% higher aboveground and belowground biomass over the un‐burnt control plots after 300 days of the fire event. The concentrations of SOC, TN, and Ave P increased soon after the fire but decreased regressively with time after the fire in both micro and macro soil aggregate size fractions. In contrast, concentrations of K+, Ca+, and Mg+increased up to 30 days after the fire in both soil aggregate fractions. Burning did not significantly alter the stoichiometric ratios (C : N, C : P, and N : P) in macro aggregates. However, burning significantly reduced the C : N, C : P, and N : P ratios in micro aggregates during the first 0–30 days. Fire increased nutrient stocks (kg ha−1) by 20–35% in the burnt site in comparison to an un‐burnt control site. It is concluded that the conventional practice of annual burning increases soil nutrients in surface soils and supports higher biomass production inImperata‐covered degraded lands.