CHARU SHAHI, S. S. BARGALI* AND KIRAN BARGALI
Department of Botany, D. S. B. (Dev Singh Bisht) Campus, Kumaun University, Nainital- 263 001 (Uttarakhand), India
*(e-mail : surendrakiran@rediffmail.com; Mobile : 9410579117)
(Received : May 10, 2019; Accepted : July 15, 2019)
ABSTRACT
This study was carried out in six villages at two altitudes in Nainital district, Kumaun Himalaya, India. Three villages were situated at altitude >500 m asl (high altitude) and three villages were at altitude <500 m asl (low altitude). Participatory approaches, personal interviews and direct observation techniques were combined to collect the data. At high altitude, the density of cultivated species after rice was depicted by Vigna mungo (26.8 individuals/m2) in small > Dolichos soja (28.8 individuals/m2) in medium > Glycine max (28.6 individuals/m2) in large agroecosystems. While at low altitude, the highest density after rice was observed for Glycine max in all types of agroecosystems. Soil analysis revealed that the soils of high altitude were nutrient rich as it showed greater accumulation of carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus in those regions. High altitude depicted maximum per hectare output : input ratio in medium sized agroecosystems (0.063), whereas at low altitude it was observed maximum for large agroecosystem (0.079). Highest rice yield was recorded 4711.54 and 4654.54 kg/ha/year in large agroecosystems of high and low altitudes, respectively.
Key words :Oryza sativa L., agroecosystems sizes, soil nutrients, yield, energy budget