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EFFECT OF THE CANOPY COVER ON THE ORGANIC AND INORGANIC CONTENT OF SOIL IN CHOLISTAN DESERT

BASIT KARIM¹, AZAM MUKHTAR², HAMID MUKHTAR³ AND MAKSHOOF ATHAR⁴

Abstract: Present study describes the effect of canopy cover of different shrubs on the physico-chemical parameters of soil. The organic and inorganic content of soil underneath the canopy covers (canopied subhabitat) of four different shrubs viz., Leptadenia pyrotechnica (Khip), Calligonum polygonoides (Phog), Capparis decidua (Karir) and Acacia jacquemeontii (Banwali) were analyzed and compared with the barren soil (uncanopied subhabitat). It was found that the pH of the soil was decreased while moisture content was increased under the canopy covers as compared to barren soil. The mineral content including sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium, chlorides, sulphates and phosphates was found to be higher under the canopy covers as compared to barren soil. As for as the soil organic matter and total nitrogen content is concerned, it was found that the organic matter was increased from 0.630% in the barren soil to 0.726% under the canopy cover. Similar results were observed in case of nitrogen which increased from 0.040% of barren soil to 0.135% under the canopy. The study suggests that plantation in the desert areas can contribute a great towards fertility of the soil.

¹Department of Chemistry, Islamia University, Bahawalpur, Pakistan, ²Department of Chemistry, University of Education, Lahore, Pakistan, ³Institute of Industrial Biotechnology, GC University, Lahore, Pakistan, ⁴Institute of Chemistry, University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan.