Secondary Succession in Abandoned Agricultural Lands of Western Odisha, India

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J. Bio. Env. Sci. 2016 Journal of Biodiversity and Environmental Sciences (JBES) ISSN: 2220-6663 (Print) 2222-3045 (Online) Vol. 8, No. 1, p. 75-85, 2016 http://www.innspub.net RESEARCH PAPER

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Secondary succession in abandoned agricultural lands of Western Odisha, India Kamala Haripal, Sunanda Sahoo*, Chumkijini Chhatria School of Life Sciences, Sambalpur University, Jyotivihar, Burla-768019, Odisha, India Article published on January 10, 2016 Key words: Agricultural land, Plant community, Species sequence curve, Vegetation succession.

Abstract Vegetation succession and quantitative community characteristic were analysed along a chronosequence of abandoned rice fields located in Sambalpur district of Odisha, India. These rice fields were abandoned since 2, 4, 6, 11 and 15 years. The result showed that, total 45 different species belongs to 20 different families were encountered. Family Poaceae was found to be most dominant family among the entire sites. The grass, non-grass and woody vegetation marked increasing trend with increase in the age of the fields. The species richness was found to be 9, 12, 19, 26 and 34 in the 2, 4, 6, 11 and 15 years abandoned fields respectively. The study revealed the change of species sequence curve from geometric to log normal type. Further, increasing trend of species richness, abundance and diversity index with increasing age of fallow period indicates secondary succession in these fields. Evenness index are observed to be highest in 15 year abandoned field indicating the heterogeneity of species with increase in the age of abandonment. Thus the present study indicates that the appearance of secondary succession on the abandoned rice fields retrieve the native vegetation after abandonment of agricultural activity. *Corresponding

Author: Sunanda Sahoo  drsunanda_sahoo@yahoo.com

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