ABSTRACT
An inventory of tree diversity in traditional homegardens of Meitei community was conducted in a Bontarapur village in Cachar district of Barak Valley, Assam. Meitei homegarden locally called Ingkhol exhibits a wide diversity in size, shape, location and composition. Seventy one tree species were enumerated from 50 homegardens belonging to 60 genus and 35 families. Among the families encountered, Rutaceae was the dominant family (4 genus and 7 species) followed by Meliaceae (5 genus and 5 species), Arecaceae (4 genus and 4 species) and Moraceae (3 genus and 5 species). Total 7946 tree individuals were recorded, with the density of 831 No ha-1 of and total basal area of 9.54 m2 ha-1. Areca catechu was the dominant species with the maximum number of individuals. Other dominant trees include Mangifera indica, Artocarpus heterophyllus, Citrus grandis, Parkia timoriana, Syzygium cumini and Psidium guajava. Being a cash crop, the intensification of betel nut has been preferred in many homegardens. Homegardens form an important component of land use of Meitei community which fulfills the socio-cultural and economic needs of the family and helps in conserving plant diversity through utilization.
ABSTRACT
Imperata grassland at Dorgakona, Barak valley, North Eastern India was analyzed for species composition and diversity pattern in relation to traditional management practices. 19 families were in the burnt and unburnt plots of the study site with Poaceae as the most dominant one. 29 species occurred in the burnt plot and 28 in the unburnt plot. Most of the species were common in both the plots. The pattern of frequency diagrams indicated that the vegetation was homogeneous. Imperata cylindrica, a rhizomatous grass was the dominant species based on density (318.75 and 304.18 nos. m-2), basal cover (158.22 and 148.34 cm2 m-2) and Importance value index (IVI) (132.64 and 138.74) for the burnt and unburnt plots respectively. Borreria pusilla was the co-dominant species constituting Imperata-Borreria assemblage of the studied grassland. It was observed that B. pusilla (162.25 nos. m-2 and 50.37 nos. m-2), I. cylindrica (318.75 nos. m-2 and 304.18 nos. m-2) and Setaria glauca (24.70 nos. m-2 and 16.46 nos. m-2) were benefited from burning as shown by the values sequentially placed for burnt and unburnt plots. Certain grasses like Chrysopogon aciculatus and Sacciolepis indica were restricted to burnt plot while Oxalis corniculata showed its presence to unburnt plot. Grasses dominated the grassland as revealed by their contribution to the mean percentage cover of 72% in burnt plot and 76% in unburnt plot. The dominance-diversity curves in the study site approaches a log normal series distribution suggesting that the resources are shared by the constituent species. Seasonal pattern in diversity index suggested definite influence of climatic seasonality on species diversity; rainy season was conducive for maximum diversity (1.40 and 1.38 in the burnt and unburnt plots, respectively). Dominance increased with concentration of fewer species (0.0021 in burnt plot and 0.0055 in unburnt plot) in summer and behaves inversely to index of diversity. This study showed that the traditional management practices benefits the farmers as it promote grassland regeneration with I. cylindrica as the dominant grass.